Andrea Monti

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  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Visual

    Three Lamps

    September 19, 2022 /

    I made this photograph on a breezy afternoon, when the light fell just right across the row of straw-shaded lamps. The alignment was irresistible — three distinct forms in sequence, receding gently into the frame. I wanted the rhythm to pull the viewer’s eye through the image, from the sharp texture of the foreground shade to the softly blurred suggestion of the background structure. The Pentax K-3 II paired with the DA* 50-135 rendered the detail crisply; every strand of straw stands out against the muted backdrop. The lens’s rendering at f/2.8 helped create a shallow depth of field without obliterating context. The light bulbs, faintly glowing even in daylight,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Pixelmator Pro Debanding and Electronic Shutter

    December 24, 2022

    Shoes’ Meeting in Corso Vittorio

    March 12, 2014

    5 Frames with a Praktica MTL5B, a Pentacon 50/1,8 and a Roll of Portra 400 (expired in 2011)

    June 20, 2024
  • Autumn,  Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Photography

    Not AI-made…

    September 17, 2022 /

    The colour rendition of a photo taken with a Pentax (camera and lens) is unique. Taste is personal, and so is this opinion. One thing, however, is sure: the pictorial look of this photography is not made by an ‘AI’.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Traffic Jam in Rome

    December 14, 2015

    A Priest Walking Through the Graffiti Streets

    October 19, 2019

    Catching the Tube in Paris

    June 11, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Sport,  Track&Field

    A Spanish Long Jumper

    September 11, 2022 /

    This is one of the photos from the reportage on the Track & Field Mediterranean Championships – Pescara 2022. The Sigma 150-600 Contemporary proved to be a good lens, sufficiently versatile and with effective stabilization. However, used with the 1.4 teleconverter and full extension, it does not allow for high-speed focusing. In some cases, the Nikon D610 failed to lock onto the subject. This makes the lens/teleconverter pair somewhat inconvenient in sports photography. At that focal length, it is probably worth using prefocus. If you do not want to give up automatism, you can try to anticipate the moment of focusing by framing something close to where the athlete should…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Lost in Le Puglie

    December 2, 2015

    Waiting To Board

    February 4, 2013

    Next, please!

    October 31, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Social Control

    Imitation of Banksi

    November 1, 2021 /

    Some photographs happen because you spot them at the right time; others, because the right lens lets you see them from a distance before they disappear. This was the latter. Walking past a construction site, I noticed a splash of red against the pale, textured hoarding — a painted figure in a hat and long coat, back turned, hands behind him, staring through a broken window. The text alongside reads: “Segui il cantiere – Un omaggio ai pensionati, risorsa del quartiere” (“Follow the construction site – A tribute to pensioners, the neighbourhood’s resource”). It’s part humour, part homage, a knowing wink to the archetypal retiree who spends his days watching…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Silent Reader

    July 17, 2016

    The Expired Film Series – Episode 3 – Ilford HP5 400 – Dec. 2010 shot in August 2023

    August 30, 2023

    Red Lock At Genova’s Dock Arsenal

    August 8, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People

    Fast Roping

    October 21, 2021 /

    Photographing action is often about timing, but in this case it was also about proximity — or rather, the lack of it. The Fujinon 100-400mm on the Fuji X-T3 gave me the reach I needed to isolate the firefighter mid-descent, suspended against a Mediterranean backdrop. The long lens flattened the perspective just enough to bring the vegetation, the sea, and the distant breakwater into a coherent, layered background, without stealing focus from the main subject. The composition works around the strong diagonal created by the rope, which slices through the frame and guides the viewer’s eye from top left to bottom right. His bright helmet and high-vis vest aren’t just…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Cleaning the Tabernacle

