Get out and travel. Don’t sit at home. Find any excuse, any resources, any means, and hit the road. Home is amazing. You most likely have everything you need close by. It’s comfortable. It’s familiar. And that’s why you need to leave it behind every once and a while.
Experience the world. See something new and unfamiliar. Even something historic. Experience something different than where you come from. It’s how we broaden ourselves and can be even better people back home.
Remember: you can sleep back at home in your familiar surroundings dreaming of your trip, so make the most of it while you can.
Recently I spent a week in the northern Italy. At the tail end of an amazing trip, for one day before my flight home to California I had the chance to explore Milan. Milano. Italy’s commercial and financial center. A city torn down and rebuilt nearly a half dozen times since the Roman Empire. A pretty amazing place.
-
- A typical, beautifully colorful street in Milan.
-
- One of the few remaining structures built during the Roman Empire.
-
- What a streetscape. c. 1504.
-
- Leonardo De Vinci’s statue in the plaza outside the Scala and Galleria.
-
- Panhandling outside the Galleria.
-
- Vaulted glass ceilings inside the Galleria.
-
- Looking straight up at the central glass dome in the Galleria.
-
- The Duomo di Milano.
-
- Another view of the Duomo.
-
- Flying buttresses on the roof of the Duomo (yes, you can actually go up there!). Every available surface intricately embellished. Stunning.
-
- The Madonna high above the Duomo di Milano.
-
- Overlooking Milan from the Duomo.
-
- Every spire on the Duomo is capped with a statue overlooking Milano.
-
- Peering through a buttress on the roof of the Duomo.
-
- One must get around Milano in style, yes?
-
- Inside Castello Sforzesco in Milan.
-
- Castello Sforzesco’s moat. Dry now.
-
- Porta Sempione, Milan’s Arc de Triomphe, as seen outside Castello Sforzesco and through a street fair.
-
- Santa Maria delle Grazie, home of Leonardo’s The Last Supper, seems rather unassuming from this approach.
-
- Window details above the wooden doors at the Santa Maria delle Grazie.
-
- Confetti on the streets.
-
- Another view of the Santa Maria delle Grazie showing it’s grandeur.
-
- Via dei Mercanti in Milan.
-
- Long exposure at dusk of the Duomo di Milano.
-
- The Madonna framed between two spires of the Duomo.
-
- Entrance to the Galleria from the Piazza del Duomo, Milano.
Most of these images were created using my trusty, compact, travel friendly 50mm f/1.4 lens. A few were taken with my 70-200mm f/2.8.
Select prints will be available shortly from the DriftwoodFoto online galleries/storefronts: Urban and Fine Art. Please also feel free to email sales@driftwoofoto.com for all inquiries and orders.
Benjamin Ginsberg and Driftwood Photography Studios (DriftwoodFoto) is based out of Huntington Beach, CA.