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Welcome

I'm a photographer based in Auckland, New Zealand. I have shot a variety of projects, including portraits, fine art landscapes and product photography for businesses. I have also shot motorsports for something a little more challenging. In my spare time, I'm currently working on a timelapse series of New Zealand having recently included Lake Tekapo and Aoraki (Mount Cook) to the list.

Summer in Italy | Firenze & Fake David

After our short stop in Pisa and the Italian McDonalds we took the train to Firenze.

The Firenze train station was a short walk to our accomodation, Chez Aline (located on Via Ventisette Aprile) which is a sweet and inexpensive hotel with the world's tiniest elevators. As it turns out, elevators are exceptionally small in a lot of Europe. We just managed to fit both our suitcases in then ran up the stairs to collect them two floors up.

Aline is a good location, nearby to museums and a two minute walk to a laundrette (Lavanderia Il Delfino). There's also a pharmacy and some great restaurants nearby.

That night we walked through the streets to find dinner, the restaurants in alleyways are so rustic. La Ménagère on Via de' Ginori made me stop in my tracks.

Fake David

Real David stands in the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, after being relocated and a replica (aka Fake David) put in its place. The problem with Real David is the queues.

The upside to severe jet lag is you get up at ridiculous o'clock and can make it to places before they get busy. Even with that on my side, by the time I got to the Galleria, there were already people queueing up. And I can't handle queues. I don't see the point in lining up for things and I also get distracted easily so one minute you're in the line for Real David, the next you're in a gelato shop having breakfast forgetting Real David exists.

That's not to say that Real David isn't worth visiting if you're in to queues and museums. Fake David on the other hand is well worth visiting. High up the 100 million steps to Piazzale Michelango stands a Fake David. Apparently there's a couple of them about the city and originally he stood in Piazza della Signoria until the aforementioned relocation.

Fake David on Piazzale Michelangelo is incredible because after you've finished looking at him you turn around and suddenly the entire city of Firenze is beneath you. The view is stunning. And there are no queues. Win win for Fake David.