• Home
  • Daily photo
  • Colour
  • B&W
  • Landscape
  • Cities
  • People
  • Sport
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Conctact
Andrea Monti

Photos, not gear

  • Home
  • Daily photo
  • Colour
  • B&W
  • Landscape
  • Cities
  • People
  • Sport
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Conctact
Menu
  • Home
  • Daily photo
  • Colour
  • B&W
  • Landscape
  • Cities
  • People
  • Sport
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Conctact
  • Home
  • Daily photo
  • Colour
  • B&W
  • Landscape
  • Cities
  • People
  • Sport
  • FAQ
  • About
  • Conctact

No Widgets found in the Sidebar Alt!

  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Winter

    Just A Phone Call – 1

    February 18, 2015 /

    Shot in stark monochrome, this image emerged from a walk beneath an underpass on a winter afternoon. The subject is unassuming—a lone figure, caught mid-step, carrying bags in one hand and a phone to his ear with the other. But it’s the tension between light and shadow, confinement and openness, that makes the frame speak louder than the moment it documents. Technically, this is a study in contrast. The tunnel acts like a natural vignette, swallowing the foreground in near-black shadow while casting the background in a flat, wintery glare. This duality pushes the eye forward. The silhouetted figure is placed just past the threshold of light, where the architectural…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    An outdoor theatre?

    January 31, 2013

    A Sad Harley-Davidson

    August 10, 2013

    Fancy a Beer?

    November 10, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Winter

    Inside an Old Gym

    February 16, 2015 /

    There’s a quiet dignity to this corner of a forgotten gym — the kind of place that smells faintly of chalk, iron, and decades of sweat baked into the walls. The dumbbells, spherical and capped with worn white bands, sit on their metal stand like relics from another era. Behind them, weight plates lean casually against peeling plaster, the faded “S.I.R.E.A. Roma” inscriptions a reminder that these tools once carried prestige in the hands of athletes who are now long gone. The composition makes excellent use of the tight corner. By framing the equipment against two converging walls, the photographer forces the viewer’s gaze into the scene, trapping it in…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Gliding Away

    December 21, 2021

    Is AI-generated art actually killing ‘real’ Art?

    September 16, 2022

    Out-of-Focus

    September 24, 2013
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Streets&Squares,  Winter

    Merleria Livia

    February 14, 2015 /

    Some signs don’t light up the street—they anchor it. This one simply says “MERLERIA LIVIA,” glowing white against the black. Not neon, not flashy. Just enough light to find your way back to something ordinary. Useful. Forgotten. Shot on a rainy night, the kind that turns every surface into a mirror. The pavement reflects the streetlamps like a memory trying to stay present. A man walks slowly, slightly hunched—not from age, maybe just the weather. Hands in pockets, coat zipped. Nothing urgent, nothing staged. The shop is closed. You can feel it. The shutters are down, but the sign is still doing its job. Reminding anyone passing that once, not…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    The Quest for Belgian Chocolate…

    April 11, 2017

    The Expired Film Series – Episode 7 – Kodak Portra 160 – June 2015 shot in Oct. 2023

    January 11, 2024

    Coffee Doesn’t Need a Table. It Needs a Moment

    June 17, 2013
  • B&W,  Beach&Shores,  Daily photo,  Winter

    Between Sea and Sky

    February 12, 2015 /

    This frame was taken from the window of a descending flight—a rare moment when clouds, coastline, and light lined up like a deliberate composition. What I saw wasn’t dramatic, just elemental: water, air, light. That was enough. I chose monochrome not for effect, but for clarity. In colour, the image lost its cohesion—too many tonal distractions in the blue ranges, too much softness in the sea. Stripping it to black and white revealed a quiet structure beneath the atmosphere: horizontal bands of texture, density, and reflection. Technically, the image stretches the limits of what you can get through a scratched plane window and turbulent light. The glass wasn’t clean, the…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    The Hasselblad Way

    January 2, 2014

    Seeking Directions – Where Do I Go From Here?

