SERENITY IN SANTORINI Photo

Photographer’s Note

SAILING!
SERENITY IN SANTORINI
I know few locations that will allow a bird’s eye view of a thirteen-story ship. There are the cliffs in some of the Norwegian Fjords, but the colors in this photo do not resemble those of the North Sea. The view is of the Crystal Serenity from the rim of the cliffs forming the caldera in Santorini. I had been serving as a guest lecturer on board the Serenity, when the ship sailed into the caldera. In order to reach Fira, a town perched on the rim, one has to take a tender to the pier, followed by a cable car to the top. The alternative to cable car is to ride a mule or donkey up the treacherous zigzag footpath visible on the far left. (In half a dozen visits to Fira, I have never been able to justify having one of these hapless animals carry my weight up those near-vertical slopes. I don’t know what crime they committed in a previous life, but no creature should be subjected to such abuse.)

The bright yellow wild vegetation with which I framed the Serenity has the color of forsythia, but I believe that is a flowering plant, and these were not. Besides I am a specialist in the “A-subjects” — art, archaeology, astrophysics and atomic physics — perhaps a specialist in botany could elaborate on this plant.

The guest capacity on the Crystal Serenity is 1080, making this a mid-size cruise ship, and indeed it is known, together with its sister ship the Symphony, to comprise the two most elegant cruise ships in the industry. It has an international staff and crew representing 40 nations, and numbers 655. The gross weight of the Serenity is 68,000 tons; its length 249.9 m (820 ft); width 32.3 m (106 ft); draft 7.6 m (25 ft). Its cruising speed is reported as 21 knots with a maximum speed 22 knots.

I shot the photograph around 3:00 pm in the afternoon of August 3, 2006, shortly before the Crystal Symphony sailed from Santorini west towards Split on the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. I was using a Nikon D70, set at ISO 200, and a circular polarizing filter mounted on the lens. I cropped the image to create an aspect ratio of 800x494 pixels, which gives the length-to-width ratio of 1:1.618. This is the “golden ratio,” long known to be especially appealing to our aesthetic senses, and seen in the façade of the Parthenon. A far more dramatic photograph that I submitted from Santorini, Deep Blue—Pristine White was shot from the town of Oia, also along the caldera’s rim.

With this photo, I will take a respite from Trekearth for approximately four weeks. I will miss communicating with my good friends at Trekearth, and I wish them all a happy and productive month of July. The itineraries of my two cruises in tandem are #7316 and #7317. If any of my friends happen to be near the ports that the ship visits, I would be immensely happy to meet them personally.

evanrizo, Docarmo, siolaw, jwmunro, gunbud, jhm, nivaldo, jaywalker, sayan, meltemi, MLINES, isabela_sor, AiresSantos, salvator, omeryagiz has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

evanrizo (456) 2007-06-30 7:02

Hi Bulent, I wish you a great great time on this four weeks.
A nice framed photo, with soooooo nice blue!!!
TFS
Evan

aadilj (17950) 2007-06-30 7:25

The blue of the sea is striking and superb, love the freshness and great cool feeling. The crusie sails nice trough the frame. great idea andlovely composition. Good idea indeed with fine colours and textures

jaywalker (12419) 2007-06-30 8:40

Hi Bulent, A very well chosen POV, the high view has picked out the ship next to the liner & gives a great prospective of size, framing by the natural surrounding looks excellent & the blue of the sea is beautiful, kind regards Wilson.

delic (6735) 2007-06-30 9:18

Merhaba,
I thought you were gone already. That looks luxurious even if dwarfed by the distance. Lovely, inviting blue. Wishing you a wonderful voyage!
Best wishes,
Hakan

pat0500 (21513) 2007-06-30 10:30

Hi Bulent,
Very nice composition of this large and beautiful boat..!
Very good framing, good light and colours too...!
Good shot...Very pretty colours blue of the sea...!
Berst regards,
Patrick

xavshot (63373) 2007-06-30 13:31

Bonsoir Bulent,
joli POV dominant cette scène et belles couleurs. Ce grand bateau luxueux sur cette belle mer bleue font penser aux vacances qui arrivent bientôt ;o)
amicalement
Xavier

Docarmo (8862) 2007-06-30 19:57

Hi Bulent,
Nice composition and splendid colours.
Wishing you a wonderful voyage, we are anxiously waiting for your return with lots of beautiful pictures. No doubt about it.
Maria do Carmo

Matthew-Watt (4473) 2007-06-30 23:00

Hello Bulent,

I would have liked to see more variety in colour in the FG, but this is not always simple to do. The texture shrubs provides the texture, at least to break up the remainder of the image. The subject is stunning; a huge liner sitting is the azure sea. The patterns produced by the waves is also an eye-catching element, as are the smaller boats passsing. I think you have been creative with the colour choice of the frame; it very much works to boost the composition of the image. Nice work! Enjoy your month of July Sir, have a fine trip!

