Cortona | Italy

We saw time passing before us in more than one way in Cortona, a town in eastern Tuscany. Outside a regal doorway, we waited, and waited some more, for the Tuscan sun to brighten the skies dulled by lingering thunderstorms. Then, almost without warning, the storms began to pass. Time suddenly became short. After hours of waiting, we found ourselves hurrying to get the shot before the light overpowered the scene and set up contrasts too stark for our purposes. Moments before the sun reappeared, a warm glow pervaded the air, evenly lighting an uneven scene. While stucco succumbed to the effects of time, crumbling from the walls, the door within stood fast. And our time vanished, fading into the image as the steps below the door disappeared into the time-worn stone of the street.