    September 10, 2013

    Love is like a flower

    May 18, 2013
  • Artists,  B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Reportage,  Winter

    John De Leo’s Grande Abarasse Orchestra – Live

    February 10, 2015 /

    This is a reportage I did during a concert of the John De Leo’s Grande Abarasse Orchestra. Covering this performance reminded me why live concert photography is such a balancing act between observation and anticipation. Each of these images, though part of a single reportage, serves as a fragment of a larger narrative – one built on rhythm, tension, and fleeting expressions. The colour frame of the full band provides essential context, grounding the viewer in the environment. The arrangement on stage is clear, with good use of depth to layer the musicians. The lighting, though moody and uneven, is handled competently, preserving detail without blowing the highlights from the stage…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    5 frames with a Canon R6 Mk II and its RF 50/1,2 L USM

    September 28, 2024

    Minolta MC W Rokkor-HG 35/2.8 and Nikon Z5 – An Empirical Field-Test

    January 8, 2026

    A Street-Skater on the Waterfront

    March 17, 2021
  • Artists,  B&W,  Daily photo,  People

    A Cello’s Player

    February 8, 2015 /

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Los Niños y El Tocaor

    October 30, 2017

    Same Space, Different Worlds

    October 18, 2013

    Full Moon

    May 9, 2017
  • Artists,  B&W,  Daily photo,  People

    Having Sax

    February 6, 2015 /

    This shot isn’t about music. It’s about friction — brass on fingers, sweat on grip, breath on reed. I didn’t wait for the solo. I framed the pause before it, when everything is coiled. The hand is relaxed, but not idle. It knows exactly where it is. I shot tight with a fast prime, 85mm wide open, to isolate the curve of the bell and the roughness of the horn’s surface — pitted and worn, not polished. This instrument has stories. It’s been around. The monochrome helps strip it down to form and texture. You feel the decades in that metal. The grain is intentional. So is the low-key lighting.…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Garbage Collection

    August 26, 2013

    Skull of Glass at the London Science Museum

    September 27, 2016

    A pouch for the Fuji XF 150-600

    May 16, 2023
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Garbage,  Past&Relics,  Spring

    Too Big To Be Dumped

    January 10, 2015 /

    This frame came to life walking past an alley where time seems to have hit pause. The bins stand in perfect alignment, regimented like bureaucratic soldiers, while behind them, the decaying wall tells a different story—chaotic, layered, unresolved. I shot this with a 35mm prime, letting the midday sun carve stark shadows that add to the irony of this supposed order. The exposure demanded precision. Too much light and I’d have lost the texture on the old plaster; too little and the bins would sink into murk. I leaned into the contrast, embracing the Leica’s natural tonal harshness in black and white. No dramatic angles, no “decisive moment” flourish—just frontal,…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Serva padrona @ Teatro Marrucino

    October 1, 2023

    The Lost Hotel

    September 5, 2014

    A Bad Experiment

    August 26, 2016
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Visual,  Winter

    A Modern Nazca?

    December 4, 2014 /

    This image is one of those moments when photography abandons literalism and moves into interpretation. What you’re looking at is, in fact, a stretch of pavement and asphalt intersected by strong shadows—but the shallow depth of field and the grain structure render it unmoored from immediate recognition. The blurred lines could be mistaken for ancient geoglyphs seen from above, hence the tongue-in-cheek title. The parallel bands, intersecting curves, and sudden diagonals call to mind aerial archaeology, even though the camera was barely a metre from the ground. The ambiguity invites a double take, and in that pause, the viewer starts to reconstruct meaning. Technically, this is a photograph of deliberate…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Some odd outcomes from a photo recovering attempt using an AI

    July 13, 2025

    Urban Totem

    April 29, 2014

    The True Ironman

    March 4, 2015
  • B&W,  Buildings,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Winter

    Faces in the Façade: A Ghostly Smile in Stone

    November 15, 2014 /

    The camera tilts upward, catching the weathered skin of a building where plaster peels like old parchment. Two circles and an arch, carved decades ago, sit quietly above the passageway. Yet in this photograph, the mind cannot help but play: the decoration forms a round-eyed, wide-mouthed face, its features soft and slightly comic. The resemblance is uncanny—here is the echo of the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, peering down with an oblivious grin. The cracked and flaking surface becomes its aging skin, the faded stucco a reminder that even ghosts of pop culture can find new haunts in architecture. Light and shadow turn structural detail into character. The deep arch below reads…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Why on Earth people, in Italy, still eat junk food?

