calabria’s version of urban photography
Two of my favorite bloggers consistently and amazingly share photos of their cities–She Who Blogs founder Frances (Blogforth, Photostroll, and The Meme Section) reports from New York and Sarala (Blogaway) from Chicago.
These two lovely ladies have inspired me to post some photos I took while walking around our nearest “city” of Catanzaro not too long ago.
**EDITED to add that our correspondent in St. Augustine, Florida, a one “somepinkflowers” also does a heck of a job showing off her town’s beauty on Tourist Tuesdays. If you haven’t been there yet, you have no idea what you’re missing!**
Admittedly Catanzaro isn’t much of a city (you with me Cherrye?), particularly compared to the Big Apple and the Windy City; good ole CZ doesn’t even have a nickname as far as I know unless an abbreviation counts.
But there’s just something about an even remotely urban landscape that I always love.
I’m not going to caption or explain these because I’d rather you do it–tell me what strikes you, how they make you feel, what you think is portrayed, whatever you’d like to share.
And then, this weekend, if you have a working camera (unlike me, sniff sniff), take a walk around you are (urban or not) and share what you find with us.
Link here in the comments if you like, or send me an email and I’ll do the linking.
As always, click to enlarge.
Ah, and also check out my latest post at TomatoCasual—How to Flirt Your Way to Choosing Better Tomato Plants. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
Buon weekend!
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[tags]catanzaro, calabria, italy, southern italy[/tags]
49 Beans of Wisdom to “calabria’s version of urban photography”
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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How about “Catanzaro (CZ), the town so nice they named it twice?”
I’ll let you translate.
It looks lovely!
Regarding pictures of cities where people live, I’m personally obsessed with the Buenos Aires Daily Photo website…
Che buona idea!
ah! e che bel posto!
i will post pix of where im living right now too!…
Bacini
Oh, those pictures make me yearn to travel!
Charming!
Wow Sognatrice, pretty pictures 🙂
I’m a big fan of pictures, they just speak so much and transmit emotion…they let us see what we wouldn’t experience otherwise… hope you’d post more in the future too 🙂
BACI!! XoXo
Beautiful! Makes me wish I was there!
Hi there!! My name is Audra, and I’m almost certain we know each other (that old Italian forum and the “man” named Gabrielle ring a bell?) Anyway, I’ve been on expatsinitaly.com for a while now and have just signed up to post using the username favolosamenteIO. I just wanted to let you know that you are an inspiration to me as I want to move to Italy to become a doctor there.. I think you’re one hell of a ballsy girl and I admire that so much and I wish you, your boyfriend, and Luna the best of luck in life.. you have a big, big fan in NYC!!!
You know, I’m beginning to think this tomato-blogging business is taking you away from us. I’m not sure how I feel about that… then again it could be that you have, I don’t know, a life outside this blog.
Also it’s kind of funny to see you writing under your own name. I clicked the link and my first reaction was “who the hell is this Fabio person?” and then I remembered your mom didn’t call you Sognatrice…
What happened to your camera? Did I miss a post?
Paolo, hah, very true. For those not following, Catanzaro is the city and it’s also the name of the province that happens to include the town I live in too–so, technically, it’s Catanzaro, CZ 🙂
Tina, hmm, somehow I kinda knew that 😉
Calabrisella, I look forward to your photos!
Kimberly, strangely enough, they make me want to travel too–sometimes even 45 minutes away can be a vacation if you have the right mindset 🙂
Sara, glad you like 🙂
Farfallina, for now we’ll have to settle for photos from the archive since my camera has broken, but I’ve had quite a few primarily photo posts in the past if you search…you know, in all your free time 😉 Most are under the “scenes from village life” category.
Kathleen, thanks; I wouldn’t recommend coming now as airfares are crazy expensive, but….
Audra, ciao bella! It’s been a while since we’ve been in touch–good to see you here and at Expats 🙂 I don’t really use my tiscali email address anymore, but feel free to email at the gmail address in the right sidebar! Hope all is well with you 🙂
Paolo, I’m still here; big festival happening in the paese this week along with every childhood friend P ever had (who doesn’t still live here) is now in town. Busy, busy, busy.
The camera? No I didn’t post about it specifically but I mentioned it in comments somewhere or another; I turned it on one day and got an error. Now I don’t get an error anymore but the shutter doesn’t open all the way and it’s blurry. Mah. They’re probably going to have to send it off to get fixed, which could mean months, so I may just end up getting a new camera in the meantime…of course I’d have to save up for that.
