David

In highschool in the late '80s I saw the Mona Lisa. Maybe I'm missing something, but I was struck with what an over-hyped, generally mediocre painting it was. It's neither large nor small, vibrant nor monochromatic, stylistic nor photo-realistic. In other words, it was a very average, albeit well executed, painting. I was left with a particularly uninspired experience.

So, when I visited Florence this last spring and prepared to see the statue of David, I was ready to be underwhelmed. To my very pleasent surprise, David was a spectacular experience! To see him in person is to be cast into shadow in his presence. It was large, bold and expressive. The marble was perfectly smoothed into a pearl-like finish. It was a true masterpiece!

I've since heard that you aren't supposed to take photographs, but no one made any issue of it to me at the time. I didn't actually take a lot of photos, however, as I was trying to soak up the whole experience of actually being there. Unfortunately photos just don't do it justice.

That said, I liked how this one turned out with the canted angle and the onlookers. Of the images I took, this feels closest to the actual experience for me.

Print available. [link]
Note me.

Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR
Flash: None
File: jpg
Finishing: Basic curves and levels. Converted to B&W and custom dodging and burning.