    January 16, 2013

    Footprints in the Snow

    December 25, 2012

    Out For Justice

    June 21, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Bruxelles,  Daily photo,  Visual

    Histoire d’O

    November 11, 2014 /

    Photography has a curious relationship with meaning. Sometimes it offers us a direct line to an obvious narrative; other times, it teases us with ambiguity, compelling the mind to reach for significance where perhaps none exists. This image—an aged, weathered architectural oval, framed in peeling plaster—belongs firmly in the latter category. Its title, Histoire d’O, borrows knowingly from the controversial novel of the same name, inviting the viewer to read into its form, its texture, and its emptiness. Technically, the photograph demonstrates a strong command of tonal control. The black-and-white treatment emphasises the interplay between texture and shadow, revealing the rough grain of the plaster, the fine cracks tracing across…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    The Driver

    August 8, 2015

    A Bookstore in the Gallery

    December 22, 2013

    Shrinking Knowledge Into A Small Brain

    July 24, 2018
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Gates&Fences,  Lines,  Winter

    A Fence

    November 6, 2014 /

    What drew me to make this photograph was not the fence itself, but the way it interacted with the geometry behind it. The wire grid overlays the diagonal of the concrete stair and handrail, creating a tension between rigid containment and directional movement. The eye wants to follow the slope upward, yet is repeatedly interrupted by the vertical and horizontal bars in the foreground. In terms of composition, the alignment was deliberate. I positioned the frame so that the grid sat almost perfectly square, avoiding converging lines that would soften its structural authority. The diagonal cuts through the otherwise orthogonal arrangement, introducing a dynamic that stops the image from becoming…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Surreal Judo

    December 11, 2016

    On Composition. Or: the eye sees what the mind is prepared to comprehend

    September 11, 2023

    Light as Meaning Shifter

    December 11, 2019
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Visual

    Tiles

    October 31, 2014 /

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Don’t Forget!

    March 27, 2013

    An experiment with Dall-E, ChatGPT and a Nissan S8

    November 4, 2023

    5 frames with the (much awaited) Ferrania P33, a Nikon F3 and a Nikkor 50 F2

    April 30, 2024
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Cities,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  Parks,  People,  Urban Landscape

    The Seagull And The Sentinel

    October 27, 2014 /

      In front of the solemn geometry of a royal palace in Oslo, the eye is drawn not to the grand columns or orderly facade, but to the understated absurdity playing out on the forecourt. To the far right, a sentinel paces with ceremonial rigour — upright, focused, unyielding. His role is one of symbol and service: a visible reminder of authority, history, and order. But his dedication unfolds before an almost entirely empty square. Almost. Because to the left, alone and unconcerned, a seagull meanders across the open expanse. It neither salutes nor flees. It simply exists — indifferent to the weight of flags, uniforms, or palatial power. This…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Harley-Davidson: Chrome And Presence

    December 24, 2018

    Niccolò Fabi – Meno Per Meno Tour 2023 – Live@Teatro Massimo, Pescara

    May 7, 2023

    Lockpicking Tools

    December 11, 2018
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Oslo

    Boat Dock Bumpers

    October 26, 2014 /

    I made this photograph on a quiet, overcast day when the water was calm enough to reflect tone more than light. The ferry was easing in slowly, its pace unhurried. The dock’s side, lined with worn tires acting as bumpers, formed a long diagonal that led straight to the vessel. The structure looked utilitarian and weathered, shaped entirely by function rather than aesthetics. That mattered to me. I wanted to capture the work of the place, not the impression of it.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Lockpicking Tools

    December 11, 2018

    The Expired Film Series – Episode 2 – Ilford XP2Super 400 – Nov. 2017 shot in May 2023

    July 25, 2023

    Who wants to live forever?