So, IOW, thank goodness I’m tomato blogging 😉
wow…
i liked seeing the flowers at every window…
and the yellow building,
but what is that last photo?
is that a canvas?
tile?
an advert, of some sort?
i love it no matter what it is…
🙂
over at my blog i have Tourist Tuesday
most ever week
and i feature St. Augustine, Florida,
my home town, often.
i love traveling by blog
when i can
and i have found the loveliest Italian blogs through you!
thanks for pointing out the 2 blogs
in this posting
that feature cities in the USA!
i am going to check them out now…
Beautiful. I always love pretty window and door shots. We don’t have a lot of gorgeous windows like that here.
Very pretty, Bourbon, rococo and baroque– much newer than my town. I did a couple of walking tours through my town when I was new here and before the EU restoration money came in and covered everything in plastic tarps.
The yellow building reminds me so much of some Parisian and Brussels neighborhoods– it is the era I think. Belle epoque.
I am still trying to come up with meaningful moans. Tra poco.
SPF, I *love* your Tourist Tuesdays! They definitely show off parts of your St. Augustine (and yes, I think of it as yours). In fact, I should’ve linked to you in this post as well. Seems like republishing is in order….
The last shot, I don’t actually know what it is, but from the hole near the center, it looks perhaps even metal. It was above a door frame on a very busy back alley; I had to move out of the way of cars three times before getting a photo. Such is sacrifice 😉
Stefanie, I’m a sucker for windows and doors too; I have some more of those stored up on the computer, so they’ll likely be making an appearance soon as well.
Giuditta, you always keep me guessing with your names…interestingly enough, “Giuditta” is in Blogger’s spell check. Huh.
I think it’s great that you haven’t found meaningful moans yet–please don’t go out looking for my account.
These photos were all taken with a couple block radius right in the middle of old Catanzaro–“old” I should say because it was rebuilt/restored after some earthquakes and bombing damage, thus the newer influences, I believe. I’m not too big on CZ history, though, so I can’t be more exacting than that.
The yellow building came at me from out of nowhere–it’s actually quite out of place for its surroundings, but it is quite lovely, isn’t it?
Very nice picture of Calabria . I want to come ….
It is so lovely
Mélanie xx
Mélanie, ah, I see from your profile that you’re in Provence–not too bad yourself 😉 My fiancé’s sister lives in Puget sur Argens…anywhere near you? She and her children are actually leaving as I type to come down to Calabria–perhaps you could hop the train with them? 🙂
What a beautiful town.
A friend of mine has the surname Catanzaro & I told her it was a town in Calabria (hopefully thats right)and to read all about it here on your blog so I was especially happy to see you have shown some pics…& what great pics they are.
The last one reminds me of when my son eats spaghetti & all the sugo ends up round his mouth & nose.
Thanks for sharing your lovely photos of your home 🙂
I like the photo with the bell! It looks like a little liberty bell and the last photo looks like clowns! 😉
hmmm, nobody walks in L.A. but if I go hiking this weekend, I’ll take some photos.
Very Nice!
Thank You! Thank You! for the lovely mentions.
Your photos are lovely – it must be so romantic strolling those streets in the evening with P.
**sigh
And I loved the pomodoro article 😉
Waving at you from New York,
Frances
Che bella! i just love the city strolls on blogs like Frances’ & SPF’s. Thanks for the nod to Blogaway – a new place for me to visit.
Absolutely beautiful photos!!
Hmmm…I don’t recall ever walking around Reno taking pictures. Tahoe, yes. Perhaps I’ll post some of those this weekend!
I really wish I had time to take a photography class, it’s something that really interests me.
I would SO love to visit Catanzaro. My camera would be on constant shot!
I love the colors, contrasts, ambiance, all!
Hope you have a relaxing weekend.
Great photos, it sure is beautiful there. What is going on in the picture with all the military folk?
I keep meaning to walk around my hometown with my camera, but this isn’t really a “walking city”, so usually I just drive by places I’d like to photograph and say to myself “one of these days I’m going stop and take pictures”. One of these days! 😉
Those are lovely! I just moved from Nebraska to Maryland and right now i don’t see anything beauiful..UGH!!
Madelyne, I love what you see in the last photo! Yes, Catanzaro is a city in the region of Calabria–surely at some point your friend’s family was from here, although it could be hundreds and hundreds of years ago 🙂
My Melange, well Catanzaro isn’t actually my home; it’s really a place I avoid at all costs. But when I had to be there, at least I had some fun with my camera 🙂
Italiana, I think that’s why I was drawn to the bell too. It looks like it’s a memorial to some teens that were killed tragically judging from the inscription (a closer look is necessary), but the plastic case was kind of scratched and dirty, so it was hard to see.
