Places Remembered: Verona

Please permit me a seasonal juxtaposition.  It’s full-blown spring now, and the birds are all singing what appear at first to be songs of joy, but probably are rather raucous territorial warnings to potential rivals and predators.  Still, as the Bard writ, thoughts turn to love.  And I find my mind’s eye wandering back to a particular day—not in spring, but in autumn—to a Sunday in September that I spent in Verona, Italy, the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.  I had the entire day free, and had decided to take my map and just follow my instincts and see where they and my muses might lead me.  I made no special effort to search out Juliet’s balcony or any other tourist attraction, but just wandered at will.  Toward late afternoon I found myself strolling on the sidewalk along the south bank of the Adige river, and as I passed a curve in the river’s path and surveyed the view across the river to the north, I saw a young couple sitting on the stone railing at the river’s edge, totally engrossed in each other and oblivious to anyone else in the area—including me, a random passer-by.  I was immediately captivated by their intensity, and made a quick decision to forego my usual procedure of scouting around for the best angle, taking best advantage of the available light, looking for the ideal background, bracketing exposures, etc.  Instead, I crossed my mental fingers, quickly set my exposure at 1/3-stop under to be sure that I’d capture details in the highlights, and carefully squeezed off one shot only, then turned casually and went back on my exploratory way.  It wasn’t until later that evening, when I had my first look at the day’s results, that I had a chance to review this shot.  It remains one of my very favorites from the entire trip.  In retrospect, a part of me wishes that I’d gone over, introduced myself, and offered to send them a copy of what I thought would be a nice candid portrait—but I didn’t, and a larger part of me rests assured that I did the right thing in not interrupting this intimate and special moment.  And so, as we celebrate spring, let me take us back to young love in autumn:   Here, then, are my Romeo and Juliet.

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