Notes from Rome

Itinerary

Day 1 (May 19, 2011): Check into our apartment near Piazza del Popolo, get groceries, eat pizza at 06 Cafe, visit Spanish Steps.
Day 2: Castel Sant'Angelo, Vatican Museum
Day 3: Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, night pictures along Tiber
Day 4: Bike ride along the Appia Antia
Day 5: Basilica San Giacomo, Pantheon, Piazza Nuova, Villa Borghese
Day 6: Ostia Antica

Gear

Canon 5D
Canon 24-105/4 L IS USM
Canon 50/1.8
Canon S95 (amazing P&S, BTW)
Canon SD800 (knock-around/backup)
Slik Mini-Pro V tripod
Kelty Basalt backpack
Think Tank Chimp Cage
Think Tank Pee Wee Pixel Pocket Rocket
Think Tank Pixel Pocket Rocket

Etc.

Photographic fulfillment can be an illusory beast. While Rome was very personally rewarding, the 10 pictures I took at the Suburban Airport seem more photographically rewarding than all the 450-ish pictures I took in Rome. As a photographer, it's difficult to separate personal fulfillment from photographic fulfillment. If being a visitor automatically makes you a tourist, then how does one find photographic fulfillment in a sea of tourist photography?

Some would say that it's a film vs. digital thing; that shooting film forces you to slow down and take more care on when and how to shoot. To some extent I agree, but there are other, more important factors to consider.

If you are traveling with others, you have to put the group's priorities first. If the group's priority is not photography, then you're simply going to have to make due with the time and place as is. Waiting for the Light does not apply.



So this begs the question, should one bother lugging a DSLR if there's a high probability that most of the photos are going to be of the tourist variety? I'm still not sure. While there's no question that the quality of the photos coming out of the DSLR are going to be higher, there's a lot to be said for lightening your load.



It really comes back to personal priorities. If you just want to take pictures for the memories, then a point-and-shoot will certainly do the trick. If you're going for more of a photo journalistic approach, then a DSLR and a solid general zoom is probably your best bet. If you want to play Henri Cartier-Bresson, then take a rangefinder with one good prime. And if you want to get all lomographic and artsy, then take a toy camera.

I tend to lean toward the photo journalistic approach, which is why I took the 5D and 24-105/4 as my primary camera. It's a solid combination that's going to reliably come away with good pictures. In other words, it was the safe option. Can great art come from playing it safe though? Is the safe option always the boring option?

I do wish I'd taken a wider lens though. The 17-40/4 would have been great for capturing the immense art and architecture. Whether I should have taken the Xpan is still debatable. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to waste a bunch of film taking tourist photos, but it's hard to shake that romantic Xpan in Rome ideal.

In the end, it's best to be thankful to be on this Earth; even more so if you have a camera in your hand.

Delta, you idiot

I'm going to try to keep this one short. On the way back from Rome last Wednesday, Delta flew us back from CDG to PHL on a 757. A seven-fifty-seven! It might as well have been a 737. I have to say, it was one of the most cramped, uncomfortable flights I've ever been on. You could tell the flight attendants didn't like it either. Serving eight hours worth of food and snacks to all those passengers on a narrow body jet must have been painful.

Delta, I'm sure your accountants thought this was a good idea, but single aisle airplanes have no business crossing the Atlantic. Your passengers don't appreciate it and your employees don't appreciate it. Stick to wide body, two aisle jets like the 767, 777, and eventually the 787. Meanwhile, try moving your accountants' offices to the coach section of a decommissioned 757, then see what bright ideas they start coming up with.

Suburban Airport

Ok, just got back from Rome. The pictures aren't even copied off of the cards yet, so in the mean time, I thought I'd post this article which I meant to post just before I left...





I came across this rustic airfield one evening in early March. It was completely open, without even a fence separating it from the road. TSA would probably have you believe it's a hotbed of terrorist activity, but for a photographer, it's a gold mine. There was only one other car in the lot, and not a soul in sight, so I started wandering around the shacks hangers. I found an old roll of Provia 400F in my bag, so I popped it in the Xpan along with an 81A filter to warm things up (Provia tends to be rather frigid).

