Photo Workshop Eve

It is the evening before the students arrive. Photographer Joel Wolfson, his wife Barb and I head out for one last scout to a desired shooting area not far from our base in Pienza. The white roads with green highlights do not disappoint. (Unpaved roads are printed in white on most maps and the green highlights indicate a scenic route). These roads often lead to some very special places as it certainly did inour case!

I feel especially fortunate; first, because the weather has turned beautiful, and second, I have the teacher and his faithful assistance all to myself for private lessons! Barb assists Joel with the accuracy and urgency not unlike a surgical nurse to a doctor during an operation. Instead of "scalpel or gauze", we hear "polarized filter" and "tripod" quick before the light fades." Barb is on it!

It is about 6pm when we head out. We still have a good 2 hours left of shootable light. Jack rabbits and wild pheasants scurry in front of us as we make our way down the country roads. With each turn is another spectacular vista.

Once we arrived, we parked the car and headed out on foot to capture the many splendid shots surrounding us. One building where the light seemed "just right" turned out to be a casa vacanza (a vacation house for rent). We took many photos and then rang the bell to obtain permission to use the house in photos to possibly sell. Within seconds, a gracious Signora arrived with a warm greeting and invited us inside to take a further look. Then she directed us on a walk through a small park and up several flights of lichen-covered stairs, passing through an alley-way lined with pots of roses and geraniums and up a spiral staircase to finally arrive on the very top of the town where there was a grand pool bordered by rosemary bushes and a view that stretched for miles in each direction. Tuscans take their holidays very seriously. A treat for all senses. Bellissima!

Heading out of this lovely little gem town with its streets so narrow that even Smartcars must pull over to let the other pass, we slowly took in the white road that followed along the crests of rolling hills offering up a magnificent view of il tramonto (the sunset). There before us was the Tuscan Sun we have come to love, sinking slowly from the sky before our eyes. And the workshop has yet to begin!