Andrea Monti

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  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Visual,  Winter

    Accidental Precision

    February 12, 2016 /

      This wasn’t a technical success. It was a mistake. I had just raised the camera when I accidentally twisted the zoom ring mid-exposure. The result: a vortex of distortion with a woman at the centre, walking straight into it. And yet, it worked. Not in spite of the blur—but because of it. The composition wasn’t planned, but it landed with an unexpected balance. The vanishing point draws backward, while the red coat blasts forward—like pigment dragged across the frame by a restless brush. The background—palm trees, streetlights, suburban geometry—melts into curves, turning realism into gesture. This image violates every rule of clarity. It’s not sharp. Her face is unreadable,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Italy, Landscape Photography and the Law

    January 23, 2014

    The Lost Lock

    June 12, 2014

    A HDR Experiment

    December 9, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  OutOfFocus,  People,  Rome,  Visual,  Winter

    Multiple Peripheral Visions

    February 10, 2016 /

    This frame was shot instinctively—no time to refocus, no second attempt. What emerged is less a photograph than a study in misdirection. Every figure in this image is out of focus, yet the meaning is sharper than most high-resolution portraits. The scene plays like theatre. A soldier, heavily armed, stands at ease in the foreground. A woman in heels walks away, blurred into silhouette. In the background, people sit, smoke, talk, check phones. The corridor and its black door—dead centre, unnerving in its neutrality—stares back like a question. The sign reads “BALCONE DIPLOMATICO,” almost comical in its contrast to the ordinariness of what surrounds it. Technically, it’s a failure by…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Cornermen

    June 4, 2013

    Fast Call

    December 28, 2013

    Garbage Collection

    August 26, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Rome,  Winter

    Carabinieri:To Serve And Protect

    February 8, 2016 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Christmas Time at Covent Garden

    December 25, 2013

    A Fountain

    May 17, 2014

    Alive Or Not?

    February 16, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Rome,  Winter

    Art Auction at Piazza Navona

    February 6, 2016 /

    Piazza Navona, with its fountains, baroque facades, and endless hum of voices, has always been more than a square—it’s a theatre. In this scene, the performance is one of persuasion. An artist, dressed for the chill in a beanie and heavy jacket, holds up a framed painting. His expression is animated, hand gesturing as he speaks, the stance of a man who knows he has only a few minutes to turn curiosity into commitment. Across from him, a young couple listens. The woman’s hand hovers near her mouth—hesitation, calculation, or perhaps simply the reflex of someone considering a purchase that’s more about emotion than necessity. The man, in his blue…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Canon EOS-M. Useless for Street-Photography

    March 28, 2013

    Perfectly Framed

    November 26, 2015

    Steve Hackett – Live@Teatro d’Annunzio

    July 8, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Rome,  Winter

    A coffee at Saint Eustachio’s

    February 4, 2016 /

      Saint Eustachio is not a place for rushed photography. Between the crush of customers, the warm glare off the coffee machines, and the tight spaces, you’ve got to work with precision — and patience. Using the Fuji X-E2 with a Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.5, I knew this would be a manual focus game. Autofocus would have been hunting in the low light, and besides, the Planar has a way of rewarding the slowness it demands. I focused carefully on the barista’s eyes, knowing that at f/1.5 depth of field would be razor thin. He was completely absorbed in his work, and I wanted that concentration to be the anchor…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Fast Drivers in Via del Tritone

    October 31, 2019

    DxO Pure Raw empirical test

    November 22, 2022

    Small Talk

    February 10, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  People,  Rome,  Winter

    Action! (beware of Fuji X-Pro 2)

    February 2, 2016 /

    I’ve shot this picture with a Fujifilm X-E2 and a Zeiss C Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM. The split-image manual focus confirmation worked properly (though with a strong light it’s more difficult to handle it) and the resulting file in term of size and quality is fairly satisfying. Enter the X-Pro2 with a bigger resolution and new RAW format. While a 24 Megapixel APS-C sensor creates file that can be handled by most of the computer currently in place, the new RAW format will require the latest Photoshop CC/Lightroom update. So, if you chose not to enter into the mud of a subscription-based software licensing model, all of a sudden you…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Lockheed C-130 Hercules

    January 31, 2021

    Out-of-Focus

    September 24, 2013

    Run Like Hell, Pinocchio!

