A room with a view [explored on 2023/08/04 nr. 26]

When darling Laura and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, at the end of April, we took a brief holiday, if not a second honeymoon. We visited Matera, a beautiful, ancient, unique city in Southern Italy where the presence of man and nature blend together in a deep, unique way. Even more than the beauty and charm of the place, this was especially fit for us, who have been blending together for the last 30 years, all inclusive.

Matera was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and a European Capital of culture for 2019, and I cannot afford to even start telling a broad story of the city: a story of struggle and misery, in a region with both harsh summers and winters, where a thin layer of land covers a wide plateau of limestone and water is more valuable than gold. The history of a tough people who carved their homes out of calcarenite, the local limestone. The history of a people who was able to set up the widest and most complex hydraulic system for the collection and preservation of water without any help from architects or engineers - just to cling to the place they belonged to. Other than looking at my photos (wink), your best option is to visit the city and plunge into its little, quiet, fascinating world ;-)

Since it was kind of a honeymoon, I decided to leave most of my photographic equipment at home, bringing with me only my camera and some spare batteries. I didn't want to waste any of that precious time by taking photographs seriously. However, I could not resist the urge to capture a materan sunrise - Laura was still soundly asleep when I hurried towards the Sassi after all... I shot my exposure bracketings by placing my camera on some wall or railing and shooting with 1 second shutter delay. Not the optimal setting, but I needed to get it a try. This was my only tentative sunrise session in Matera, being the last day there, and I tried hard to squeeze every juice it could offer. This is one of the last bracketings I took on that morning, as the sun was bathing the ancient city with a beautiful rosy and golden light. The shadows of the night were still lingering through the labyrinth of the Sasso Caveoso, clinging to the walls and the narrow alleys, but the glorious glow of the new day was about to defeat them. I hope that this Materan dawn can pluck some strings deep within your souls - which is the highest prize I can wish for my photos.

Explored on 2023/08/04 nr. 26

I have processed this picture by blending an exposure bracketing [-2.0/-1.0/0/+1.0/+2.0 EV] by luminosity masks with the Gimp (EXIF data, as usual, refer to the "normal" exposure shot).
Along the journey - post-processing always is a journey of discovery to me - I tried the inverted RGB blue channel technique described by Boris Hajdukovic to give a slight tonal boost to the sky.
As usual, I gave the finishing touches with Nik Color Efex Pro 4 and played a bit with dodging and burning.
Raw files processed with Darktable.

Taken in: Italy / Basilicate / Matera / Matera (show map)

Taken on: May 30, 2023

Tags:

Matera

Italy

Basilicata

sunrise

alba

dawn

daybreak

Sassi

sky

clouds

warm light

golden light

Sasso Caveoso

golden hour

buildings

houses

case

collina

hill

hillside

cliffside

rupe

early morning

morning

mattino

25 years

wedding anniversary

love

lifestyle

history

UNESCO

European capital of Culture

Nikon

D750

Nikkor 24-120 mm

the Gimp

luminosity masks

Nik Color Efex 4

Darktable « less

Sets appears in: • Matera • Explored photos more » • Sunrise « less

Groups appears in: • The Light Fantastic • Planet Earth Sunrise and Sunsets (P1, A+F1 OR MORE) more » • **Optical Excellence Level 1 ~ Admin Moderated • **Special Landscapes** « less

Camera: Nikon D750, f/14.0, 1/15 sec, 24mm (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D750
Aperture:	f/14.0
Exposure Time:	0.067 sec (1/15)
Focal Length:	24mm
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	GIMP 2.10.34
Show full info

Stats: 16,705 views / 90 comments