A Florence, Italy souvenir store still retains the venerable name of Kodak.
Mostly there is nothing particularly noteworthy or unusual about this little souvenir store in Florence, along the edge of the square where the Duomo is found. It appears to be much like the many other similar shops, there to cater to the many tourists who pass through. I passed by on the last morning of our long overseas trip — we were out for a few final hours of wandering around before beginning the ordeal of the flight back home.
The attraction of the shop is, of course, the anachronistic (or nostalgic, depending on your age) name of the shop: “Kodak Film,” declared twice on the two signs. There was a day when Kodak film was a mainstay in places like this, but those days are long gone. I didn’t go inside to check, but I doubt that there is much or even any Kodak film for sale inside these days. But as I type this I recall the sensations of purchasing those boxes and even of tearing the wrapper off of an old spool of 120 or perhaps opening a film can. I also note that the people taking a picture in front of the store are using… smart phones!
“Woman In Polka Dot Dress” — A woman in a polka dot dress walks past a bicyclist on a Florence street
At the very end of our recent trip we ended up in Florence, Italy for a few days. We had been in the Chianti region just a bit south, and we were scheduled to begin our return flight at the Florence airport, so we figured that we should investigate this famous city a bit. (By the way, about that Florence airport… perhaps a story for another time.) This was our first visit to Florence, and it is a remarkable city in many ways — its very long history, its maze of narrow, curving streets, the architecture and museums, and more. I would like to go back.
It is also a pretty popular tourist destination, which seems to be the trend with so many such places. It seemed like most of the tourists were perhaps Italian, but the city was also crowded with people from all over the world. The press of visitors, of course, cannot help but have an effect on the city, and there is (as in so many popular cities) an uneasy balance between the qualities of the city that draw people there and those very people who come to visit. It seemed to me at times that perhaps 90% of the people I saw were either visitors or locals there to take care of the visitors. But every so often I would catch a glimpse of someone who did not fit into that pattern — a woman in a scarf ducking down and alley, someone going to work, perhaps the fellow with the bicycle, and this woman walking down one of the town’s narrow streets.
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The lights of a small market at night along a London street
When traveling I’m fascinated by the relationships between familiar things and the different ways they exist in other places. This is true within the US — for example, corner stores tend to be rather different things here in Silicon Valley than they are in, say New York City. But it is even more so when traveling overseas, as I saw on our recent five-week travels that took us from New York to London, Paris, Heidelberg, and several places in Italy. The little store, open into the night, is everywhere. But what you might find there is different, except that all provide a bit of a beacon to passersby in the night.
I made a series of exposures of this brightly lit store, set between other closed and darkened businesses. All of the other images included quite a few people, in some of them essentially crowds were passing by. I chose to share this one because it is almost unpopulated, with the exception of a clerk visible inside the store and a man approaching at the edge of the frame. The light of the store spill out onto and beyond the sidewalk and spreads beyond the confines of the store itself.
Intensely colorful red and orange autumn aspen leaves in the eastern Sierra Nevada.
It is the first day of September. What happened to summer? Actually, I know what happened to my summer — we were traveling internationally for the past five weeks, and thus I missed my usual August time in the Sierra. And, yes, I do know that it still is summer for a few more weeks, and that in my (San Francisco Bay Area) neck of the woods it will remain mostly warm and sunny for at least another six weeks of so.
However, the arrival of September does signal the coming end of summer and the inevitable arrival of autumn and then winter. And I’m fine with that! Truth be told, summer is my least favorite season in many ways. Yes, it is warm and sunny, we have an abundance of fresh produce, and I often have more opportunities to travel. But from a photographic perspective, especially when it comes to my wildlife and landscape photography, the other three seasons offer more compelling opportunities. I especially love fall!
Next up is autumn. Although I haven’t been in the Sierra since late July, I have seen the first signs that fall is coming. A week ago in the Chianti region of Italy I photographed (badly, with an iPhone!) the first autumn leaves on an apple tree where we were staying. Yesterday as I walked in my neighborhood the temperatures were cooler, a strong wind came up, and some brown leaves were blown about with their characteristic dry and crackly autumn sound.
And even though I won’t get up there for a few more days, I know that the earliest signs of autumn are already appearing in the Sierra. Creeks are diminishing and drying up. Meadows are turning golden-brown. Corn Lily plants are shifting to brown and yellow, and here and there a few golden leaves may appear. And next up will be the annual spectacular display of aspen color.
If you are also an aspen color chaser like me, you may be interested in some of the California fall color resources on this website. To get started see my Sierra Fall Color page for basic information and links to other articles I’ve written on the subject. As I get up to the Sierra and as I hear updates from various sources I will share them on this page, too.
There is also information there about my book, California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra. This book offers some ideas about where and when to look for aspen and other color in the Sierra, and it includes some photographic basics that can help you once you get there.
California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra, my book on photographing fall foliage in California’s Sierra Nevada, is available from Heyday Books and from Amazon.)
The book shares a lot of what I have learned about finding and photographing Sierra Nevada fall color, along with a large collection of my autumn photography. Watch this page for updates and news on the book and for continuing information about photographing Sierra Nevada fall color.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
