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Andrea Monti

Photos, not gear

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  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Winter

    Blowin in the Wind

    February 8, 2014 /

    Hopefully, he shouldn’t fall on the ground…

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    Andrea Monti

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    @ Mediterranean Beach Games 2015 – Wrestling, Italy vs France (And a primer on sport photography – Part 5)

    October 9, 2015

    Surreal Judo

    December 11, 2016

    A Modern Orpheus

    November 24, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Social Control,  Urban Landscape,  Winter

    Just a soccer field… Part 3

    February 5, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Full Moon

    May 9, 2017

    The Spinners

    June 13, 2013

    An Athlete@Stadio Marmi, Rome

    October 11, 2018
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Photography,  Reportage,  Social Control,  Urban Landscape,  Winter

    Just a soccer field… Part 2

    February 4, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Interpreti Veneziani – Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Live@San Vidal

    September 1, 2017

    Rush Hours

    March 10, 2014

    Another attempt at DLSR film scanning

    January 21, 2023
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Parks,  Reportage,  Social Control,  Winter

    Just a Soccer Field… Part 1

    February 3, 2014 /

    Just a soccer field… the only place where freedom lasts, but just for the time of a match.

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Old Wi(n)dow

    November 17, 2014

    Staring At The Infinite

    August 22, 2013

    Unattainable 1:1 magnification with the JJC FDA S-1 and Micro Nikkor 60 2,8

    January 29, 2023
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Visual,  Winter

    In-Eye

    February 2, 2014 /

    Photography has a curious way of leading the mind into patterns — an instinctive search for meaning, even when none exists. We are hardwired to interpret shapes and juxtapositions, to anthropomorphise objects, to find faces in clouds and stories in shadows. This image is one such case: a seemingly simple shot of a ship seen through a weathered window, yet the geometry conspires to suggest something far more figurative. Here, the diamond-shaped porthole becomes an eyelid, its corroded frame the brow, and beyond it, the bow of the ship forms an unmistakable iris and pupil. It’s a quiet trick of composition — one I noticed only after the fact —…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Lamp in an Old Teather

    March 8, 2016

    Food For Thought

    September 14, 2014

    A coffee at Saint Eustachio’s

    February 4, 2016
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Photography,  Winter

    Good Idea

    January 31, 2014 /

    … bad execution. The shot would have been acceptable if the head of the fisherman had the sky as a background instead of the bow.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Dark Cloud Over San Pietro

    August 27, 2021

    The Chess Players’ Summer Nest

    July 31, 2014

    Alone

    December 31, 2017
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Docks,  People,  Winter

    Against the Tide

    January 30, 2014 /

    There’s a stillness in this frame that caught me before I even thought about the technical side. A lone figure on a bicycle, paused at the edge of the pier, framed by the unbroken horizon and the muted textures of concrete and water. The light is soft, almost hesitant — no harsh shadows, no dazzling highlights — as if the scene itself wanted to remain understated. I worked to keep the composition balanced but not too neat. The lamp post on the right anchors the image without overpowering it, while the figure sits almost at the centre, enough to draw the eye but still letting the expanse of sea and…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Who Said That Music Is Relaxing?

    August 14, 2013

    Technogym Milan@Night

    April 3, 2022

    Springtime

    April 23, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Winter

    W Verdi

    January 29, 2014 /

    Milan rewards you when you walk slowly. I turned a corner and found a living quotation mark to a poster: an elderly man paused beneath a billboard of a stern, bearded face—Giuseppe Verdi by way of contemporary graphic design. The likeness was uncanny enough to make the old slogan in my head—Viva Verdi—mutate into “W Verdi,” a wink at how public imagery and real life can rhyme. I built the frame around that rhyme. The poster anchors the top-right quadrant while the man occupies the lower-left, a diagonal conversation that keeps the eye ping-ponging across the picture. I left generous negative space to let the pairing breathe; too tight and…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Norina shouts at Don Pasquale

    December 12, 2022

    Protected: Prova Aurum

    April 25, 2014

    Piero Mazzocchetti – L’ultima notte di Bonfiglio Liborio

    May 12, 2022
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Garbage,  Milan,  Winter

    Lost Cigarettes at Piazza Affari

    January 22, 2014 /

    The Milan Stock-Exchange is just closed, another stressful day is gone, so are the cigarettes. The Milan Stock Exchange has just closed. Another day of trading — of numbers, speculation, tension, and relief — is over. The square begins to exhale. The crowds thin, footsteps fade, and the traces of human presence remain in small, almost invisible ways. Here, in a shallow puddle on the cobblestones of Piazza Affari, the day’s residue is quietly recorded: cigarette butts, scraps, and the inverted grandeur of a neoclassical façade. I was drawn to the way the water held both the building’s form and the detritus of the day in a single frame. The reflection, sharp…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Humannequin

