People are Landscape - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

One time, I caught myself saying that certain country does not offer people that are either beautiful or interesting, when asked whether I like photographing there.

I’ve long held an opinion that people make part of the landscape of the country/city/locale wherever we travel to. While how one defines beauty or interest varies, Italy definitely has no shortage of beautiful people for me.

On one balmy afternoon, when I was photographing the city of Cefalù in Northern Sicily, one such beautiful person came gliding across the surface of water. As he continued circling around, never moving beyond the reach of my camera, I concluded that I didn’t mind photographing him, with the medieval houses glowing in warm Mediterranean tones in the background.

Paddle-Boarding-Cefalu-Italy-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

P.S. To demonstrate the breadth of beauty that I appreciate and to prove that beauty is beyond skin depth, please visit here and here for more examples of beautiful people that we met in Italy.

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The Hearts and Souls of Napoli, Italy - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Quartieri Spagnoli (the Spanish Quarter), the area that’s said to be the most dangerous in Napoli. But it’s also the heart-and-soul of the city, according to others.

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We “survived” our first morning in Quartieri Spagnoli (see our last post). In the following week, we combed through narrow streets, checking out a plethora of palazzos, chiesas, and museo. While there are many things that we can look back in our photographs, what stayed with our mind and gives us a pretty smile once in a while is what happened when we were immersed in their daily life.

One time, a family had to share a piece of birthday cake with us when celebrating in a restaurant. Despite a full belly, we had no choice but to oblige.

Another time, a vendor grabbed us by the shoulder so we could have a photograph with him, and his fish.

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Oh, did I mention in the same restaurant where I was scolded for not being careful with my cell phone (see the post here)? It was our first meal in Italy and everything seemed new and interesting. While we were eyeing over the dish that two gentlemen had on their table, they had the waiter bring the exact dish for us. And to ensure that we tried their national beverage, we were treated to our first coppa di caffè in Italy after dinner.

Some say food leads to sense of happiness. I will certainly not argue with it. All this food that we were treated to in Italy may have contributed to this amore I feel towards it’s people. Maybe, the ubiquitous Virgin Mary that seems to be watching over us in every corner of the city has a hand in it as well?

Napoli maybe the first city that we visited in Italy. It was only the first of many that we would enjoy in the years to come and be surprisingly touched time and again by its people, the heart and soul of this beautiful country.

Under-the-Watchful-Eyes-of-Mary-and-Baby-Jesus-Napoli-Italy-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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Buon Giorno, Napoli - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Napoli, the first city in our first trip to Italy. We had sort of read somewhere that it’s got a not-so-great reputation. On top of that, we were staying in THE infamous Quartieri Spagnoli (the Spanish Quarter).

As if it should be expected, we were scolded, in the midst of taking iPhone photography, for holding out our cell phone outside a restaurant while waiting to be seated for dinner.

So, when we stepped out at the crack of dawn to explore the next morning , I was a little apprehensive. Mind you, we could not speak a word of Italian, which makes getting ourselves out of trouble a little challenging.

So I thought.

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Funny thing, as we started walking, I discovered that I conveniently knew how to greet people in the morning.

So we “buon giorno”-ed our way through the narrow streets and into the morning market.

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We met a nice nonna that tried to point us the way to interesting places to visit, in a language that’s way too sophisticated for us. We also met interesting people like this one that took product delivery the vertical way.

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The whole morning, nothing but good things happened to us. It seemed that an angel was watching over us. In fact, as the hours stretched into days, the angel must have stayed with us.

Stay tuned, more on Napoli soon…

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