Amalfi Coast, Southern Italy
Today the Voyager of the Seas is in the port of Naples. Mary is feeling queasy and skips breakfast. I, on the otherhand, am starved. Half of the Windjammer is closed off. Someone from yesterday's excursion recognizes me and says "There's our photographer." I grin back. I finish my plate of link pork sausages and roll as well as 3 glasses of passion fruit. I'm gonna miss that when I get home. Afterwards I rush to topside to Deck 12 to shoot some landscape. The sun is rising right behind Vesuvius and gives it a nice orange glow.
We gather in Studio B. No Carolyn or Bill today. Carlos is checking our tickets before we enter. It's amazing how many people think this is La Scala. As we wait there, we bump into Tonya and Cyn again. With 3000 plus passengers aboard, we keep bumping into them. Cyn isn't feeling too good, but doesn't really show it. She had sinus problems and a cough. Sound familiar? She went to the doctor for Sudafed and some cough medicine.
A blonde cruise director staff escorts tours 10 and 11 up to deck 4, off the ship and out the terminal. The first thing that cannot escape my attention is a castle just beyond the fleet of taxis and buses. I recognize that castle from when I was in first and second grade and lived in Gaeta which is just south of Naples. At that time, my Dad was in the Navy and we were stationed there. We would drive up to Naples every so often.
Antoine our tour guide collects our tickets outside the bus door and hands out a brochure. He sounds like Robin Leach the host of the "Homes of the Rich and Famous." Pepe is our driver. Antoine tells us that this is the real Italy. The narrow roads (you can see where something had scraped the walls) snake across the mountainside.The steep mountainside has been terraced with dark volcanic rocks piled into walls. Lemon trees planted on nearly every inch. Scooters boldly (or foolishly) zip between cars and buses.
Real World Photo tips
We sat on the left side. Big mistake at least if you were going to take photos. Almost everything was at the right. One thing I did discover was that the seat to the left of the rear doors is an excellent vantage point. You have the window to the left and could shoot to the right without a person really getting in the way. I feel more like a turret gunner in an old World War II bomber than a photographer. Look for a target, aim as fast as I can and squeeze off a couple of shots. Unlike a turret gunner, I don't have a lot of shots. I try to be level if possible but a bouncing bus doesn't help. My enemy are signs, lamp posts, weird tinting and reflections. Not every shot will be perfect but that's why I take duplicate shots. Then there is always Picasa and Photoshop. Between rounds, I adjust my ISO. If we move faster or gets darker I need something faster than 100 or 200.
Whenever my camera fired, other photographers look around for what they missed. I shoot as the bus makes a turn or enters an intersection. There's less obstacles. Try not to zoom in a dark room. More chance of hand shake. Close with the subject. You have legs, but sometimes closing will change the angle of your shot so increase your ISO. If you leave your camera in full automatic, it will either flash on which is only good for 6-12 feet or set your ISO to 400 or 800. Indoors you could shoot down to 800-3200.
When shooting from inside a moving vehicle, there's no time to set your aperture and shutter. Just shoot. A camera with shutter lag will be out of focus or just miss the shot completely. If the camera won't focus, point to a line and focus on that first. Set your camera's focal point to the center. If it decides, It will focus on the closest item like a tree or sign in the foreground instead of the building you were looking at.
If you can roll down the window, do it. You will have a nicer shot.
WHY CAN'T THEY?
Why can't they put anti-reflecting tint on tour buses so you don't get those annoying reflections in your photos?
Ancient paintings showed a single tall mountain more than twice the elevation of the current mountains. It even showed tall trees at the summit which do not exist today, so the citizens of Pompeii may not have been aware that it was a volcano.
We had one photo stop. Cyn was taking a picture of Tonya so I offered to take a shot of the two of them which made them happy. They wanted to return the favor, and wondered where Mary was. I told them that she was resting in the car. The bus stopped at Serranto to see the craft of inlaid wood as well as souvenir shopping. Thin layers of different colored woods are pressed together with a pattern and then sawed. The individual parts are pieced together and set on paper. A polyurethane finish is then given. I now understood many of the items that Mom had. She had a inlaid jewel box that played "Somewhere My Love". He then demonstrated what he called a Mafia table. It had multiple tabletop games - roulette, checkerboard, that all fit inside this one beautiful table, If we pay in cash, they will give a 30% discount. If we used a credit card, they will give us 20% discount. I was looking at one piece when a salesman told me that he would give it to me free if I figure out how to open it. He would give me an hour. But I don't have an hour, I tell him. Tonya laughs since she is looking at a similar item. The key is inside, he tells me. He slides the front of the base to the left. Slides the base right side forward and the key drops out. He then pushes the base back and pushes down the spine of the center book revealing a keyhole which unlocks the puzzlebox. I reach for my Visa. Dang it! I left it in the safe. I told myself that I would ask Mary to buy it for me if she showed up five minutes before we had to leave. Time past still no Mary. How long does it take to go to the restroom? I checked the line. Different women. I find her resting in the bus. Oh well, I'll pass. It was pricey anyways. $135.