    January 10, 2013

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

    January 23, 2016

    Rectangles

    March 12, 2015
  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Winter

    Let’s get the party started…

    January 20, 2014 /

    Fishing boats have a way of announcing themselves well before they reach the harbour wall. The sound of the engine carries over the water, but it’s the birds that really give them away — a moving cloud of wings and calls, circling, swooping, waiting for the scraps that will inevitably be thrown overboard. This shot catches the “Nuova Zita” in that precise moment of return, driving straight toward me, bow cutting through the water, foam rising in a perfect V. I chose a dead-centre composition, a choice some might consider too rigid, but here it felt essential. The boat’s symmetry — red trim framing the white hull, the vertical mast…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Vessel

    December 18, 2015

    Inside a Lost Building

    February 16, 2014

    TKO

    May 8, 2019
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Winter

    The Guardian

    January 19, 2014 /

    Not scaring as a Pitbull would, but still deserving to be handled with care… He didn’t move. Not even when I approached with the camera. Not even when I paused to adjust the lens. He just stared—calm, unblinking, sure of his place. This photo was taken outside a closed wooden structure. Maybe a seasonal shack, maybe a beachside store. The railings were weathered, the wood silvered by sun and salt. Everything about the setting felt unfinished, in-between. Except for him. The black cat sat at the centre like he’d been assigned the role. Not hiding, not curious—just there. Positioned perfectly in the geometry of the fence, flanked by empty space…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Running On The (Oslo’s) Docks

    September 28, 2014

    Friendship is Forever

    March 6, 2014

    Nico Cilli Band Live@Città Sant’Angelo

    October 23, 2013
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Winter

    Late Night Arrival at Bertinoro’s Castle

    January 15, 2014 /

    There’s something about fog that eats light and sound in equal measure. At Bertinoro that night, the mist rolled in thick and silent, swallowing the medieval walls until they were no more than looming shapes. The only figure breaking the gloom was this woman, striding toward the castle gate with a purpose that suggested she hoped — perhaps against reason — that someone inside might still be awake. I shot this in black and white not as an afterthought, but because the scene demanded it. Colour would have been irrelevant here — the atmosphere was all about tonal gradation, shadow, and grain. Yes, grain. This isn’t the crisp, low-noise look…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Photo I Didn’t Shoot

    June 8, 2013

    A Kiss In The Shade

    March 17, 2013

    Waiting for (Supreme) Justice

    February 14, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  New York,  People,  Spring

    Leaving The Actor’s Studio

    January 14, 2014 /

    No, the title is not a misspell. To perform as a true artist, the Actors Studio must actually become an actor’s studio. Shot handheld on a cold night in New York, I framed this outside the famous 44th Street façade of The Actors Studio. What drew me wasn’t the name, but the irony held in the glow above the door. Big, institutional lettering—THE ACTORS STUDIO—brightly lit, looming. Yet below it, a single man stands, barely visible, caught in the diffused downlight from the marquee. It wasn’t staged. He just was there—half-shadowed, alone, waiting. Technically, this is a push to the edge. ISO was high, grain heavy. Shadows crush into black. Highlights…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Horizon Bending, Again

    April 28, 2014

    Leaving Home

    December 5, 2014

    Sala degli Onori @ Triennale di Milano

    May 19, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  New York,  Spring,  Streets&Squares

    The Lost Battle

    January 11, 2014 /

    Against the New York traffic, the controllers themselves, contended in vain.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Saturday Night’s Ice Cream

    August 19, 2013

    Ni État Ni Patron

    June 8, 2014

    Max Casacci – Live@Circolo Aternino, Pescara

    January 4, 2018
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Winter

    Fisherman’s Friend

    January 10, 2014 /

    When the course is set back to the dock, especially at night, there is no better companion than the reassuring glow of the harbour’s twin beacons. These masts, painted in unmistakable red and green, have long served as silent guides, their geometry as familiar to mariners as the constellations above. This photograph, titled Fisherman’s Friend, plays not only on a brand name but on the enduring role of such structures in the choreography of safe returns. From a compositional standpoint, the image centres on the red mast, giving it commanding presence against a pastel-hued evening sky. The placement is deliberate—slightly forward and to the left of the green twin in…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Photography and the dangers of ethics

    April 17, 2013

    Belgian Hats

    October 19, 2015

    One Shot Story: Behind the Fence

    January 3, 2025
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Winter

    Life And Work On A Fishing Boat

    January 9, 2014 /

    I took this just before dusk in a working harbour, where boats aren’t romanticised—they’re tools, piled with other tools, patched, rusted, functional. Riviera isn’t posing. It’s docked, burdened with skiffs, plastic crates, folded nets, and the quiet fatigue of a long shift at sea. The composition pushes tight against the frame, stacking hulls on hulls, blocking any clear horizon. The visual noise—cables, ropes, red crane arm—disrupts the scene enough to pull you into its clutter. The sky, soft and forgiving in the background, does little to alleviate the heaviness of the vessel. That contrast matters. Technically, the image holds despite the mixed lighting. The fading day cast a bluish tint…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Evolution of a Guitar Player

    July 5, 2013

    A Fisherman

    December 25, 2014

    Mandatory Photo Position

    August 3, 2019
  • Bruxelles,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Patisserie,  Winter

    What an Elegant Chocolatier!

