Dolomites, Italy

[sury]

I went on a 3 week vacation to Italy (1 week Dolomite area, 1 week Eastern Mediterranean Cruise, 1 week Sicily) - reunion with my engineering college classmates, celebrating 43 years of friendship and most of us turned 60 years of age. In our regional tradition, the lunar calendar cycle is 60 years (similar to 12 year cycle of Chinese calendar). So to start again the year you were born is considered a significant mile stone especially when average longevity was aroud 50 years. I came back on August 9th and fell sick (caught flu/infection) and was sick for about 4 weeks and a marriage in the family, have all added up to my prolonged absence. I am mostly back to normal and slowly catching up on my post trip photo processing.

Village of Cortina. This is a 9image Bracket on A99M2 with CZ24-70, HDR in Machinery HDR, tweaks in LR.



View from our hotel


11 Image Pano using ICE from Microsoft

[the_hefay]

Beautiful place Sury. I love the second shot.

[aster]

.

Hi, Sury;

Welcome back! The forum was oddly silent / slow in activity for a while now. Glad to hear that you are healthier than ever and able to post some photos from your 3-tier vacation with 'old' friends that keep getting younger and younger as time goes by. Not kidding!

The town of Cortina is a beauty on the skirts of those rocks that pierce the clouds and the view from your hotel is indeed a statement scene of the town. The camera kit proves to have done well on this trip.

Looks like it was fun and a serene vacation spot.

Thank you for sharing,
Yildiz

ps. For some reason the messages for this thread kept getting lost and a Wordpress Error 403 page keeps coming up.

[sury]

Thank you Jeff and Yildiz. I am slowly working through the photos.
I fell in love with Dolomite region. This would perhaps be one of the two places (other one being Alaska) that
I would not mind visiting again.

Tri Cime i Lavaredo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tre_Cime_di_Lavaredo

A panorama



The trail



The peaks

[UrsaMajor]

Very, very nice, Sury.

I like all of your images, but if I were to pick a favorite (not easy to do!) it would be your 5th image - the one you titled "The Trail".

- Tom -

[sury]

Tom,
Thank you. I am flattered. Here are some more...

A view with CZ24-70. The bottom left corner is Lake Misurina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Misurina



Or two


Close up of the same lake with 70-400G gen 1.

[aster]

.

Brilliant scenes and you've created nicely framed compositions of the regions, Sury.
Some parts of The Trail looks precarious; a continuous probability of rock falls can be seen. I love the last three shots as well. The region is majestically beautiful that it commends admiration.

Thanks for sharing and I must say that your composition skill is top grade!
Yildiz

[sury]

Yildiz,
Thank you.
To all the members of the forum,
It is heartening to get the feed back I am getting on these sets. All the teachers on the forum who
so unselfishly provided me with their input and suggestions to improve has a lot to do with it. Today,
in India we celebrate "Teachers day". A day to pay tribute to your teachers. I can't think of a better day
to express my appreciation and gratitude to all of you on the forum who taught me on how to improve my
skills, technique and knowledge.

with best regards,
Sury

[sury]

View on the way down from Tre Ceme. Learned to minimize the color skew due to bus window tinting.



First time in a long time encountered what we used call "hairpin bends" in India. You have to make sure while going down that
there are no buses coming up hill and if you see a bus stop way back to let the bus make a wide sweeping turn taking up your side
of the lane. Quite a few drivers not familiar with the requirement have caused traffic jams.



Lake Misurina with Tre Cime mountains in the background.

[aster]

.

You are more than welcome to the justifying praises, Sury. After all you achieved all of your previous goals.

I was wondering how those long buses were able to make the narrow bends myself, then I read your mid-post explanations. So many bends like these make me very nauseous since an early age, usually ruining an otherwise perfect road trip with beautiful scenery and interests. Glad you never felt such and were occupied with taking good shots.
I love the shot 'looking back and down' at the curving road and mountain ranges but the lake is beautiful with the recreational environment if that's where you arrived after the hassle of the bends. Well worth it!

Thanks for sharing, Sury.
Yildiz

[jbtaylor]

A fine start to a long trip. Looking forward to weeks 2 and 3.
JT

[sury]

Thank you JT.

This is a sweeping vista from a restaurant on a hill top on the way from Cortina to Bolzano on Great Dolomite Road that connects Cortina to Bolzano going through bucolic leas, mountains and valleys.



Missus enjoying the view seen in #1.



With 24-70


Then came the 70-400

[sury]

.

You are more than welcome to the justifying praises, Sury. After all you achieved all of your previous goals.

I was wondering how those long buses were able to make the narrow bends myself, then I read your mid-post explanations. So many bends like these make me very nauseous since an early age, usually ruining an otherwise perfect road trip with beautiful scenery and interests. Glad you never felt such and were occupied with taking good shots.
I love the shot 'looking back and down' at the curving road and mountain ranges but the lake is beautiful with the recreational environment if that's where you arrived after the hassle of the bends. Well worth it!

Thanks for sharing, Sury.
Yildiz

Yildiz,
Thank you for your kind words. Perhaps I kept busy taking photos and that served as a distraction from feeling nausea. Fortunately, due to curves and traffic, the buses don't go very fast that helps you quite a bit. It also helps if you sitting in the front row(s).

Sury

[aster]

Yildiz,
Thank you for your kind words. Perhaps I kept busy taking photos and that served as a distraction from feeling nausea. Fortunately, due to curves and traffic, the buses don't go very fast that helps you quite a bit. It also helps if you sitting in the front row(s).

Sury

Thank you for the advice, Sury.

I usually heard similar words of advice at such times. A good driver that doesn't shift between the gas and the brake pedals so frequently also helps. Starting a bus after a forced stop in such situations can be tricky, I found, and can take a toll on the sensitive passengers. At least there's that sharp, clear, fresh mountain air that heals pretty fast.

The scenery from those tables is magnificent. Italian food and fresh air: very appetizing. Hope you really enjoyed every aspect of this trip. Looks promising from the photos.

Thanks for sharing,
Yildiz

[sury]

Cortina from the hill top restaurant.





On Great Dolomite Road. Unfortunately, we could not stop and take photos on this beautiful highway due to time constraints
and heavy traffic.