Andrea Monti

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  • Chairs&Seats,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Restaurants&Bar,  Spring

    Waiting For The Patrons – 2

    June 19, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Odd Couple

    January 30, 2013

    @ Mediterranean Beach Games 2015 – Italian Beach Volley Team – Marco Caminati (and a primer on sport photography, part 6)

    October 13, 2015

    Outdoor Aperitif

    April 7, 2017
  • Chairs&Seats,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Restaurants&Bar,  Spring

    Waiting For The Patrons – 1

    June 17, 2015 /

    Rows of empty tables fill the frame, each one neatly set with glasses, cutlery, and the small black silhouettes of salt and pepper shakers. The chairs—red and blue—alternate without any strict pattern, giving the scene both order and disorder at once. The repetition draws the eye deep into the image, yet the absence of people leaves it eerily still. In the background, columns rise like structural sentinels, breaking the rhythm of the tables. Behind them, white sheets hang, blocking whatever lies beyond. These barriers, makeshift and plain, add to the sense that this place is on pause—prepared for service, yet suspended in anticipation. The light is soft, diffused, and without…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A lighter

    February 14, 2013

    Siamese Boats On the Seine River

    June 1, 2014

    Every Single Day

    June 28, 2017
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Paris,  People,  Spring

    Pensive

    June 13, 2015 /

    This black-and-white image, taken along the riverside steps in Paris, captures the quiet weight of stillness against a backdrop of movement. At the centre of the frame sits a lone figure, their silhouette defined against the lighter tones of the water. They face away from the crowd, turned toward the river’s shifting surface, embodying a pause in a city otherwise in motion. CompositionThe most compelling element of this photograph is its use of leading lines. The sweeping curve of the steps pulls the eye from the lower right of the frame directly toward the seated figure, and then out toward the distant pedestrians. This arc not only structures the scene…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Becoming a Human Tripod

    January 9, 2017

    The Coach

    December 9, 2018

    Garbage As Usual – Pantheon’s Nearby

    October 4, 2019
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People,  Spring

    Skating at Palais de Tokyo

    June 11, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Kudos to Ricoh

    February 8, 2013

    Inside an Old Gym

    February 16, 2015

    Stinky Shoes

    June 3, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Paris,  Spring

    Under the Arc of the Seine

    June 9, 2015 /

    Paris has a way of revealing its geometry to those who care to look. This photograph, taken from the cobblestone banks of the Seine, uses the underside of a bridge as a natural proscenium arch. The frame it creates is both literal and compositional, guiding the viewer’s gaze toward the urban stage beyond. The sweep of the bridge’s curve is echoed by the concentric stone steps leading down to the water, while the horizontal layers of the background—trees, buildings, roadway—add a pleasing counterbalance to the strong arc. From a technical perspective, the choice of black and white serves the image well. Stripping away colour emphasises the interplay of lines, curves,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The First Picture of the Year

    January 5, 2019

    The Stare of a T800

    August 4, 2015

    The Bored Bassman

    March 16, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Spring,  WideAngle

    PI Room At Palais de la Découverte

    June 7, 2015 /

    Walking into the Palais de la découverte, I was expecting to find science distilled into exhibits, but not quite in the graphic, almost Pop-art punch delivered by this wall installation. Bold, oversized foam digits leap from a sterile white surface, forming the endlessly irrational sequence of π. The visual rhythm is broken strategically with occasional black numerals, pulling the eye into brief moments of disruption. Below the digits, the names — EUCLIDE, EULER, FERMAT, FOURIER — provide a calm intellectual gravity against the visual chaos above. This shot was as much about the tension between mathematics and design as it was about light and form. I framed it head-on to…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Wave Riders

    September 20, 2013

    Intelligence Contest

    April 15, 2017

    Now You See It…Street Juggler at a Red Light in Barcelona

    June 16, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People,  Social Control,  Spring

