Turin: 15 Views of the Mole Antonelliana

My first stop in Italy was Turin.  I found Turin to be an easy city to navigate. The central city has a clear grid structure, with wide streets and several larger squares.  There was a mix of architectural styles including Baroque, Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, and Rationalist.  Several of the larger streets are flanked with austere buildings of the Rationalist style. These often had cloisters, that gave welcome cover from the strong sun or rain (both of which I experienced). Much of the city seemed to be built up to the same height. The few taller buildings really stood out. The most striking of these was the Mole Antonelliana.

The Mole Antonelliana is 167.5 metres tall, the tallest unreinforced brick building in the world (built without a steel girder skeleton). Construction began in 1863. It was originally intended as a synagogue. However, after the the construction budget spiralled 3-fold without completion, the project passed to the city of Turin. Completed in 1889, from 1908 to 1938, the city used the Mole to house its Museum of the Risorgimento.  Since 2000 it has housed the National Museum of Cinema. The Mole acted as a handy beacon for my navigation of the city and I decided to use it for a mini-project, trying to find as many views as I could.

90 Minutes in Chambery

I have recently returned from an inter-railing holiday to Italy. My journey took me through France, to Turin, Naples, Rome and Milan, before returning via Zürich and Paris.

My first stop was the French city of Chambery. This is the largest city of the Savoie department, in the south-eastern Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. I was only in the city for a total of 12 hours, and for half of that time, I was asleep. So I can't say I explored the place in any depth. I did manage a 90-minute photo walk in the morning, before I had to grab a quick breakfast and get on another train. I started and finished in one of the main squares, which has a large fountain, featuring the front ends of four life-sized elephants. Given that this was the Alps, I did wonder if this was a Hannibal reference, but apparently not. My walk took me through narrow streets and small squares, where I found a pleasing mix of old and modern buildings. I would have liked to have explored more, but the train wouldn't wait.

Multiple Exposure Flowers

I wanted to test out the in-camera multiple exposure function of the little Fuji X100vi. So I spent a couple of hours in the walled garden at Wimpole, trying various combinations of flowers. The Fuji has a better multiple exposure function than my Olympus. It allows up to nine images to be combined, compared with a paltry two for the Olympus. The Fuji also has four blending modes, the Olympus just one. The Fuji requires the user to accept or reject each image of the multiple set, after it is taken. The positive of this is that it give more control in building the final combination. The negative, is that it slows the taking process, meaning that a multi-exposure action shot is just not possible.

  

Welcombe Mouth

My other photo excursion, whilst in Devon, was to Welcombe Mouth. This is a small bay located at the end of a road that is narrow, even by Devon standards. The most striking feature is the bands of rock that run out to sea. These make for superb lead lines. It was a grey day, so I chose to concentrate on the rocks and water, with longish exposures to capture the movement. Most of the images suited a strong mono treatment. But, the green of the seaweed, in the foreground of one shot, was too good to waste. The same was true of a little waterfall, cascading over the rocks at the back of the bay.

 

Derelict Ships at Instow

I was in Devon last weekend, visiting friends. On the Saturday morning, we took a stroll along the beach at Instow. I was interested in two derelict ships, that had become canvases for local graffiti artists. I liked the combination of the paint and rust.

 

 

Wimbledon Village

Any part of London that gets called a 'village' is pretty much guaranteed to have house prices starting around £1.5 million. That is certainly the case for Wimbledon Village. It's a 10 minute walk up a slight hill from the station and next to the common. Although if you want a decent view of that, you will need to add another 3 or 4 million to your house budget. It's a posh area with shops to match. I like to go there occasionally, to window shop, people watch and buy things from their fabulous delicatessens. 

I was there last Saturday, the middle Saturday of the tennis. It's fair to say that all the local businesses were running with the theme. I hadn't planned on taking any photos (just buying cheese), so I could only use my iPhone. All edits were done with Snapseed.