Tag: travel

by jad

New York Aura

I’d planned to get an aura photo taken upon my solar return and was pleased to see that @magicjewelrynyc did that sort of thing in a convenient location in Chinatown. Drop-ins welcome too! Alas, the only woo-woo that was to ensue was our circling the block a dozen times in the scorching heat before realizing that the location had disappeared off the face of the earth. Grand rising! We had a good laugh about that and greatly enjoyed the insanity that is Canal Street and its Canal Street bling. We also seemed to stumble upon some police raid that was confiscating merchandise, … Continue reading “New York Aura” →

by jad

Far Away (Ground Zero)

The one place we prioritized once we found a coin locker for our suitcase and sat down for lunch at the station was @nyan_nyanji, the Cat Temple on the outskirts of town. As millennials from the internet, it just felt like that had to be the one religious site of the many religious sites in Kyoto we couldn’t miss, if we could only see one. It would be more than an hour by bus and back, and it did not disappoint. I’ll post a fever dream of a Reel about it shortly. #japanonfilm #streetphotography #nikonlitetouch #35mmphotography #analogphoto #kyotogram #kyotographie x … Continue reading “Far Away (Ground Zero)” →

by jad

Travel Spam and Transport Geographies

Back to our regularly scheduled programming with more travel spam that the same 10-15 people care about. I’d wanted to lean into the “nonlinear” in my bio by mixing up photos from the two visits to NYC that bookended our trip, but found it harder to find the plot than I expected. So, to get me back into the flow, here’s the quintessential New York experience: the Metro now OMNY. Twenty years ago, I was such a greenhorn to big cities shaped like grids that I had no concept of stations having many entrances or trains having different directions of … Continue reading “Travel Spam and Transport Geographies” →

by jad

The Questione Della Lingua (Last Frames from the Uffizi)

Last frames from the Uffizi. x It’s interesting to think about the outsized role that Florence has played in shaping Italy’s language and national identity. It keeps coming up in the books I’m reading. The “questione della lingua,” which took on new urgency after unification, unfolded along two lines of tension. One looked backward, seeking authority in the literary language of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, treating the Florentine of the Trecento as the standard to be preserved through careful study of the classics. The other looked forward, asking whether a modern nation should instead build its common language from the … Continue reading “The Questione Della Lingua (Last Frames from the Uffizi)” →

by jad

The Bored Invigilators of Florence

The bored invigilators of Florence. The first was in the Uffizi. The rest were in Palazzo Strozzi. x Il posto era stracolmo. A phrase that could describe any place in Florence. x People and paintings in the Uffizi. It’s a bit of a cheat, but one of my favorite reasons for visiting a museum or art gallery is staging the works on display in the act of their apprehension by the other visitors. I must say, however: the Uffizi did not make this easy. For the first half of our visit, there was a dizzying chaotic energy in almost every … Continue reading “The Bored Invigilators of Florence” →

by jad

Caravaggio’s Medusa (The Horror of Being Perceived)

People with cameras and windows with views in Florence’s famous Uffizi galleries. x Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa in Room 90 of the Uffizi, caught in what I’d like to imagine is the horror of being perceived. Photography is decapitation again and again. x The hallways and sightlines of the Uffizi. x

by jad

The Duomo, in Changing Light

The biggest attraction in the area we were staying was the grand Duomo di Firenze, or the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower. On a whim, I decided I’d visit a couple times in a single day to capture how the light would change the vibes. This is what it looks like in the morning. x The Piazza del Duomo in the afternoon. x Santa Maria del Fiore in the early evening hours. x

by jad

Portals (More from Vinci)

More views from Vinci. x Portals. x “I became fascinated not only by his art, but by his insatiable curiosity. He refused to stay within a single discipline, moving effortlessly between painting, engineering, anatomy, architecture, and science. Somewhere in my ten-year-old mind I decided that if I wanted to become an artist, I needed to go to Italy. Maybe even live there. I wanted to speak the language and learn the way Leonardo learned.” @christine.bingham.art on christinebinghamart.substack.com x

by jad

Vinci: The Vitruvian Man and Da Vincian Geometries

While we were in Florence, we took the opportunity to spend a day in Vinci, the birthplace of Italy’s canonical Renaissance Man and the town’s most famous “da,” Maestro Leonardo. There was something quite cute about the town’s embrace of all things Leo, and while some aspects of its three museums dedicated to his life and work felt a little Disneyfied, the overall effect showed a town that took art and education seriously. x We’d been warned that Leonardo’s childhood home was a long walk just outside of the main part of Vinci, with a steep incline and little shade, … Continue reading “Vinci: The Vitruvian Man and Da Vincian Geometries” →

by jad

Golden Hour with Florence’s Golden Boy

Another series showing the passage of time. After visiting the Uffizi, we passed by Palazzo Strozzi to get tickets for the Rothko exhibit later that evening. You can see how dramatically different @superflexstudio’s artwork look in the inner courtyard at those two times of the day. I’ll be posting more from both galleries soon. x This one’s for Christine for teasing me about butts in the Met. It also marks the moment when the skies cleared, and the city started to shake off its dreary overcoat. x Golden hour with Florence’s golden boy. x