    February 24, 2015
  • Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Reportage,  Winter

    Max Gazzè Tour 2016 Live @Pescara

    February 1, 2016 /

    For this reportage I’ve borrowed a Canon 5D Mk III coupled with a EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM and my Fuji X-E2 with the XF 18-55 f/2.8-4R LM OIS. Of course, I got no operational problems with the 5D (if you know how to overcome its limits) and the lens performed very good, but I must admit that I’ve been surprised by the quality of the X-E2 images, taken at ISO 3200. Does this means that is time to trash the Canon and go for a “Fuji-only” setup? I don’t think so, in particular if telephotos are a recurring presence in the jobs. True, now Fujifilm too has a…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Stadio Olimpico, seen from Tribuna Monte Mario

    October 1, 2022

    The Commuter

    July 24, 2017

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

    September 11, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Milan,  People,  Winter

    After a Tough Day

    January 30, 2016 /

    I  took this photo with a Fujifilm X-E2 and a Leica Elmarit 90/2,8. Manual focusing with the split-image option has been fairly easy.

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    Andrea Monti

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    While the kids grow-up…

    July 25, 2013

    Everything is ready for the service

    July 2, 2013

    Alien Veins

    December 3, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Fashion Shops,  Rome,  Winter

    Sales Force

    January 28, 2016 /

    There’s an odd tension in this photograph — one that pulls you in before you’ve even had time to work out why. On the surface, it’s a straightforward shop-window scene: mannequins in carefully styled outfits, lit with that clinical precision that retail chains excel at. Yet the longer you look, the more unsettling it becomes. The composition is tight, almost regimented, with the mannequins arranged in military formation. Their identical, expressionless faces create a chorus of stillness, reinforced by the repetition of hair colour, pose, and stance. The red “ALDI” sign in the foreground slices into the frame with an almost aggressive verticality, its bold typography competing for attention with…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Stop in Reggio Emilia

    February 21, 2024

    After a Tough Day

    January 30, 2016

    The Rise of the Mutant Spiders?

    November 4, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  OutOfFocus,  Rome,  Visual

    Without Glasses @ via del Corso

    January 25, 2016 /

    I made this photograph in Rome on a wet afternoon, deliberately throwing the focus to the foreground while the main figures walked straight into softness. It’s not a mistake. It’s an exercise in perceptual ambiguity—what the world looks like when memory is sharper than vision, when emotion fills in the blanks that optics don’t. The Fujifilm X100s, with its fixed 23mm f/2 lens, let me shoot discreetly. I prefocused on the pavement, framed instinctively, and let the rest blur into suggestion. The couple—arms linked, shopping bags swinging, half-sheltered under an umbrella—aren’t anonymous; they’re imagined. Their presence is read through posture, not detail. Technically, it’s anti-precision. Depth of field was shallow,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Helios 40-2 85/1,5 and Fuji X-T5: a sample

    June 21, 2023

    Come on in…

    September 11, 2013

    The First Picture of the Year

    January 5, 2019
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Fashion Shops,  Gear,  People,  Rome,  Winter

    Should I Buy It? (Best Taken With an 85mm)

    January 23, 2016 /

    …but actually with a 23mm (35mm equivalent, cropped.) It’s not just a shopping street. It’s a stage. Look closer: this frame holds a silent performance — a subtle interplay of desire, decision, and doubt. Three women stand just outside the warmth of the boutique, their eyes fixed on mannequins who, ironically, seem far more confident than the living observers. The mannequin inside strikes a bold pose, clad in red and certainty. The women outside? Bundled in coats, their body language somewhere between ambivalence and negotiation. On the far left, another kind of window. A glowing child’s fantasy, plastered with Disney’s “Frozen” — a reminder of simpler times, when wanting something…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Mario Asks for it!