    Underground Security RA(T)P

    June 5, 2015 /

    I took this shot as these three officers from the RATP Sûreté unit passed me in a corridor of the Paris Metro. The framing was pure reflex: centre-weighted, low-angle, fast shutter. I didn’t have time to fine-tune the exposure—the lighting was flat and mixed, with harsh fluorescence above and murky shadows dragging behind. But I didn’t correct much in post either. This is a moment that benefits from its rawness. Their backs tell the whole story. The staggered stride, the swing of a baton, the compressed geometry of the underground corridor—they speak of tension, routine, and latent power. It’s not a confrontational image. The officers aren’t responding to a threat.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Out-of-Focus Once Again

    February 28, 2015

    The Quiet Riot

    November 19, 2017

    Trust Us, We Care About You

    March 18, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Doors&Windows,  Paris,  Spring

    Stinky Shoes

    June 3, 2015 /

    I didn’t stage the boots. They were already there — resting, waiting, perhaps forgotten. Red leather, worn smooth at the toes, zipped and upright like sentries. The scene caught my eye not because of the shoes themselves, but because of their place within this cage of repetition: iron grille, mesh netting, and behind it all, the geometry of a city reflected in the glass. The photograph rests on layers. Foreground: a net that seems both to protect and to obscure. Midground: the wrought iron, rusted and ornate, Victorian in its stubborn elegance. Background: the shoes. And beyond them, windows reflecting windows. This multiplicity of frames becomes the structure of the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Seeking Directions – Where Do I Go From Here?

    September 10, 2013

    Portrait of a Law Professor (and Free Climber…)

    February 26, 2016

    Play It Again, Sam!

    April 13, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Paris,  Spring

    Access Denied

    June 1, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Silent Dialog

    August 31, 2013

    A Droplet

    February 21, 2021

    Lost

    July 13, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Moon,  Paris,  Spring

    Planetarium

    May 30, 2015 /

    The Zeiss projector at the Palais de la Découverte has an undeniable presence. It is both a piece of scientific equipment and a sculptural object, an embodiment of precision engineering turned into theatre. Under the dome’s dimmed lights, the machine sits like a mechanical deity, ready to conjure the heavens onto the curved canvas above. Photographing it was a matter of honouring its shape without reducing it to a mere technical diagram. I centred the composition to give the machine the stature it deserves, allowing its symmetrical arms and lenses to extend outward in all directions. The warm backdrop of the dome was a natural contrast to the cooler, magenta-tinted…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Las Ramblas’ Lifestyle

    April 18, 2014

    Batklubben

    July 23, 2016

    An Essay in Composition

    October 11, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  OutOfFocus,  Paris,  People,  Spring,  Visual

    No, You Don’t Need To Change Your Glasses

    June 14, 2014 /

    This was intentional. No missed autofocus, no technical glitch. I set the lens manually, focused nowhere, and waited for someone to walk into the blur. He did—carrying two bright yellow bags, dressed sharply but casually, perfectly unremarkable in the sharp world we expect from street photography. The concept was simple: remove clarity and see what remains. What I found was structure. Colour. Gait. Gesture. A kind of abstraction that doesn’t erase the human, just detaches it from identification. No face. No detail. But still a presence. Technically, the image defies critique by design. It isn’t sharp—at all. The highlights push into soft bloom, the street dissolves into haze, and the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Into The Cube

    November 18, 2014

    Forgotten Bike In A Forgotten House

    April 3, 2013

    Hanging

    January 19, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People

    Catching the Tube in Paris

    June 11, 2014 /

    Street photography often thrives on the interplay between the static and the fleeting, and this frame from Paris captures that balance with precision. The scene is anchored by the familiar visual cues of the city — the “METRO” sign, the Haussmannian stonework, the ordered chaos of bicycles, cafés, and traffic further down the street. These elements provide a stable architectural stage against which the human drama plays out. The blurred stride of the man crossing the frame injects the shot with movement and urgency, the sort of kinetic energy that turns a documentary image into a narrative one. His presence, slightly soft due to motion blur, contrasts sharply with the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Nagoya’s reportage featured in The Good Life

