Venetian Ghetto

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Rachael

This image was captured in the Ghetto of Venice, an sequestered spot within the city that allows the visitor to escape the crowds thronging the main pathways and alleys. It is an atmospheric place and, of course, has an interesting history, which I will soon explore in another post. Until then, I leave you with Shylock’s famous speech from The Merchant of Venice:

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, heal’d by the same means,
warm’d and cool’d by the same winter and summer
as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us,
do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene i.

The return of Specky

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Rachael

Last summer Focused Moments was speckled with posts featuring the speckled bush crickets (leptophyes punctatissima) in my garden. With our very late spring here I hadn’t seen any until this weekend. But never fear, they are back! Here an early instar stares me down from between two new camellia leaves.

Some of last year’s specky posts are here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

The Italian

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Rachael

This is my favourite shot from my recent forays into street photography. Something about his expression. And the light.

Gorgeous greenfly

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Rachael

Well, I know it is a little unkind to my gardening friends but I had to share this picture of a greenfly and its progeny. Purely in the interests of enjoying their colour against the tulip, of course. Come on, admit it, the babies are just a tiny bit cute?

Belgravia street shoot

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Rachael

The coffee bar conversation

Last month I enjoyed putting my new street pal, the Fuji X-E1, through its paces during a lunchtime stroll around Belgravia.

Iconic

Street photography is a very different genre from my usual fare, but I am enjoying dabbling in it.

In the Arcade

I love it that with the X-E1 I can snap away without people noticing. I am even beginning to shoot from the hip, and sometimes I get a passable shot that way.

Lunch with the boys

I love the contrasts you get in London, like working lads taking a lunch break under a designer advert with a distinctly effete-looking model.

Put That Phone Away!

Perhaps it helps with the stealth shooting that everyone is too busy looking at his/her phone to notice me!

Two girls texting as they walk in Belgravia

Wexting or Telking?

Damselfly embrace

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Rachael

Finally, some Summer weather. The damselflies made the most of it – there were several pairs of these red damselflies mating in my garden yesterday.

Burano medley

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Rachael

I had a bit of fun putting some of my Burano shots together to make this image. I love that place.

Rosemary beetle

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Rachael

A shot from last year of a rosemary beetle. These relatively recent arrivals in the UK may be pretty but they wreak havoc in the garden, especially the herb border. One shouldn’t anthropomorphise but I can’t help interpreting this one’s expression as more belligerent than guilty. Perhaps it is thinking of Princess Anne’s famous riposte:

You are a pest, by the very nature of that camera in your hand.

St.Mark’s under water

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Rachael

When there’s a high tide, St. Mark’s Square, the lowest part of Venice, tends to flood. What is no doubt an inconvenient and costly problem for the city is a photo-opportunity for the visitor.

People of Venice

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Rachael

The plague doctor

I am sure I have told you before that I am most definitely not a street photographer. But it is a genre that I admire. It is good to challenge oneself every now and then so, during our recent trip to Venice, I turned my new lightweight toy, the Fuji X-E1, on the people.