montenegro Archives - Just Enough Focus

December 21, 2017

Nuns on Vacation

I was walking through the old section of Kotor and came upon a group of nuns on vacation. At least I think they were on vacation, I didn’t actually speak with them. But they seemed to be having fun nuntheless.

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I’m not really in the habit of following people around, but I kept running into the same group. On no prior occasion have I seen nuns with cameras and iPhones, just like the rest of us. I don’t know why I found that odd, perhaps they are allowed to order these items on Amazon. But again, with nuns I am a novice and I could have it all wrong.

my favorite images

Anyway, I saw the group of them a couple of times and I took a few pictures of the spectacle. There is a certain ascetic to this scene that I find pleasing. I don’t see a lot of vacationing nuns in Florida. There is nothing much for them to see here except people that lay on the beach. And trust me, we have the mother of all beaches. But, they could raise money by selling French Fries. Anyone could order and they would just put the ingredients in the friar.

November 20, 2017

Night Scene in Lepetane

This was the night scene in Lepetane Montenegro as we passed by on a ship. We were leaving the port at Kotor and passing through a narrow channel lined with houses on each side. We could see people sitting on their balconies watching as our ship passed by on a warm summer evening.

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To me the scene was like a painting; so I decided to process the photo with that idea in mind. I used Topaz Studio to create an impressionistic rendering and then blend it with the original photo. While the image now looks like a painting, in some places it’s more realistic. It plays a little trick so we are not sure which it is, however it’s a little of each.

It’s amazing that software can “paint” a scene from a photo. But course its called digital rendering and not painting. Yet the software can be configured to use all manner of brush strokes, paint volume and even mimic styles of the masters. This is a case where computers are approximating art; which for me is amazing.

more night photos

The image represents an impression of a small coastal village at night, which for me is how I remember it. In my mind this type of rendering creates a feeling of the place that is easier to recall than with the unaltered realism of a plain photo. Stay tuned, I’ll be experimenting more with this amazing technique in the coming days and weeks.

November 17, 2017

Village of Dobrota

This is a photo of the village of Dobrota in Montenegro that I took from a ship in the Bay of Kotor. We spent an amazing day in Kotor and were leaving when I took this. The geography of the area reminded me of fjords. There are narrow inlets surrounded by towering peaks and the view is amazing.

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In Kotor we rode in a bus up an impossible single lane road to the top of these mountains. Even though the bus drivers are some of the best in the world half the passengers were praying fervently. It’s said the bus drivers in Montenegro bring more people to religion than the priests. After twenty-nine hairpin turns, I believe that to be true.

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I also have some images looking down at the water from these peaks. Either way you look at it this is one of the most scenic areas of Europe.