    October 29, 2020

    An Early Morning Fishing Expedition

    July 29, 2014

    Rush Hours

    March 10, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Paris,  Spring

    Siamese Boats On the Seine River

    June 1, 2014 /

    Two barges, TEMPO and VESTA, lashed together as if bound by some unspoken pact, making their way up the Seine. Seen from above, their pairing creates a symmetry that is almost architectural. The way their bows slice the water in unison feels more like choreography than navigation. The shot was taken from a bridge, directly aligned with their approach, which allowed me to keep both vessels centred and parallel in the frame. That alignment is crucial — a slight offset would have made the composition feel off-balance. Here, the geometry holds everything together: two hulls, two decks, two names, and a doubling of anchor motifs. The light was soft but…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Old Rolls, Immortal Style

    August 12, 2019

    The Wild Bunch

    September 30, 2014

    Cold Night, Hot Drink

    January 13, 2014
  • Bookstores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People,  Winter

    Quality Check. Try Before You Buy

    April 10, 2014 /

    This image was taken outside a Parisian bookstore, a moment as classic as it is current: a man stands in the entrance, thumbing through a photobook, absorbed but casual. It’s not staged—he didn’t even glance at the camera. He was too focused, as anyone who’s spent hours weighing the purchase of one more photography book will understand. His expression wasn’t about doubt; it was about judgment—quality check, plain and simple. The composition offered itself. Framed by the bookstore’s open door, the man becomes the central figure in a visual funnel, surrounded by vertical stacks of books, postcards, and prints. The image flattens space into layered density—foreground filled with titles, background…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Visual

    January 18, 2013

    True Leather (Saved by Photoshop’s Crop)

    January 18, 2016

    The Day of the Zombies

    October 23, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People

    Parisian’s Bags

    April 6, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Staring At The Infinite (While Waiting For The Fishes)

    August 1, 2014

    Bus Driver

    September 16, 2016

    The Street Photographer Rights In Italy. The Leaflet

    July 10, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Spring,  Street Photography

    Tour Saint-Jacques, Standby

    March 27, 2014 /

    Paris, the city of light, reflects off the polished chrome helmets of the sapeurs-pompiers. The firemen stand poised, immobile but ready. Their posture does not betray fatigue, nor doubt—it’s the stance of trained patience, of focused anticipation. This image captures a moment between action and calm. The fire hoses lie coiled with potential energy, valves shut, mechanisms still untouched. Behind them, the urban rhythm carries on: buses glide, pedestrians move, the sirens wait. The presence of the firefighters, framed by the bustle of Haussmannian façades and traffic, signals that something mighthave happened—or almost did. The mirrored helmets become metaphors themselves. They do not just shield: they reflect the world around them. Their function is…

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    Andrea Monti

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    To Do or To Own? (or the Photographer’s Dilemma)

    March 2, 2025

    A Young Sailor in Open Sea

    August 11, 2014

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

    January 11, 2024
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Patisserie,  People

    Breakfast at Rue Brisemiche

    March 25, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    People

    December 21, 2012

    Fast Call

    December 28, 2013

    Indifference

    July 5, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People,  Street Markets

    Hard Choice In Quai de la Corse

    March 21, 2014 /

    I made this frame near Île de la Cité, on Quai de la Corse—one of those places where the mundane and the picturesque casually coexist. What first drew my attention wasn’t the postcard rack, but the slight choreography unfolding around it. Two figures—clearly together, maybe tourists or locals revisiting the familiar—stood split by the display, momentarily anonymised by a turnstile of nostalgia. That was the hook: a photo of people concealed by the very thing designed to represent their surroundings. The irony held my attention long enough to lift the camera. I composed the shot with that in mind. The vertical rack bisects the frame precisely, interrupting the couple’s presence…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Learning to Fly