    June 15, 2013
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Oslo

    A Two-Masted Schooner

    October 25, 2014 /

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Columns

    November 10, 2014

    The Last Barrell

    December 10, 2015

    Between Two Sets

    May 15, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Buildings,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Oslo

    The Oslo Opera House

    October 24, 2014 /

    I’ve always believed that architecture reveals a different truth when seen from the water. Shooting the Oslo Opera House from the sea reinforced that idea for me. From this vantage point, the building doesn’t just sit on the waterfront—it seems to grow out of it, its sloping planes echoing the movement of the harbour while anchoring themselves firmly into the city skyline. For this photograph, I chose a framing that allowed the Opera House to dominate without isolating it. The surrounding water occupies enough of the lower frame to set the context, while the upper section leaves room for the building to breathe against the sky. This separation of planes—sea,…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Do Not Touch

    June 5, 2013

    Boat Maintenance At Genova’s Porto Antico

    July 30, 2014

    Red Tears

    June 7, 2013
  • B&W,  Boulevards,  Cities,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  People

    Downtown Pulse

    October 17, 2014 /

    This photograph captures the rhythm of a city centre street, a place where architecture and human movement converge. The composition is anchored by the façades: the mix of brick and ornate plasterwork recalls different eras of urban growth, while the signage and shopfronts bring the scene firmly into the present. The café on the left introduces a quieter layer — seated figures just visible through the glass — while pedestrians animate the open space in the middle ground. Technically, the exposure holds balance across the tonal range. The overcast light provides a diffuse softness, avoiding hard shadows and allowing the details in both masonry and pavement to remain legible. The…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Traffic Master

    December 19, 2016

    Street-Photographer’s eye side effect

    April 8, 2014

    Life is a bitch

    May 22, 2013
  • B&W,  Cities,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  People,  Street Photography,  Thoughts

    Norwegian Suits

    October 15, 2014 /

    A missed opportunity for a good photo. I shot too early and failed to frame the guy with the bicycle whose look would have been a nice “counterpart” with the serious attire of the businessmen he was crossing.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Bus Driver

    September 16, 2016

    An Intense Conversation

    October 9, 2013

    Disagreement

    December 29, 2012
  • B&W,  Cities,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  People

    Zebra Crossing in Oslo… With Red Light

    October 12, 2014 /

    I took this frame while walking toward the Royal Palace in Oslo, on a typically overcast Scandinavian morning. I was drawn not by the architecture, but by the quiet absurdity playing out in front of me: the man, dead-centre, marching briskly across a zebra crossing, fully aware of the red pedestrian light glowing above him. He wasn’t rushing. He wasn’t unaware. He simply decided to cross. Behind him, another pedestrian also defies the signal. Meanwhile, the older gentleman to the left seems locked in step with the more visible figure—a generational echo, perhaps. Their trajectories don’t intersect, but they form a compositional rhythm that pulls the image together. The image…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Venditti&DeGregori – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella

    August 11, 2022

    Cultural Variety In Helsinki

    September 24, 2022

    The Leica M9 CCDgate Outrageous Case

    December 11, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Cities,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  People

    Hanging Bottle

    October 11, 2014 /

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Out-of-Focus Once Again

    February 28, 2015

    Moon, hand-held

    April 30, 2021

    Meaning in Photography

    March 4, 2020
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Boulevards,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  OutOfFocus,  People

    Out Of Focus, Once More

    October 6, 2014 /

    Missed focus. Again. And no, it wasn’t intentional. This wasn’t a conceptual experiment, nor a nod to dreamlike abstraction. It was simply a technical failure, shot with a manual lens, rushed framing, and an optimistic assumption that I’d nailed the hyperfocal distance. I hadn’t. Still, I kept the frame. It’s a street in Munich, pigeons pecking at the ground, firemen walking down the centre. A homeless encampment crowds the left edge. None of it sharp. But despite that—or maybe because of it—the image speaks. Context persists. Silhouettes are enough. The story doesn’t vanish with the detail. Technically, the photo lacks precision: the aperture was too wide, depth of field too…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    One Shot (Plus One) Story – All That Lasts

    April 19, 2025

    Which Part of “No Smoking” Got You Lost?