    November 26, 2022

    An Athlete@Stadio Marmi, Rome

    October 11, 2018

    A Cello Player

    April 24, 2017
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Kite Surf

    Kite Surfers

    October 16, 2021 /

    There’s a certain theatricality to kitesurfing that photography loves. The arc of the kite, the tension in the lines, the frozen posture of the rider mid-jump — all these elements play beautifully against a dramatic sky. In this frame, the scene is split into three horizontal bands: the restless sea, the solid breakwaters, and the layered clouds. The kites add the essential vertical accents, their bright reds and blues pulling the eye away from the muted tones of sea and stone. The choice of timing is decisive. The central figure is caught at the peak of his jump, the board still angled upwards, knees bent, hands taut on the bar.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Unintended March

    January 13, 2013

    A coffee at Saint Eustachio’s

    February 4, 2016

    Weren’t a Smartphone and a Selfie Stick Enough?

    October 6, 2016
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Odds,  Travels

    Chasing Rainbows on the Open Road

    October 13, 2021 /

    The highway stretches ahead, slick with rain, as a truck hums steadily through the mist. Then, as if drawn by some unseen hand, a rainbow arches across the sky, anchoring itself almost to the truck’s path. In that instant, the mundane transforms: the road becomes a bridge between grey clouds and fragile colour. The scene speaks of quiet journeys and unexpected rewards. The truck, anonymous and workmanlike, seems to carry the weight of routine—deliveries, schedules, miles yet to go. Yet above it, nature paints a fleeting miracle, a reminder that even on a wet and weary road, wonder can appear without warning. The trees along the embankment stand bare, witnesses…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Should I Stay or Should I Go?

    November 29, 2013

    Lost Cellos

    August 30, 2014

    The True Ironman

    March 4, 2015
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Fashion Shops,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Rome

    Deadly Bored

    January 6, 2020 /

    Once again, the meaning of this picture is counter intuitive and “made up” by the composition. The scene is seen from the perspective of the mannequin: at the end of a hard day spent sitting on the street-front, it (or he?) looks deadly bored and tries to kill the time before the shop closes by casually looking at the next passerby. The directional effect (from the mannequin to the passerby) is achieved by the diagonal connecting the tip of the hat, the feet of the mannequin and the cast of the shadow. Taken as a whole, these elements drive the eye from the mannequin to the persons and not vice-versa.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Outside the Nobel Museum

    June 30, 2016

    And Justice For All

    May 15, 2015

    Lightblade

    September 6, 2013
  • Autumn,  Boulevards,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Rome

    A Virtual Glance Dance

    December 28, 2019 /

    The essence of this photo is all in the glances of the protagonists. The man looks at the woman, the woman looks at the luxury car. The essence of this photo is all in the glances of the protagonists. The man looks at the woman, and the woman looks at the luxury car. It is this subtle game of glances that tells a story and turns the photography from a casual picture into something worth seeing. Once again, it is not relevant whether the people portrayed are actually involved in the “glance dance”, as what matters is the image to convey the meaning created by the overall result. This confirms…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Coats

    March 19, 2023

    Under an Old Roof

    May 22, 2014

    Romeo’s Hideout

    December 16, 2015
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Rome

    Beer or Spritz?

    November 1, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    An outdoor theatre?

    January 31, 2013

    5 Frames from our Tragic Past Shot with an iPhone 14 Pro Max

    April 4, 2025

    A Fence

    November 6, 2014
  • Autumn,  Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Rome

    Fast Drivers in Via del Tritone

    October 31, 2019 /

    Via del Tritone at night has a way of compressing time. Standing at the curb, I could feel the pulse of the city—headlights cutting through the darkness, scooters weaving between lanes, the chatter of pedestrians briefly audible before being swallowed by the traffic. I set out to capture that restless energy, the kind that makes you feel Rome isn’t an ancient city at all, but something entirely modern, alive and impatient. The shot hinges on motion blur. A slower shutter allowed the black car in the foreground to smear into streaks of light and shadow, while the scooters retained just enough form to remain identifiable. This contrast between sharp architectural…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A videographer…