The churches along Amalfi Drive are designed with colorful ceramic tiles and are Moorish in design. This was the only town that remembered 9/11 when we were there.
The guy behind me was probably from New York. His point and shoot Canon was extra slim but had extreme shutter lag. When we were later at the cameo shop at Pompeii, he asked if I was a professional photographer. With a smile I told him no. Unlike Peggy, I only learned to shoot digital. Instead of playing with shutter speed and aperture, I play with the ISO, brightness, flash brightness and drive (AI focus or AI stop.)
We are now in Amalfi.
A statue of Flavio Gioia the creator of the compass is here.
Piazza del Duomo. Mary stays at the foot of the stairs as I check out the view from the top of the Cathedral of St. Andrew. It is not all that impressive. I look for Mary and can't see her anywhere. In my haste to find Mary again, I actually forget to take a peek inside the church.
At our lunch table were Kyle and Connie two honeymooners from Toronto. This was their first cruise. She has no accent but Kyle does. They have the first seating as well. Nobody at their table. Kyle said that he noticed that I took a lot of pictures and wondered how many I took thus far. I told over 200. I usually average 170 a day, but when you are shooting from a bus, many photos are thrown away...a sign or tree gets in the way or you get a reflection in glass. With multiple shots, one of them would be good. Kyle admitted having the same problem. Above is Tonya and Cyn enjoying the view from the top floor of our restaurant. Nice view huh?
We gather in Studio B. No Carolyn or Bill today. Carlos is checking our tickets before we enter. It's amazing how many people think this is La Scala. As we wait there, we bump into Tonya and Cyn again. With 3000 plus passengers aboard, we keep bumping into them. Cyn isn't feeling too good, but doesn't really show it. She had sinus problems and a cough. Sound familiar? She went to the doctor for Sudafed and some cough medicine.
Real World Photo tips
We sat on the left side. Big mistake at least if you were going to take photos. Almost everything was at the right. One thing I did discover was that the seat to the left of the rear doors is an excellent vantage point. You have the window to the left and could shoot to the right without a person really getting in the way. I feel more like a turret gunner in an old World War II bomber than a photographer. Look for a target, aim as fast as I can and squeeze off a couple of shots. Unlike a turret gunner, I don't have a lot of shots. I try to be level if possible but a bouncing bus doesn't help. My enemy are signs, lamp posts, weird tinting and reflections. Not every shot will be perfect but that's why I take duplicate shots. Then there is always Picasa and Photoshop. Between rounds, I adjust my ISO. If we move faster or gets darker I need something faster than 100 or 200.
Whenever my camera fired, other photographers look around for what they missed. I shoot as the bus makes a turn or enters an intersection. There's less obstacles. Try not to zoom in a dark room. More chance of hand shake. Close with the subject. You have legs, but sometimes closing will change the angle of your shot so increase your ISO. If you leave your camera in full automatic, it will either flash on which is only good for 6-12 feet or set your ISO to 400 or 800. Indoors you could shoot down to 800-3200.
When shooting from inside a moving vehicle, there's no time to set your aperture and shutter. Just shoot. A camera with shutter lag will be out of focus or just miss the shot completely. If the camera won't focus, point to a line and focus on that first. Set your camera's focal point to the center. If it decides, It will focus on the closest item like a tree or sign in the foreground instead of the building you were looking at.
If you can roll down the window, do it. You will have a nicer shot.
WHY CAN'T THEY?
Why can't they put anti-reflecting tint on tour buses so you don't get those annoying reflections in your photos?
Old small monasteries like the one above are now being converted into small quaint hotels. The steep mountainside has been terraced with dark volcanic rocks piled into walls. Lemon trees are planted on nearly every inch
We are now in Amalfi.
A statue of Flavio Gioia the creator of the compass is here.
Unlike Mexico, the water is safe here. People are refilling their water bottles at the fountain.
Lunch was at the Hotel Voce del mare. We were each given a card like the one above with emergency numbers.
Lunch was at the Hotel Voce del mare. We were each given a card like the one above with emergency numbers.
