A zoom lens on italy
By Leah Marie Armstrong . Leah’s from Canada and lives in Portofino, Italy. She’s married to an Italian Captain, who presently works on cruise ships. She is an avid Blogger, Painter and runs a Bed & Breakfast on Portofino Mountain. She spent her earlier career in the cruising, travel and hospitality industry and has a passion for photography, olive picking and Slow Cooking.
I’ve always thought of Italy as an artist’s paradise. The pastel coloured houses bouncing off a turquoise sea and rolling hills of sunflowers are enough inspiration to keep me going for months. Then, if you add in all the incredible sunrises, sunsets, marble columns, wrought iron gates and magnificent architecture and frescoes, well, why would you ever leave?
I confess that when I think of art, I think of Tuscany, not Liguria, and most certainly not Genoa. In fact, all the artistic courses in Italy seem to be mostly in Tuscany or major cities like Florence, Venice and Rome. That is of course until I met Di Mackey, a professional photographer from New Zealand.
Not only has Di changed my perception of the city I have called home for the past six years, she has also taken me beyond my own limits as a photographer. She has inspired me to stop living my entire life on the default settings I have grown so comfortable with. By pushing a camera to its limits and learning how to manipulate the manual settings, I, for the first time in my life, realized how much potential I was wasting by always deferring to my default auto setting.
I confess that when I think of art, I think of Tuscany, not Liguria, and most certainly not Genoa. In fact, all the artistic courses in Italy seem to be mostly in Tuscany or major cities like Florence, Venice and Rome. That is of course until I met Di Mackey, a professional photographer from New Zealand.
Not only has Di changed my perception of the city I have called home for the past six years, she has also taken me beyond my own limits as a photographer. She has inspired me to stop living my entire life on the default settings I have grown so comfortable with. By pushing a camera to its limits and learning how to manipulate the manual settings, I, for the first time in my life, realized how much potential I was wasting by always deferring to my default auto setting.
I was lucky that Di’s photography workshop was in my own city but if I had to pay to come to Genoa to take this course, I most definitely would have. In fact, I forfeited three days on Portofino mountain just to be back in the city to take advantage of this great opportunity.
But there’s more to it than just straight shooting. Di has partnered up with Helen Kerrison, from England, and of “Live the Life You Love”, and together they have created “A New Way of Seeing”. These workshops are for women and about empowerment and the dynamic they have created together is just wonderful.
I’ll admit, photography has been something that I have taken for granted. I love taking photos and putting together slide shows for family members but I don’t have a photoblog or flicker account. After meeting with Helen however, I felt so engaged in the process I was inspired to go after my dreams and see where they will take me. The connection between putting my camera on default really resonated with how I had also been living my entire life. It doesn’t mean that I need to open a flicker account either.
All I need to do is look at the photographs I took this past weekend to know that I can stretch out of my comfort zone and great things will come my way. I don’t need to buy a fancy camera, that’s not what this is all about. It’s so much more than that and I learned skills, which can be applied to my cybershot and all other areas of my life too.
But there’s more to it than just straight shooting. Di has partnered up with Helen Kerrison, from England, and of “Live the Life You Love”, and together they have created “A New Way of Seeing”. These workshops are for women and about empowerment and the dynamic they have created together is just wonderful.
I’ll admit, photography has been something that I have taken for granted. I love taking photos and putting together slide shows for family members but I don’t have a photoblog or flicker account. After meeting with Helen however, I felt so engaged in the process I was inspired to go after my dreams and see where they will take me. The connection between putting my camera on default really resonated with how I had also been living my entire life. It doesn’t mean that I need to open a flicker account either.
All I need to do is look at the photographs I took this past weekend to know that I can stretch out of my comfort zone and great things will come my way. I don’t need to buy a fancy camera, that’s not what this is all about. It’s so much more than that and I learned skills, which can be applied to my cybershot and all other areas of my life too.
|
All images copyright of the author
|
Want more of Italy? See Bordighera and Bordighera and Genoa and Lake Como and Radda and Sardinia 1 and Sardinia 2 and Skip the Bucket List and Spas and Style & Culture