Bologna, Italy, 2025

We had been enjoying balsamic vinegar throughout our bicycling trip in the Po River valley, and knew we had to have some to bring home (along with some 30 and 48 month aged Parmesan Reggiano). Just writing this makes me want to run to the kitchen.

The shop, Giuseppe Giusti, was elegant in its simplicity. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable, explaining the making of balsamic, and offering tastings of different qualities/aging. As we were checking out I saw what I thought would be a very nice, formal, head and shoulders portrait: her warm-toned face, and the violet slash of the headscarf, surrounded by the neutrality of her black suit and the ground of black casks.

I asked if I could make her photograph, she said yes, and then immediately did this little vamp. Click. I think I like this better than the colder image I saw. Either way, I’ve learned not to “correct” a willing stranger-model. The photos will lose any natural feel from then on.

(This image is from a RAW file shot with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Another way to get a “yes” sometimes is to not use an intimidating camera.)

My first exposure to balsamic was years ago, on one of the photo outings my Nikon colleague Bob Watts and I took. An old and close friend of his, Stanley Bucklin was not only a Leica rep, he marketed an Italian family’s balsamic products, and did taste testings. We spent the night with him and got an impromptu tasting event for the two of us. Bob remembers one bottle we tried was 100 years old, others decades. I just remember thinking, after sampling the most expensive offering, “I could drink that out of the bottle.”

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index