Walk A Line.

Trip Coming to an End

By Danielle Stevens

How Many Frames Per Second?

Heading to Chianti, the most famous wine region of Tuscany I was captivated by the small and quaint antique shops along the way. I came across a lot of interesting picture frames, mirrors, and shadow boxes. I decided that every time I found an interesting arrangement of frames I would snap and take a picture, and then take two more pictures directly after without thinking of the composition. I took 3 frames per second if you will.

Ou est Jim?

When I arrived in Paris for the weekend I knew one of the destinations I wanted to end up at was the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, where Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors is buried. Getting lost in the mind-numbing designed cemetery, I took pictures of interesting graves and memorials along the way. Finally after hours, yes literally hours, of searching in the rain and finally finding Jim’s grave, I took pictures of doors that caught my eye along my way back to my hostel.

Are We There Yet?

Starting from Chianti, Italy to Paris, France my boyfriend and I spent an entire day of traveling. Sitting on the metro approaching our 11^th stop for the day we started passing time by discussing how many different modes of transportation we took just to arrive to Paris. Thinking it over I realized I traveled by foot, scooter, train, bus, airplane, and metro. Inspired by my long travels I wanted to take pictures of the modes of transportation that could tell stories of other people’s travels. I thought what an interesting concept, people travel every day and by looking at someone in a car for example I never think about where they are going and what they are going through to get there.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I am someone who is fascinated with maps and road signs. Being in Rome I came across maps, signs, and writings of all kinds. I captured abandoned notes left behind in Jewish ghettos, cherished keepsakes engraved with heart-filling messages, and just signs or advertisements that caught my attention and reminded me of memories that are lost through history and buried memories of my own.

Trapped, Looking through the Looking Glass

I was interested today in taking pictures of things that are not direct from the naked eye. I wanted to take pictures of objects or scenes from an obstructed view. Whether I took pictures through an airplane or train window, through or behind a glass case or blocked off bars, I wanted to capture things that you have to have an obstructed view to look. Trapped also in this sense means an emotion and feeling of being alienated from the subject and blocked or trapped in some way. I took pictures of things that I felt captured and echoed the emotion and feeling of being trapped.

(The picture being held up above is infront of the Jewish Ghetto in Rome)

What’s on My Mind?

With the end of my study abroad trip approaching I have been battling mixed feelings. The biggest thing on my mind right now is time. Most of my peers are excited to go home for the longing of seeing loved ones, the familiarities of comfort like air conditioning or finally getting a hold of a home-grilled cheeseburger, but to my surprise I experienced quite the opposite. Being here I have found that Florence has turned into my home. I realized after traveling across the country on day or weekend trips I always found myself longing for home…. My new found home in Florence. Now I am saddened by the idea of leaving so many things behind when going back to where my journey started, in the U.S. Today I chose to capture all of the things that I feel I am leaving behind and have learned to adore here. I have let the culture here become a part of soul and consume my heart. I took pictures of things that inspire me or I feel define a part of me. Being on this trip I have learned, learned a new culture, learned to experience new things, learned to love, learn to accept, learn to let go, and most importantly learned to grow. I have discovered a part of me here that made this entire trip a magical one and a great quest for self-exploration. Ciao Italia, ti amo.

Walk 12: Amore Per L’Acqua

I should begin by explaining my obsession with water. In a word, my obsession is total. I am absolutely obsessed with all things having to do with the water. Maybe this is the result of being born and raised on the waters of Michigan. Either way, I have been swimming and enjoying the water for as long as I can remember. I can’t even remember learning how to swim; it’s just something I’ve always done. The water, to me, brings back fond memories from my childhood and even from recent summers. My entire family enjoys the water. We spend summer days fishing and swimming off my dad’s bass boat, jumping out in the middle of the lake, scuba diving on shipwrecks and in bays near in our hometown, and tubing down rivers. Whenever, I am around water, I just want to stare at it, swim in it, listen to it, and enjoy it. Luckily for me, Cinque Terre offered amazing views of water as I hiked along the coast. At the end of a solo hike near the end of a very grueling day, I was covered in sweat and dirt and was so happy to reach the end of the trail and see the vast expanse of water spread out before me, almost as if waiting for me to arrive. All I wanted to do was run to the beach, drop my stuff, and jump into the bluest water I have ever seen. However, I took the time to stop and take some photos of the beautiful surf as the waves crashed against the rocks, throwing white water up into the air. And so the following images document my love affair with water that I am certain will never end.  