    February 27, 2013

    When Heroes Come to Town

    April 17, 2019

    A Weird Fujifilm Battery Issue for X-series cameras

    December 2, 2019
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Rome

    A Priest Walking Through the Graffiti Streets

    October 19, 2019 /

    I took this photograph on a narrow cobbled street, where the encounter was fleeting. The priest moved with determination, his robes flowing around him, his beard caught in mid-sway. The background of tagged walls and worn stone contrasted sharply with his presence, layering a sense of tension between the sacred and the profane, tradition and modern neglect. Compositionally, the image relies on that juxtaposition. I framed him walking into the picture, leaving space in front to suggest motion. The graffiti and rough textures anchor the scene in the urban present, while his attire evokes a continuity that feels almost timeless. That clash is where the strength of the image lies:…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Portrait of a Lawyer

    October 5, 2013

    Singers

    February 19, 2014

    Histoire d’O

    November 11, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Technique,  Thoughts

    Will The iPhone Kill Traditional Cameras? Not Very

    October 15, 2019 /

    This isn’t a critique of smartphones in general—it’s a direct response to the overconfident marketing myth that an iPhone can replace a dedicated camera in every scenario. I took this photo to illustrate the limitations, and it delivered. Overprocessed, hyper-smooth, plasticky where it should have texture, and clinically shallow in all the wrong ways. Technically, the iPhone did what it was programmed to do: expose for the highlights, boost saturation, fake depth of field with computational blur, and call it “smart.” The result is a scene that looks like a rendering rather than a photograph. The contrast between the dead leaves and the healthy ones is crushed into flatness. No…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Too Noisy

    May 24, 2013

    Early Morning Shaving on The Beach

    August 6, 2013

    Seeing What Isn’t There

    October 27, 2015
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Seasons,  Shooting

    Servicing a Beretta 98FS

    October 13, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Justice measured as the distance between Words and Facts

    July 10, 2023

    Serva padrona @ Teatro Marrucino

    October 1, 2023

    60×40 Borderless Printing with a HP Z3200ps 24

    May 11, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Rome

    Comarketing

    October 10, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Wet Socks

    July 19, 2014

    One Coffee

    December 20, 2015
    Copyright Foto AFP / Issouf Sanogo - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

    A stupid quarrell

    April 7, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Rome

    What’s the Time?

    October 8, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Why a Longterm Relationship (with your camera) Makes You Feel Good

    March 26, 2025

    We Are All Made of Stars

    February 28, 2018

    Pentax k-5 And The Aquapack 458

    August 15, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Rome,  Streets&Squares

    Garbage As Usual – Pantheon’s Nearby

    October 4, 2019 /

    Rome has an unrivalled way of holding beauty and decay in the same frame, and this street is no exception. The cobblestones, slick from a recent rain, mirror the ochre façades and Renaissance windows in a way that almost disguises the litter piled quietly along the curb. Almost. A man in a crisp shirt walks down the centre, back straight, seemingly immune to the refuse that flanks his path. It’s not that he doesn’t see it—it’s that he’s learned to live with it, as many Romans have. On the right, another figure leans against a doorway, absorbed in his phone, framed by stacked crates and plastic bags. Life continues unbothered.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Lamppost

    November 26, 2014

    National Road Running Championships 2023 – Portraits

    June 28, 2024

    The perfect ski outfit

    March 12, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  WideAngle

    The Boat That Never Left

    September 26, 2019 /

    Docked, stripped, tagged, rusted. I shot close with a fisheye to exaggerate the curvature of the hull and drag the viewer across its surface. The distortion isn’t incidental—it’s structural. The lines bend to reveal scale and tension. This is graffiti over steel, corrosion under paint, void behind broken glass. I exposed for the midtones to hold the whites in the spray and the texture in the oxidised seams. f/8 for consistent edge-to-edge sharpness, ISO 200, 1/125s. Light was flat—overcast sky softening shadows without dulling the forms. The left-to-right arc carries the frame. No central subject. Instead, accumulation. Tags, vents, cables, fractures. The dolphin up top is barely visible but critical—vestigial optimism…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Plenty of Chairs in Via Veneto

