Contrast, Balance and Harmony.

I couldn't decide between several photos I took during my time in Italy. The top image was barely touched up with just some grayscaling to enhance the shadows. I am still debating whether or not I like it best with color. The top image is inside a castle called Miramare in Trieste. 

The Miramare photo of the fountain shows a lot of texture, from the old tile floor, the rippling water, the spikes of the statues, the streams themselves, the design of the wall emcompassing the well, and the smooth marble on top. You can also see a sort of growth happening on the water. The contrast is shown from the light hitting the water in the center and highlighting the ripples from the streams, coming from the darkness of the statues in contrast to the lighter marble on which they sit. There are hard shadows from some of the statues, and in the well and outer ring shadow on the water.

This image was taken in Venezia, I did not touch it up at all with any editing. There are so many natural colors and lighting that really emphasize the lines of this image. The canal itself is still and smooth, with shadows and highlights throughout, elongating the canal. The boats' tarps look used, creating a different texture and dingy sort of color. One side of the canal's walkway is lighter than the other, and even the cement seems clearer and cleaner on the left side. Along with the buildings and fence posts or railing. I think this provides contrast in texture, color and perhaps meaning.