Katie L. Schneider

Map:

Walk 11: Talking To Strangers

I left my apartment with encouragement from my roommate. She told me not to be scared, and to just go out and do it. What exactly was I trying to do? I was trying to get up the nerve to ask people to make a portrait of them. This to me was terrifying. I much prefer to snap candid photos of people without their noticing, thank you very much. But I wanted to challenge myself in the final project, so I had chosen to do portraits. I have since changed my final project idea because I thought of something else that was more of an exciting idea for me, but I am glad I started with the original idea. I walked out and walked around for about an hour before I finally got up the courage to ask someone. I asked a man sitting at a table in his store. He was kind enough to allow me to take his photo and told me his wife was a photographer. I walked out feeling awkward but glad that the first person I asked was so willing. I walked around for about two hours and during that time asked five people if I could take their picture. All five said yes and I feel this experience was good for me as it made me more comfortable about this kind of interaction with strangers. The following images are the result of my terrifying ordeal.

Katie L. Schneider

Map:

Walk 10: Hiking As Quickly As Possible—Cinque Terre

When planning a trip to Cinque Terre with some friends, I knew that I was determined to hike as much of it as I could. In Cinque Terre, there are several ways to get from one town to the next: by train, by car, and by foot. There are hiking trails connecting the five towns of Cinque Terre. I started out from the first town on an easy hike that was more of a walk as the trail was paved. For the hike from town two to town three, there were two trails available: the blue and red lines. The blue line, the easier of the two, was closed, so we set out on the red line. It was quite difficult to begin with as it started with a steep incline. However, once we got up in elevation, it was absolutely worth it because we were rewarded with amazing views of the coastline. I made sure to take photos the entire way even though it was difficult hiking with my camera around my neck. To get from town three to four, I unfortunately had to take the train because I did not have enough time to hike all the way to town five as I had intended originally. From town four, I decided to skip lunch and immediately began the hike. My friends stopped to eat, so this meant I was hiking on my own. I welcomed the solitude and reprieve that this provided. I enjoyed hiking at my own pace, interacting with fellow hikers, and snapping pictures of anything and everything, which was not hard given the beauty that was all around me. As a reward for the sweat I put into hiking all day, I was able to swim once I reached town five, Monterosso.

Katie L. Schneider

Map:

walk 12 

Signs

i was was looking out my window in LFlorence and I noticed someone had put a sticker on a street sign and decided to go on a walk to see if i could find any more. i ended up also finding a bike with a sign sticker on it.

Cassie Mason

walk 11

Love has no language

When i went to Juliet’s house in Verona a was amazed by the writing on wall of the walls and the letters people had left. Even more amazing was the number of languages i was able to find these people love in. when I pictured Verona I didnt have an image of people from all over the world but when I arrived thats what i found.

Cassie Mason

Walk 10 

Juliet isn’t the only one with a balcony.

I walked around Verona and took pictures of the balconies there, there were all different and beautiful. Some were full of plants and flowers other just had great shutters. Verona is known for Juliet’s balcony but they are everywhere in the city not just her house.

Cassie Mason

Walk 9

I walked around the Jewish ghetto in Rome. My roommate at home is Jewish and i thought it was something i needed to do to show her pictures because she was supposed to be on the trip with me but was unable to come. It blows my still after taking several holocaust classes and touring the museum in Florida and DC, that people were subjected to this kind of treatment

Cassie Mason

Walk 8

Dont forget to look up.

When I was in Rome i toured the Vatican I had no idea how big it was. I left my tour to see the city alone and it ended up still taking me 2 hours to get to the end. But the ceiling was amazing I had never seen anything like it. 

Cassie Mason

walk 7 

Lions While I was in Europe I saw lion statues everywhere and I fell in love. The following pictures don’t all come from a single line there were scattered over Rome Pisa Florence London and Dublin. It was amazing to me that these lions were everywhere I went Cassie Mason