After a few shots, a gentleman came out of the "terminal" and started watching me, so I walked over. I told him I saw this place from the road and just had to stop and take a few pictures, if that was ok. He said it was fine, and to be mindful of my surroundings since they occasionally get "B landings." I assume this meant pilots sometimes use this runway as a backup in case they can't land at their intended runway. Please correct me if I'm wrong though.

As I took more pictures, the sleepy winter soul of this place started to show itself. Ten frames later I felt like I'd captured just enough, and left a little for next time. The sun had set, and it was getting cold. Time to go home.

National Gallery of Art

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art is a work of art unto itself. It's confusing as all-get-out to navigate, but its hard to beat as a photogenic open space to explore. These are some pictures I took with my Xpan on a cold weekend last January. I.M. Pei's fractal-like application of triangles throughout this structure is brilliant. And with the free admission, you get way more than you pay for. Also, they allow shoulder (camera) bags, but not backpacks. Last time I was at NGA, they made me check my backpack, but this time they didn't care about my camera bag. They just said not to put it over my back. Maybe they're worried about people backing into works of art inadvertently. In any case, make sure you stop in next time you're in DC.

Euro Woes

We're doing a vacation rental apartment for our upcoming trip to Rome. This means we have to pay the balance of the rental to the owner in cash, on arrival. Since I like to know I have a place to stay when I arrive, I wanted to have the cash ready and waiting before departure.

#1

My first attempt to get euros was with Wells Fargo. It sounded simple enough; go online, buy euros at a decent exchange rate, and have them shipped to me.

Well the first transaction failed due to "technical difficulties." Ok, I can deal with that. I tried again a couple hours later and got the same error. I called the phone number listed on the website (1-800-626-9430) and gave the guy my info. Little did I know he was just entering it into the website as well. Obviously, the response was, "Uh, I'm getting the same error." Thanks buddy. He said that perhaps my credit card was blocking the transaction.

Fair enough, so I called my credit card company. The lady who answered said there were not one, but three transactions listed for the full amount I was attempting to get. She assured me I would only be charged for one of the transactions at most.

Needless to say, I was getting fairly frustrated at this point, so I called Wells Fargo back and explained the situation. "Have you moved recently?" the woman asked. "Yes, about a week ago," I answered. "Bingo!" she responded, "We would never ship to a new address like that." I asked if I could just tell my credit card to approve the transaction, but she said that was not how it worked. I asked her how long I needed to be at this address before the transaction could proceed. Her response? Six months! Not terribly useful. So much for Wells Fargo.

#2

Attempt number two was with Travelex. Their rates were basically the same as Wells Fargo (1.56 dollars/euro), and I discovered they actually had a physical location in my area. Great, I could just walk up and get my money.

I walked up to the counter the next day only to discover that their in-person rates were 1.68 dollars/euro. For a small amount of cash, this wouldn't make a huge difference, but we're talking about several hundred euros here, so it adds up. On the plus side they said I could order the euros online at 1.56, then pick them up the next day at the counter. "Great, I'll do that."

Or so I thought. The online transaction gave me a transaction ID, but it stated that the transaction failed. Again, I called the number listed on the Travelex website (1-877-414-6359) and gave them the transaction ID. The only answer I got was that, "some of my information could not be verified." I told the guy straight out that I had recently moved. He didn't say that was the problem, just that some of the information could not be verified. Ok, strike two.

#3

Third time's the charm. I just walked up to the Travelex counter earlier today, gave them my credit card, and lo and behold, they gave me euros. On top of that, the rates had dropped slightly to 1.66, so I didn't have to bend over quite as far as I originally thought.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you're going to buy foreign currency online, make sure you do it before you move. Furthermore, if I had purchased a camera of the same cost, I certainly would not have gotten the virtual third degree.

I'd also like to point out Steven Frischling's excellent article on the topic of foreign currency exchange, from which I based this little adventure.

I'm ready to be in Rome.