Introduction

I signed up for this photography class without the understanding that it was a higher level, mostly independent study class. I bought a cheap camera the day before we left for Italy, deciding that this trip was the time to finally get into photography, something I have been wanting to do for a long time. With the help of Mark Moak and two of the students on this trip who are already accomplished photographers, Maggie Weber and Ben Sherman, my little camera and I have been able to start capturing some of the beauty that seems to surround us at all times here in Italy. I named my blog after an Italian saying. One day my friend Marina, who is an intern at our villa, looked at my eyes and exclaimed, "You have sunflowers in your eyes!" Apparently here in Italy, when you have hazel/green/yellowish eyes like I do, they say that you have sunflowers in them.
         Because I am brand new to photography, many of my shots are the product of me simply wandering around and shooting whatever I think is interesting or unique, and out of all the shots, one decent one will come out. I am so glad that I have finally been able to get into photography, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place to learn a new hobby.

"Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph." – Matt Hardy