    August 23, 2018

    The Sailor

    June 24, 2013

    Three Shadows

    November 11, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Winter

    Relaxed Call at Boulevard du Palais

    March 19, 2014 /

    Paris lends itself so well to moments of quiet theatre, and this image captures one of those understated urban vignettes — a waiter leaning against a doorway, mid-call, somewhere between duty and a fleeting pause. The scene’s composition is clean and deliberate. The vertical symmetry of the architecture — the heavy wrought-iron window on the left, the dark panelled doors on the right — creates a structured backdrop that frames the human subject without overpowering him. The soft patina of the stone façade carries a sense of history, its muted tones setting off the crisp whites of the waiter’s apron and shirt. His black vest and bow tie anchor him…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Aperitif

    October 5, 2017

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

    December 16, 2022

    The Eye

    April 25, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Social Control,  Winter

    Trust Us, We Care About You

    March 18, 2014 /

    This is a close-up of a banner hanging from the Prefecture de police, Paris, Rue de la citè. I don’t know why, but every time I hear a public power saying that he cares about me I feel a bit worried…                   — This is the Google Map link, currently displaying the complete image, and here is a screen capture, just in case:

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Godfather

    July 23, 2014

    Selling Italian Ice in Boston

    March 11, 2025

    When the day is gone

    April 4, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People

    Too Young to Spend Time Watching the Ducks in the Pond

    October 22, 2013 /

    … wait for the retirement, at least!

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    Andrea Monti

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    Just a Soccer Field… Part 1

    February 3, 2014

    A Focused (or Sad) Violinist

    December 17, 2016

    Out-of-Focus

    September 24, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  People

    Tired or Fascinated?

    October 21, 2013 /

    Not so easy to tell… The question writes itself when you look at the scene. In the centre of the frame, a man stands before a long, textured painting. His arms are crossed, his head tilted slightly forward—posture locked in contemplation. The work before him, with its earthy tones and abstracted form, seems to have pulled him entirely into its orbit. He doesn’t glance away. In the foreground, two seated figures tell a different story. On the left, a woman in a red hoodie sits with a jacket draped across her lap, holding a booklet. Her gaze drifts outward, past the viewer, her expression suggesting the mental pause that comes after…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Traffic Controller

    November 20, 2013

    A HDR Experiment

    December 9, 2013

    The El Prat’s Lounge

    June 5, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Paris

    The Way Out

    October 20, 2013 /

    There is something about an open window that always draws me in—not for what lies beyond, but for the threshold it represents. This frame was taken from inside a dimly lit room, the glass swung outward, offering a partial view of a Parisian-style zinc roof, punctuated by a small chimney vent. The decision to work in black and white came naturally; the textures and tonal contrasts were far more compelling than any colour the scene might have offered. The geometry of the roof panels and the window frame gave me strong lines to play with, and the skewed perspective from shooting slightly off-centre added a subtle tension to the composition.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Crowd Control

    July 16, 2013

    Run Like Hell, Pinocchio!

    February 24, 2015

    Portrait of a young scholar

    October 28, 2013
  • Autumn,  Chairs&Seats,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Parks

    Empty Chairs in the Tuileries

    October 19, 2013 /

    Paris in the rain changes its pace. The air thickens, the sounds dampen, and spaces usually alive with chatter take on a hushed, suspended quality. Here, in the Jardin des Tuileries, the iconic green metal chairs gather loosely at the edge of the fountain. They are arranged without intention—angled differently, backs turned, no symmetry to suggest a shared moment. It’s as if the conversation ended abruptly and the participants slipped away, leaving only their seats to remember the posture of their presence. The wet ground darkens the green paint, the armrests glisten with a thin film of water, and the fountain continues its arc in the background, indifferent. The frame…

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Intense Conversation

    October 9, 2013

    Head-Dresser

    February 11, 2013

    Diner After the Show

    July 7, 2013
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