One day with Sigma 12-24 and canon 40d

On April 25, I left early in the morning, although the weather did not promise anything good, armed with my Canon 40d and all objectives.
The idea was to make some shots worthy of the name and spend a relaxing day.
The goal by the Varaita.
Unfortunately, the light throughout the day was not the best and I had to keep the ISO high enough, the 40d is no longer a youngster and this machine feels the weight of years.
First stop, a place found by chance on the river Maira near Busca during the journey, at a certain point and step on a bridge, looking down, I see the ruins of a mill and the crib style canyon.
Engaging the Sigma 12-24 and I do some shooting.

The ruins of the mill, I have not taken a picture of the outside because it was all submerged vegetation. Note the entrance to the beautiful fresco.

After this short break we moved, we had some breaks here and there, but the only shots of note with this view I made them in the lake dry seeds of Pontechianale shortly before returning home in the afternoon. The landscape was still purely winter and seemed to be in a Norwegian fjord.

In conclusion, the Sigma 12-24 I consider it a great lens with a truly remarkable value for money, considering that it is located on the new € 750. Unfortunately, I'm just taking advantage of being born to cover a full frame.
The only flaws are its maximum brightness of f 3.5 and the impossibility of montarci filters having the last lens protrudes from the petals of the lens hood.
But I saw photographers who have built media craft to be able to mount the filter lee. Sooner or later I'll try and let you know.
During the day I also did a few shots with the Sigma 180 macro, but that's another story.

Medal for the wars of independence and the unification of Italy

One of the latest arrivals in the collection of stories and photos.
Medal awarded to a fighter who took part in the campaign of 1849 (War of Independence) bar that displays the date that year. We are at the beginning of the events that led to the unification of Italy.
The medal object is silver, has a diameter of 32 mm, and the ribbon is of the classic Italian tricolor repeated for 6 times.
The engraver in this case was Demetrius Canzani, there are at least 20 variants, the most common are Jonshon and Stefano Ferraris, also there are traces of a variant of French private production very rare engraved by E. Falot.
It was established by the Royal Decree of 4 March 1865, and given to all the fighters who participated in the wars of independence since 1848, also served to remove a number of medals that were created by individual municipalities.
The historical data are taken from the book "The Italian medals of the last 200 years," the Brambilla.
I've also seen the same issue and medals with ribbon but not silver. For sellers these are original but I've never trusted because it is sometimes also called for a higher price than for those classics. The medal is not very rare and is commonly found around 60-70 € without bars, a little more if they are present.
They are found in many ribbons are not original, keep in mind that a ribbon for good that has been maintained, after more than 150 years a minimum you will be
discolored and worn as you can see in the picture below.

Panorama Stura Valley

With this shot achieved by combining 5 photos captured with my samsung wonder I leave the 2012. Hoping that 2013 is better. The photo is nothing special but I liked the view from that point on, I will a little 'better equipped ...
We are in Val Stura di Demonte, just above the Madonna del Pino, everything to the left is the hill of Festiona, on the right the valley very slowly climbs towards the hill of La Maddalena.

Turning their backs on this sunset the sun shines for a moment a tongue of snow.

Finally in this 21/12/2012 the sun comes out Mondovi

Seemed destined to end the world, wake up early to go on the hill near Briaglia that the day before I found them on Bisalta the view is spectacular and is the backdrop to the ancient village of Mondovi Square.
I watched the sun illuminate first Bric Costa Rossa then the tip of the Besimauda and slowly throughout the ridge. The ground was hard, the grass covered with a thin layer of frost. I was taking. The hands almost numb because of the very low temperature.
I thought I had finished my morning shots, I imagined the situation already for shooting at dusk and I was removing my Manfrotto when I noticed the curious play of light.
Mondovi Square is lit while the slopes of the Besimauda, which are the background, they are still in the dark. A click on the fly, this is the result.
Canon 40D + Canon 100-400 IS the freehand.