    April 9, 2014

    The New Church

    May 13, 2014

    Waiting for the Fish

    December 18, 2021
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  People,  Photography,  Rome,  Street Photography,  Winter

    The Watchman (Street-Photography Shortcuts)

    January 21, 2016 /

    As every thing under the sun, Street-Photography too has its own shortcuts: freaky street-portraits are one of those. It’s easy to have your pictures noticed when your subject is a 60-years old Brit-Punk, an implausible-color dressed man or whatever alike: these subjects do the work on your behalf and it is very hard to obtain such kind of picture AND conveying actual meaning. Personally I like photos that – alone or made meaningful by a title – can tell a story. This way I can try to (pretend to) make “unique” shots, that stand with dignity in front of the zillions of 500px/Instagram/Flickr’s  great images that are often perfect but…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Hanging

    January 19, 2015

    Kristina Miller live@Teatro Marrucino

    February 21, 2022

    Beach in black

    January 5, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  People,  Rome,  Winter

    True Leather (Saved by Photoshop’s Crop)

    January 18, 2016 /

    A 35mm focal length is definitely much too wide for my kind of street-photography, but I must admit that the advantages of using a Fujifilm X100s in terms of efficiency and portability, beat any other issue related to the wideness of the lens. And the X100s’ resolution is good enough to obtain a good composition through Photoshop’s crop feature.

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    Andrea Monti

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    5 frames exploring the Sporting Gun Culture in Italy

    April 15, 2025

    When The Passion Is Gone (thank to a sneaky photographer)

    August 21, 2013

    Fast Drivers in Via del Tritone

    October 31, 2019
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  People,  Rome,  Thoughts

    Fujifilm X-Pro 2: Does It Worth It? (Lost In Via Del Corso)

    January 16, 2016 /

    As a Fujifilm camera early adopter (during time I got the X-pro 1, X100, X100s, X-E1 and X-E2) I was waiting for the X-Pro 2 to come and when that finally happened I didn’t feel so compelled to trash my (now) old cameras to do the switch. Long gone are the days of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome),  so I shall not buy this new piece of electronics because it doesn’t do anything that I can’t do with my actual set up (in particular, with the X100s and the X-E2.) The only actual point of interest, to me, are the dual-slot card and the weather sealed body: but I never needed…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Frame Within a Frame Within a Frame

    April 23, 2023

    In Hoc Signo

    August 20, 2015

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

    September 11, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Restaurants&Bar,  Rome,  Winter

    A Nikon’s Portrait Made With a Fuji

    January 14, 2016 /

    A Nikon camera strap curls into the lower left of the frame, its familiar yellow letters unmistakable to anyone who’s ever held one. Yet the photograph itself was taken with a Fujifilm—a quiet, almost private joke between photographer and viewer. The rest of the image leans into misdirection. The camera is not the subject, at least not in the obvious way. Centre stage belongs to a pair of hands opening a quilted leather handbag, rings catching the light, fingertips poised in the act of searching or arranging. The fabrics, textures, and colours—matte grey, deep burgundy, soft velvet—compete gently for attention. The Nikon strap rests there almost incidentally, but of course…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Fishermen in Rome, Again

    November 5, 2013

    Smile!

