Italy – Tuscany – San Quirico – San Gimignano – Siena – Florence – May 2019

May, one expects spring, trees flowering, mild temperature, mostly nice weather; the waiter at our hotel characterized what we were having: “this is the coldest March, we ever had in May”! Luckily I was prepared, but I still froze at 05:00 in the morning and 8 o’clock at night. The very mixed weather, full cloud cover provided an extreme filter, light bands breaking through generated stunning effects, clouds integrated the sky as part of the landscape. Fortunately, deep blue sky for postcard images was the exception.

The landscape in the parts of Tuscany we visited is characterised by gently rolling hills, the right light creates very dynamic sceneries. Cypress trees are the distinguishing feature of the landscape, whether singularly or in lines along the ridges of hills, or marking the route of lanes, or stand like guardians among dwellings, they all substantiate the landscape of Tuscany. Nicely spaced tree lines along the ridges in full light look like whale backs and  in the rising or setting sun create the impression of giant puppet theatres. So, the March weather was not bad at all as you will see.

The workshop was expertly conducted  by professional photographer  Hans Kruse of https://www.hanskrusephotography.com/