NYC, start the trend! Imagine how many people would pull over and take a photo of *you*!!!! Hope you get some great shots on the hike 🙂
Beckie, thanks, and thanks for stopping by 🙂
Frances, I’ll just have to imagine the romance b/c P really won’t step foot in CZ unless he has too–and it’s never in the evening. We have nice strolls around our village, though, so all’s well. You’re very welcome for the mention; I hope lots of people went over to your place to check out your photos b/c they really are fabulous 🙂
Qualcosa, me too! And you’re going to *love* Blogaway!
Kathy, oh I hope you do–I don’t think I’ve ever seen “real” photos of Reno.
Scribbit, me too, but at this point I think I’d have to do it online, and that doesn’t seem as fun. Guess I’ll just have to be content with reading all the great tips around, like those on Digital Photography School.
JennieBoo, glad you liked! I hope I have a relaxing weekend too, although I doubt it as this is the busiest time of the year around here (so many family and friends come back into town for vacation!). It’s all good, though, and I hope you have a lovely weekend as well 🙂
Karina, ah, finally someone asked about all those military people! Turns out that I happened to be in town the day before the big parade celebrating essentially Italy’s independence day (June 2); I walked out of the conference center to see them all practicing for the next day’s events (which I wouldn’t see), so it was a perfect photo op 🙂
Enza, well if you see some hardshell crabs, you can take a photo for me–what I wouldn’t give for some of those beautiful creatures right now 😉
Glorious photos.
I want to go back to Italy…..
Britt-Arnhild, she’ll always be waiting for you 🙂
I’ve lived in NYC and I live not far from Chicago and I’ll take Catanzaro any day based on these pictures!
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing them.
Jen, well the photos show some of the highlights, but believe me–just trying to get around there for a couple hours is enough to drive you mad. The streets are pretty much like those in my medieval village, all curvy, windy, and narrow, which is really annoying in a city. There are some nice shops though 🙂
Thanks Shan 🙂
They are all quite lovely. I love seeing new places.
I saw your blog name on someones sidebar ( I forget who) and had to come check you out. That title is a catchy one!
Those are great pics. Makes me wish I could visit there.
These were beautiful- I almost had a moment of missing Italy!
These are beautiful! I love the window with flowers! It looks so much cozier than little cookie cutter subdivisions and bland apartments here in the US.
Hey, I’m having a little contest if you want to come and guess my delivery date and our soon to be little girl’s weight and all that. Your welcome to come play!
Quite lovely… charming, picturesque, wonderful… sigh.
One of these days, lady…
Can’t wait to get there one of these days.
But I’m not one to put things off for long… life’s way too short for that.
Scarlett & V.
The painting at the bottom is pretty neat. 🙂
Susan, thanks! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Mrs. Darling, well I’m glad you found me; thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂
Jennifer, wow, I *know* these are good photos then 😉
Heidi, I’m such a sucker for flower boxes, it’s not even funny–and I’ve been over to make my guesses. I hope others will follow me and see how beautiful you look at 9 months pregnant!
Scarlett, oooh, you have me intrigued…flights are cheapest in the winter months you know 😉
Butterfly, I think so too; like I said, it was a completely unexpected discovery about a random door in a back alley. Never know what you’ll find 🙂
You live in a gorgeous area with beautiful architecture!
If I’m out this weekend, I’ll take some photogs.
Alicia, come back here and leave a link if you do please 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
My camera went on holiday to Africa without me…the nerve! But when it gets back, I’ll do this, too.
Seeing your photos, I know at once you are in Italy, even though I’ve never been farther south than Roma.
Very beautiful, as always! I love seeing pictures of your town.
What beautiful photos. Makes me envious.
Meredith, the nerve is right! My camera went on holiday too–by getting all funky and out of focus. Can’t wait to see your photos 🙂
Wendy, thanks 🙂 If all goes well, this week there should be some photos of a nearby town (with the help of a friend’s camera).
Rose, glad you enjoyed, although there’s no need for envy–you’re welcome to come and see for yourself anytime 🙂
Some really excellent photographs there. Thank you for posting those. I particularly like the last one which I could see displayed in the tate quite easily. You definitely have a knack with that camera!
Wedding Photographer Bristol’s last blog post..Chocolate Fluffy Sky
Thanks so much for the kind words!