    June 21, 2015

    Carabinieri in Milan

    January 28, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Oslo

    Lady Gaga Art Rave

    October 5, 2014 /

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Photography and the dangers of ethics

    April 17, 2013

    @Rome Maker Faire – 1

    October 9, 2014

    Silent Reader

    July 17, 2016
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Oslo,  People

    Cold Freezing Tour Through Oslo’s Fjord

    October 4, 2014 /

    I took this photograph aboard a ferry cutting through the Oslo fjord in winter. The cold was penetrating, the kind that seeps into bones despite layers of clothing. The passengers’ body language tells the story more effectively than words: one figure wrapped in a blanket, hands folded in stillness; the other with a camera resting idly on his lap, shoulders hunched, jeans stiffened by the chill. Compositionally, I aimed for a low angle, using the perspective of the floor and the rug leading diagonally into the frame. This draws the eye directly toward the two figures without needing to show their full faces. The benches on either side narrow the…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

    You May Also Like

    Call On The Docks

    August 4, 2014

    Forgotten

    October 15, 2013

    Portrait of a Bailaor

    November 19, 2013
678910

Projects

  • Daily photo (1,448)
    • B&W (288)
    • Colour (1,145)
  • Daily Video (17)
  • Portfolio (2)
  • Projects (1,362)
    • Airport (15)
    • Bottles&Cups (12)
    • Cars&Bikes (45)
    • Chairs&Seats (19)
    • Cities (474)
      • Barcelona (16)
      • Boston (11)
      • Bruxelles (67)
      • Edinburgh (1)
      • Hamburg (3)
      • Helsinki (2)
      • Kyoto (4)
      • London (27)
      • Milan (50)
      • Nagasaki (2)
      • Nagoro (1)
      • Nagoya (8)
      • New York (9)
      • Nikko (1)
      • Osaka (3)
      • Oslo (17)
      • Padua (1)
      • Paris (31)
      • Rome (156)
      • Stockholm (11)
      • Tokyo (32)
      • Tsukuba (2)
      • Venice (23)
      • Yokohama (1)
    • Court (23)
    • Landscape (99)
      • Beach&Shores (78)
    • Lines (19)
    • Marketing (6)
    • Moon (7)
    • Observer Bias (14)
    • Odds (22)
    • OutOfFocus (13)
    • Parks (6)
    • Past&Relics (60)
    • People (640)
      • Actors (20)
      • Artists (92)
      • Fighters (30)
      • Portraits (43)
    • Seasons (971)
      • Autumn (151)
      • Spring (194)
      • Summer (277)
      • Winter (369)
    • Shops (171)
      • Barber&HairStylist (1)
      • Bookstores (10)
      • Brand Stores (1)
      • Fashion Shops (17)
      • Garages&Labs (12)
      • Groceries (3)
      • Jewellery (3)
      • Patisserie (11)
      • Restaurants&Bar (94)
      • Street Markets (16)
      • Tobacconists (2)
    • Social Control (54)
    • Travels (19)
    • Urban Landscape (317)
      • Boulevards (12)
      • Bridges (7)
      • Buildings (24)
      • Docks (75)
      • Doors&Windows (27)
      • Downtown (36)
      • Exhibitions (15)
      • Fountains (8)
      • Garbage (18)
      • Gates&Fences (12)
      • Parks (21)
      • Streets&Squares (78)
      • Works (2)
    • Visual (70)
    • WideAngle (13)
  • Reportage (20)
  • Sport (76)
    • Beach Handball (1)
    • Beach Volley (5)
    • Billiard (1)
    • Body Builiding (1)
    • Cycling (1)
    • Fighting Disciplines (25)
    • Handball (3)
    • Kite Surf (4)
    • Road Running (1)
    • Roller Derby (1)
    • Rowing (3)
    • Shooting (11)
    • Skating (5)
    • Soccer (7)
    • Swimming (Fin) (1)
    • Track&Field (5)
  • Thoughts (246)
    • Gear (77)
    • Photo Journalism (7)
    • PhotoCritics (23)
    • Photography (70)
    • Street Photography (86)
    • Technique (32)
© 2026 Andrea Monti - all rights reserved