Matt

captainsgirl (3448) 2007-07-01 7:25

Great View...don't stand to close to the edge! :o)
good color and nice photo being so zoomed in...TFS
Donna:o)

Thanks also for your comments on my photo " Spring in Vermont (30) " :o)

Bluejeans (33457) 2007-07-01 7:48

Ola Bulent bonita foto deste gigante dos mares rodeado de agua azul , muito bonitas as cores gostei destes arbustos em primeiro plano ,parabens!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

gbeli (2026) 2007-07-01 9:36

Hello Bulent
Nice photo of the sea and the sheep.
Good POV and colors.
Regards

siolaw (25914) 2007-07-01 14:01

Hi Bulent
A clever way to frame the liner between branches, from good POV.
Vivid colors and correct sharpness makes it a pleasant image to look at
Laurent

jwmunro (6285) 2007-07-01 16:56

Hello Bulent -

This is an interesting perspective of such a large vessel. To me the image looks to be slighly OE'ed as the blues look a bit unnatural and the forground bushes seem to be colorless. I am viewing this on an LCD laptop where sometimes colors look off. Otherwise, it is a nice image.

Thank you for sharing.

John

gunbud (28325) 2007-07-01 19:05

Hi Bulent,
Wonderful contrast between the vibrant blue sea and the white ocean linner. All is seen in excellent detail from your high perch. Very informative note as usual.
Regards, Tom

Cretense (57608) 2007-07-02 3:59

Hi Bulent!

Great POV and framing for this excellent summer shot, that makes us dream of beautiful cruises. Simple but great composition and great light managment. Congratulations!

With cordial regards,
Hercules

jhm (83802) 2007-07-02 9:17

Hello Bulent,

I wish you and your wife a very lovely cruise, I shall not forget July 7 your............ Take care.
A pity you come not to Antwerp or one other Belgian ports, but here every day rain, not in the Italy and the other countries there.

Have a nice month July,
John

Yar (795) 2007-07-02 10:26

Dear Bulent,
I like the colours of this picture, they are very peaceful and relaxing. Of course, I appreciate your comments.
Best regards,
Iaroslav

carmia (4964) 2007-07-03 9:02

Hi Bulent!! Nice colours and perfect composition.
like it. Carme.

nivaldo (13536) 2007-07-04 17:24

Hello my friend, Merhaba Bulent !!!
Today I posted Delos (in Greece), near Myconos...Two years ago I was there with my wife and I felt as I was on the time of Apolo!
A great image from Santorini,
beautiful Greece!
Um abraço!
Nivaldo

puzzle (700) 2007-07-05 4:35

merhaba hocam,

cok guzel cercevelenmıs bır fotograf,renkler de cok guzel..
iyi tatiller dilerim..

saygilarimla

leyla

WepWaWet (4000) 2007-07-06 3:19

Merhaba Bulent,
Denizin muhtesem rengi ve gemi harika bir goruntu olusturmus. Mukemmel bir kadraj ve cok guzel bir kompozisyon. Elinize saglik.
Selamlar,
Seref

toto (18783) 2007-07-06 10:37

Belle photo de ce superbe bateau sur lequel il doit faire bon vivre. Quel bleu magnifique de cette eau et très bonne idée que ces buisson qui coupent les coins, je trouve cela particulièrement jolis. Amitiés Thomas

izmirli (3367) 2007-07-06 14:38

selamlar bülent bey
bir defa katıldığım o ada turunu bir türlü unutamıyorum.ışık ve renkler harika bülent bey.
türkiyeden sevgilerimle.
gürkan akçakır.

sayan (2609) 2007-07-09 9:18

hello prof atalay,

wonderful picture! I like the framing of the beautiful cruiser between the two trees. the colours are beautiful and the serenity is really understandable.

regards

sayan

meltemi (9746) 2007-07-14 10:52

Hello Bulent,
Well seen and captured,the nice composition and the excellent colors and clarity, make a very pleasant image. The cool oceanic mood in the background is fantastic along with holiday season.
Warm Regards.
Stella

Henryk_Bilor (20375) 2007-07-15 15:12

Hi Bulent
Beautiful colours and light. Nice composition.
Have a nice holiday :).
REgards

MLINES (11068) 2007-07-25 23:34

Hi Bulent. That is a piece of heaven you show us today. The blue of the sea is hard to beat. The high perspective is wonderful. TFS. Murray.

isabela_sor (42765) 2007-07-27 0:48

Everything in Santorini is blue????And because I love blue this place can be a real heaven for me :).Excellent POV and great framing
All the best

capthaddock (28640) 2007-07-29 8:19

Hello Bülent - it must be a delightful but pricey way of getting around, but that ship sure looks comfortable, nice perspective high above the sea.

AiresSantos (43298) 2007-07-31 4:53

Hi Bulent,
Amazing blue colour in this gorgeous composition. Nice boat and POV. Well framed and done
TFS and greetings
Aires

salvator (18999) 2007-08-05 11:32

Hello Bulent Bey,
Very nicely composed with the major part an excellent blue and the perfect white boat. The sharpness and colors are outright superb.
I wish you an excellent weekend. Best personal regards. Salvator.