The tragic Marchioness Christina Spartali Cahen Cristina Cahen died, from an overdose of chloral, possibly accidentally, aged 37, in 1884. It was a fashionable drug in artistic circles, both her sister’s husband Stillman and the painter Rossetti, were habitual users. It calmed the nerves, it was also known as a hynotic drug. Thankfully, however, after […]
Cahen, Spartali, Zambaco
The impressive ruins of the Etruscan temple of the Belvedere lie near the funicular station, bounded on one side by St Patrick’s Well and on the other by the road leading out of Orvieto to the Etruscan necropolis of the Cimitero del Crocefisso below the cliffs. Freud would have travelled this road when he visited […]
On his three visits to Orvieto, Freud always stayed in the comfortable Hotel delle Belle Arti on Corso Cavour in the town center, midway between Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele (now Piazza Repubblica) and the central clock tower, La Torre del Moro. There is a plaque. There were then 7,300 inhabitants, about three thousand more than […]
The Roman Road The Val D’Orcia is one of the most famous valleys in the world even though the name itself may not mean much. Tourists have travelled the Roman road called the via Cassia since the 16th century on the Grand Tour, but before them it was trod by pilgrims on their way to […]
Cassia, Francigena, Grand-Tour, Italian hidden treasure, medici, radicofani, Tuscany, William Turner
I started my photography career in the early 1970s so I have thousands of slides and large and medium format transparencies in my archive. Every now and again I need to pull one out and scan one for some reason. Here are a few that I have pulled out from the box. A year in […]
Egypt, transparencies, travel photography
How to fix a maddening problem common to most compact cameras: the sticking zoom. In this video shot in my gallery I show how to fix a maddening problem common to most point and shoot cameras: the sticking zoom. When the zoom either refuses to protrude at all or does so only to retract immediately […]
dirty sensor, lens error, stuck zoom
Camera Etrusca is starting a new programme of photo workshops in Lisbon and the Coast in spring and autumn – the best times of the year for photographers to tour Portugal and enjoy the Atlantic coast’s dazzling light and warm climate, the buzzing atmosphere in Lisbon, and the unrivalled air of mystery and decadence among the eccentric […]
Photography tour in Algarve, Photography Tour in Portugal, Photography trip in May, Photography workshop in May, Photography workshops in Lisbon
The Bohemian Paradise and Golden Prague in February Course leader and photographer Patrick Nicholas met old Camera Etrusca clients Peter and Deborah in Prague for the first photo workshop in Bohemia. We then headed off by car with our host my old friend Milan Šroubek to the Bohemian Paradise (Cesky Raj) an hour to the […]
bohemia, Caspar David Friedrich, czech republic, Hruba Skala, Mala Skala, Photo workshops in Czech Republic, romantic painter, saxony, winter photo workshopChat with Patrick.
