We had a wonderful visit to Florence in September of 2010 in part to celebrate my fiftieth birthday. The above slideshow and the identical version in the Galleries section - tell a small story of the trip. Unfortunately what one cannot retrieve or relate are the many images of the artwork of some of the world's greatest - Pontormo among them. Our first stop was the Capponi chapel at Santa Felicita to see Pontormo's "The Deposition from the Cross" - one of the most extraordinary paintings I've seen and unforgettable. The photographs cover the main Palazzi, Pitti and Vecchio, and also details from the Salimbeni and the Rucellai. The churches, Santo Spirito (and its wonderful weekend market), Santa Croce, Santa Maria del Fiori, and the Cappella dei Pazzi. The enameled terra-cotta roundel by Luca della Robbia the Elder, depicting the arms of the silk guild is from Orsanmichele, as well are three details from the marble Cantoria from the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo by Luca della Robbia. The first image is the exterior clock from the ca 1930's Stazione Santa Maria Novella one of the principal works in the Italian Modernist movement - and is singularly beautiful both in design and material usage. In the addition there are views of the Uffizi, and of Florence taken from the Piazzale Michelangelo.
A Florence slideshow with playback controls may be seen in the Galleries section of the site
Preliminary work is ongoing both in location and interview subject scouting for the documentary film about the Northern European immigrant migration to the Hudson Valley in the early 17th century. Most recently I've been shooting tests in Albany of the ca. 1728 Johannes Van Ostrande house - an urban Dutch house patterned after typical Northern European medieval models - which had fortunately been preserved inside several centuries worth of superstructure and fascia. This house is in my view the most important preservation project in America today - as it is the only house left in what were the two principal "urban" centers of the original Dutch settlers...New Amsterdam (New York City), an Fort Orange/Beverwyck (Albany)
The 20 minute film briefly covers timberframe building practice, the historical background of the Dutch barn in America, it's very unique characteristics, and finally shows a very excited fifth grade class from Albany School of Humanities put up the barn model.
The film may be seen in its entirety on Vimeo by clicking the title link above