This view looking East along the
Arno River in Florence, and facing the Ponte Alle Grazie
bridge, was shot from on top of the San Niccolo weir. I
managed to find a relatively dry spot, but it was still pretty
precarious... trying to keep my balance while taking 3
separate exposures hand held, feeling my feet slipping from
under me all the while.
Crouched
down on tiptoes I had originally tried single exposures but
even in March the sun was still harsh enough to cause exposure
issues, resulting in either an overexposed sky or underexposed
landscape (particularly in the foreground). The only way to
get the image above was through merging 3 different exposures
in Photomatix and subtle use of HDR to balance the exposure
perfectly.
The Wool
Merchants' Guild owned numerous facilities on the river, such
as a fulling mill, used in the various cycles of processing
wool and fabrics. San Niccolo weir was used to furnish these
mills with water needed in the production of woolen fabrics
and to provide drinking water to the local population in
Florence.
The Arno
River itself flows through the Italian region of Tuscany and
is the most important river in central Italy after the River
Tiber. The Arno River's source is on the southern slope of
Mount Falterona, and it's 241km journey takes it through
Arezzo, Empoli, Florence and finally Pisa before flowing into
the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The Ponte
Alle Grazie bridge seen in the background was originally
constructed in 1227, was rebuilt in 1345 and in the 17th
Century two of the arches were filled and chapels were erected
at each of the pylons which were later used as houses for nuns
until they were cleared in the 1870's. The bridge you see
today was built in 1953 after the aforementioned iteration was
destroyed by retreating Germans in 1944. |