    January 6, 2014 /

    Brussels wears its chocolate heritage like a badge of honour, and this image captures that sense of refinement and indulgence with a quietly cinematic touch. The composition is cleverly split between the interior glow of the shop and the poised figure outside. The chocolatier, dressed in an understated but impeccably tailored suit, stands just beyond the threshold, his profile framed by the shop’s edge. The counterpoint to his form is the rich, inviting display of chocolates, boxes, and ribboned confections bathed in warm light inside. This juxtaposition — cool tones on the left, warm tones on the right — creates both visual and thematic tension: the disciplined elegance of the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Early Morning’s Cleanup

    July 21, 2013

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

    August 21, 2013

    Guarding Democracy

    June 14, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Landscape,  Winter

    Through the Fog

    January 5, 2014 /

    The scene presented itself with no warning — one of those rare occasions where nature performs and the only real challenge is not missing the moment. I was walking through the hills when the mist thickened just enough to conceal and reveal in equal measure. What compelled me to stop wasn’t the tree, nor the fog, but the tension introduced by the artificial red plastic line cutting across the landscape — mundane, even ugly, yet unavoidably dominant in the composition. Framing this shot required restraint. Too wide, and the mood would dissipate. Too tight, and the context would vanish. The key lay in placing the tree just off-centre, allowing the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Menu Meditation

    February 16, 2018

    Red

    December 17, 2014

    Forgotten

    October 15, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Visual,  Winter

    Blob

    January 4, 2014 /

    I definitely have a thing for fountains…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Trust Us, We Care About You

    March 18, 2014

    No time for lunch at Piazza Fiume …

    February 20, 2013

    Springtime

    April 23, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Landscape,  Winter

    Welcome in the Twilight Zone

    January 3, 2014 /

    I wasn’t sure whether I was just coming down or entering into the Twilight Zone…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Paths of Life

    January 20, 2013

    A Lost Towel

    July 3, 2013

    Restaurant or Hellgate?

    June 21, 2013
  • B&W,  Beach&Shores,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Photography,  Winter

    The Hasselblad Way

    January 2, 2014 /

      As the readers of this blog know, I seldom talk about gear because since the very first post on this blog I made a point of stay focused on (shooting) pictures instead of musing about pointless technicalities such as Camera A vs Camera B ISO performance, Lens X vs Lens Y sharpness, APS-C vs Full Frame and so on, but today I do an exception because of an old Hasselbld 500 C/M that I have been given to try (and that probably will buy.) There is only one way to shoot with a Hasselblad: following its rule. The film has to be loaded in a certain way, the magazine…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Busy (again)

    February 2, 2013

    A Step Ahead

    October 8, 2022

    A Lockheed C-130 Hercules

    January 31, 2021
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  London,  Visual,  Winter

    London Panning

    December 30, 2013 /

    Pure Luck. Sometimes happens.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    A young Iron Maiden fan

    April 8, 2013

    The Sinking Giant

    December 6, 2013

    An Old Lady in Great Shape

    September 23, 2014
  • Bottles&Cups,  Bruxelles,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Winter

    Behind the Beer

    December 26, 2013 /

    Behind the beer’s sockets, a barman discretely fulfills the order placed by his clients.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Chitchat under the rain

    March 10, 2013

    Indifference

    July 5, 2015

    For Sale

    May 5, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  London,  Street Markets,  Winter

    Christmas Time at Covent Garden

    December 25, 2013 /

    I caught this moment at Covent Garden during the run-up to Christmas—a place already soaked in atmosphere, now further steeped in the low murmur of seasonal anticipation. The light was dimming, not quite golden hour, but soft enough to let the scene breathe. Shot with the Leica M9, the CCD sensor rendered the colours with that particular tonal grit that makes digital files feel almost filmic. You can sense the density of the blacks without them ever falling into shadow-mud. What first caught my eye was the woman in the red coat. Not just the brightness of the garment—which naturally draws the eye—but the posture, the precise angle of the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Out-of-Focus Once Again

    February 28, 2015

    A jam in via Alessandria

    December 8, 2023

    Zebra Crossing, Again…

    June 22, 2014
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