    December 2, 2013

    Late for Lunch

    March 26, 2014

    Knocking on lion’s door

    April 22, 2013
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Lines,  Rome

    School of Mathematics@Sapienza University of Rome

    November 10, 2018 /

    I composed this shot knowing it would live or die by its symmetry. The rationality of the architecture demanded nothing less. Sapienza’s School of Mathematics sits like a theorem etched in stone—precise, functional, stripped of excess. Guido Castelnuovo’s name anchors the frame, a reminder that mathematics is not only numbers, but legacy. The format is tight, frontal, and unforgiving. Every vertical and horizontal line had to be clean. A small tilt would’ve betrayed the sense of order. I waited for the man to step into the doorway—not to animate the structure, but to punctuate it. His relaxed stance, paper in hand, slightly breaks the formalism of the façade. A human…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Kiev 60 and a fix for the frame spacing issue

    October 8, 2023

    The Violinist

    July 1, 2015

    Clandestine Seagull

    November 24, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People

    Skating on the Riviera

    November 9, 2018 /

    This frame came together through rhythm — both in subject and structure. The skater, carving her way through a line of multi-coloured cones, offers a moment of precision and quiet control in the middle of a sunlit promenade. I positioned myself just slightly off-centre to exploit the vanishing line of the cones, letting them anchor the frame from foreground to middle distance. It’s a straightforward visual device, but effective here. They segment the space, and their bright primaries stand in good contrast to the muted pavement. The exposure leans slightly to the high side, but that was deliberate — midday light, especially by the coast, can wash out a frame…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Table Dressing

    July 15, 2015

    The Sinking Giant

    December 6, 2013

    Catching the Tube in Paris

    June 11, 2014
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics

    A (Soon) Lost Banner

    November 1, 2018 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Action shot

    January 7, 2013

    Safe Living (?)

    July 28, 2016

    One Coffee

    December 20, 2015
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Photography

    (Not so) Intelligent Design

    October 26, 2018 /

    A white hand dryer, sleek and sterile, is mounted firmly on a tiled wall. Below it dangles a single electric cable, ending uselessly in an unplugged RJ connector. There is no socket in sight. No conduit, no power. Just absence. The image is clean, quiet—and absurd. The title, Intelligent Design, delivers a sharp, dry irony. It borrows from the vocabulary of creationist theology to highlight a mundane failure of basic planning. What was meant to be functional is, quite literally, disconnected. In this unassuming scene, the promise of utility is contradicted by execution. The dryer, meant to dry hands, is impotent. The infrastructure, meant to enable function, is missing. Photographically, the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    No, You Don’t Need To Change Your Glasses

    June 14, 2014

    The Death of Cio-Cio san

    October 15, 2022

    Parallels & Diagonals

    December 21, 2012
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Rome

    An Athlete@Stadio Marmi, Rome

    October 11, 2018 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Photography and the dangers of ethics

    April 17, 2013

    A Gull, Posing

    June 17, 2022

    @Rome Maker Faire – 5. Pensive

    October 18, 2014
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Rome,  Sport,  Streets&Squares

    Weight Training @ Rome’s Stadio Olimpico

    October 9, 2018 /

    I shot this in harsh midday light, the kind most photographers dread. But the mosaic didn’t care. Its story is laid in stone — or more precisely, tesserae — and midday is when shadows become honest. The ancient-modern figure caught mid-lift, exaggerated anatomy and all, stood out like a silhouette against cracked mortar, telling a tale of strength far older than gym culture. The composition was dictated by the subject’s posture — hunched, determined — anchoring the frame and leading the eye to the barbell below. I shot from slightly above, keeping the symmetry broken just enough to feel real. The top of the frame includes fragments of the inscription…

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Old Lady in Great Shape

    September 23, 2014

    One Shot Story: Behind the Fence

    January 3, 2025

    Upcoming Call

    June 3, 2013
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