    August 7, 2013

    Questioning the Referee

    October 8, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  Restaurants&Bar,  Winter

    Reflexes

    December 30, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Under The Bridge

    June 27, 2016

    The Doorman

    September 1, 2013

    Dai Shodo@Kyoto

    December 2, 2020
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  Reportage,  Winter

    Labcoats In A Moment Of Rest

    December 28, 2015 /

    The lab was quiet. Machines still hummed, but the people had stepped away—lunch maybe, or a seminar down the corridor. I found this row of coats, slack and ghostlike, lined up with the kind of accidental symmetry that only happens when no one’s trying. Each hook bore a name: Stef, Erica, Anna, Sara, Giorgio… markers of identity in a place that prizes protocol over personality. Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with the 24–105, the image leaned into its neutrality. No attempt to stylise the whites or fake a sterile glow. The coats were wrinkled, some slightly yellowed at the seams. I kept the exposure honest—highlights restrained just below…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Room 17 – VIXI

    March 27, 2015

    Mind Your Business…

    January 9, 2013

    Glancing Books

    November 12, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Winter

    Last Puff Before the Ride

    December 26, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Wire Stylist

    January 31, 2015

    Three Legged?

    July 21, 2017

    Street Crossing

    September 17, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Winter

    Busy

    December 24, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    A (Tokyo) Taxi Driver

    June 17, 2018

    A solitary journey

    December 24, 2012

    The Worst Moment to Fix a Shoe’s Problem

    April 14, 2013
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Winter

    Earbuds

    December 22, 2015 /

    A man crosses the street in mid-stride, headphones enclosing him in his own private world. Behind him, a line of people stands at the tram stop, their stillness a counterpoint to his movement. The tram, painted in tired colours, seems almost fixed in place, its presence dwarfed by the weathered façade of the building above. The sign EgyptAir—faded, peeling—hangs over the scene like an echo from another time, hinting at journeys and destinations that have little to do with this grey urban moment. The building’s windows are uneven in tone, some dark, some reflecting a pale sky, all framed by streaks of wear from decades of weather. What draws the eye…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Daniele Silvestri – Teatri 2022 – Live@Teatro Massimo, Pescara

    December 16, 2022

    A Boat Under The Bridge

    September 18, 2016

    Beer or Spritz?

    November 1, 2019
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Streets&Squares

    One Coffee

    December 20, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Hanging News

    June 18, 2013

    Ramping Up

    September 16, 2014

    Accidental Precision

    February 12, 2016
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Winter

    A Vessel

    December 18, 2015 /

    I’ve always found that photographing boats is an exercise in balance—between structure and fluidity, between the hard geometry of rigging and the soft, shifting water beneath. This image leans into that duality beautifully. The yacht sits clean and confident in the frame, its hull catching the light in a way that reveals every subtle curve, while the fenders hang like punctuation marks, breaking up the strong horizontal line of the deck. Shot in black and white, the absence of colour shifts the viewer’s attention to texture and tonal separation. The polished deck, taut ropes, and the soft reflections in the harbour water each have their own surface quality. The exposure…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Roots On The Roof

    September 6, 2015

    The Naughty Customer’s Place

    September 28, 2013

    The Man Behind The Croissant

    December 13, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Winter

    Romeo’s Hideout

    December 16, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Perfectly Framed

    November 26, 2015

    Stand-up, Sugar!

    March 8, 2014

    What lasts of a springtime hailstorm

    June 22, 2013
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Rome,  Winter

    Traffic Jam in Rome

    December 14, 2015 /

    Traffic Jam in Rome turns a mundane urban frustration into a tightly composed study of rhythm, glare, and human impatience. Shot in black and white, the image removes the distraction of colour, allowing form, texture, and contrast to carry the story. CompositionThe frame is dominated by the lead vehicle, a small Opel, positioned slightly off-centre but close enough to the lens to dwarf the rest of the scene. Its mass blocks the viewer’s way forward, much as the driver is blocked in reality. The eye then steps back through a staggered row of vehicles, each one receding into the compressed depth of traffic, until it meets the horizon cluttered with more…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Step Ahead

    October 8, 2022

    Vinyl Never Dies

    September 2, 2013

    Lost Bag

    December 8, 2016
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