Andrea Monti

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  • 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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    Life is a bitch

    May 22, 2013

    Dai Shodo@Kyoto

    December 2, 2020

    Questioning the Referee

    October 8, 2023
  • 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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    Caged?

    June 6, 2014

    Lunchtime

    February 18, 2013

    At the theater, between two scenes

    June 15, 2015
  • Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Portraits,  Technique,  Winter

    The Power of Underexposing

    December 25, 2019 /

    This portrait was built in the shadows. Underexposing by design meant letting darkness dominate the frame, allowing only the essentials — the face, the glint of an earring, the folds of the dress — to emerge. The result is a scene stripped of distraction, where every visible element has earned its place. The composition is weighted to the left, pulling the viewer into the subject’s gaze and leaving negative space to amplify the drama. The rich crimson of the gown benefits from the controlled exposure: under normal lighting, its details might have flattened into uniform red; here, the fabric’s texture and the embroidery’s sparkle gain depth from the way light…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Should I Seat?

    December 15, 2021

    Life, the Universe and Everything

    July 28, 2013

    Gloves

    October 19, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  PhotoCritics,  Rome,  Winter

    When Tilted Photos Work

    December 18, 2019 /

    Tilted photos are very challenging to take. It is easy to break the composition, lose an essential part of the scene, or take a bad picture. Furthermore, making sense out of a diagonal orientation with a ratio that is not square (Hasselblad people, I can hear you loud and clear!) adds layers of difficulties. As counterintuitive as it might look, this photo taken in a “normal” orientation would have lost all its visual impact.

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Ubiquitous Mobile

    July 14, 2016

    7Artisans 35mm 0.95 – Testing this Fujifilm X Mount Lens in a Demanding Environment

    December 22, 2024

    The Sentinel

    August 13, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Rome,  Winter

    Good Plan, Poor Execution

    December 15, 2019 /

    The idea behind the composition is entirely correct. The mannequins and the girl form a triangle, as does the direction of the stares, conveying both a sense of symmetry and counterposing the liveness of a human being to the puppets’ lack of. A poor execution, though, led to the mannequins’ head cut, turning a visually appealing photography into a meaningless shot.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Serva padrona @ Teatro Marrucino

    October 1, 2023

    In the backstage

    May 10, 2013

    Last Check Before The Show

    July 21, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Observer Bias,  PhotoCritics,  Rome,  Winter

    Light as Meaning Shifter

    December 11, 2019 /

    The original idea behind this picture was to match the emptiness of the shop with the facelessness of the mannequin posing as a store clerk, to convey a general feeling of depersonalization. Unfortunately, the big lightblot represented by the poster close to the mannequin catches the observer’s attention and reduce the effectiveness of the composition. Instead of connecting the mannequin with the internal part of the store thus making sense of the whole picture, the eye just “sees” an ad poster.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Portrait of a Law Professor (and Free Climber…)

    February 26, 2016

    The Ferrania Film Series – Episode 1 – Ferrania Orto shot on October/November 2023

    August 7, 2024

    Norina shouts at Don Pasquale

    December 12, 2022
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  OutOfFocus,  PhotoCritics,  Rome,  Visual,  Winter

    Photopanning in Rome

    December 3, 2019 /

    Photo panning is an art in itself and – when adequately practised – is able to deliver a stunning visual experience. In this picture (that has not been altered but for contrast and clarity) the overall experience reminds the Impressionism aesthetics.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Is This Photo Illegal?

    March 20, 2014

    The Smoke Teacher

    July 1, 2013

    Portrait of aTocaor

    October 8, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Jewelry,  Observer Bias,  PhotoCritics,  Rome,  Winter

    Keep Out!

    November 30, 2019 /

    This photo conveys a message of “rejection”: first, a security guard who blocks access to the jewellery and then a signal of a prohibition of access reinforces the concept, thanks to a composition that guides the eye to a diagonal that goes from the bottom to the top, from left to right. Obviously, there is nothing “true” about all this because the overall result is the result of the organization of the spaces and the management of the perspective that allow connecting semantically elements that, in reality, have no relationship between them. It would have been enough to shoot from a different angle – or not juxtapose the security guard…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Red Cross

    October 26, 2017

    Kite Surfers

    October 16, 2021

    Waiting to Go Home

    December 21, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Winter

    Evolution in Red

    November 20, 2019 /

    The frame unfolds on a Milanese street, a busy scene of people moving in different directions, yet bound by an unplanned visual thread — the colour red. On the far left, a stroller stands out, its fabric vivid against the muted tones of the pavement and stone façades. On the far right, a man in a red jacket, phone pressed to his ear, anchors the other end of the composition. Between them lies the space in which meaning is manufactured by the viewer: a perceived transition from childhood to adulthood, implied but never intended by reality itself. The technical construction supports this interplay. The image uses depth rather than focus…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Just a Soccer Field… Part 1

    February 3, 2014

    The Day After The Tide

    December 12, 2013

    Fujifilm XF 18-120 just snapped in two

    September 10, 2023
  • 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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    Amex

    May 25, 2015

    A Japanese Luthier and a Fingerstyle Player from My Home Region (and My Past) – A One shot story

    January 22, 2025

    A manual-focus atteimpt on a moving target

    July 26, 2013
  • 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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    Should I Buy It? (Best Taken With an 85mm)

    January 23, 2016

    Mandatory Photo Position

    August 3, 2019

    The Seagull’s Rest

    December 18, 2013
  • 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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    Oh…MG!

    July 23, 2015

    Mid-Knee Clinch

    July 7, 2019

    Street Of New York… Possibly

    March 21, 2017
  • 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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    The three musket(b)eer

    May 11, 2013

    Rest in peace

    March 13, 2013

    The Wild Bunch

    October 1, 2013
  • Autumn,  B&W,  Daily photo,  Seasons,  Shooting

    Servicing a Beretta 98FS

    October 13, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Sales Force

    January 28, 2016

    A tribute to an old friend

    January 7, 2014

    Content Creators

    July 20, 2023
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Rome

    Comarketing

    October 10, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    On Tips’n Tricks to ‘take you photos to the next level’

    May 29, 2025

    The Suit

    July 15, 2013

    二千円

    December 20, 2023
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Rome

    What’s the Time?

    October 8, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Open Interior

    March 14, 2021

    Shooting Sanda (Chinese Kickboxing) Bouts

    June 26, 2025

    Portraits in Skating

    November 30, 2024
  • 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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    Belgian Gloves

    October 15, 2015

    Faces in the Façade: A Ghostly Smile in Stone

    November 15, 2014

    One Shot Story: (Un)Available Coin Lockers at Shin Osaka Station

    December 22, 2024
  • 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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    The Smoke Teacher

    July 1, 2013

    Just A Phone Call – 1

    February 18, 2015

    A Quiet Evening

    June 26, 2013
  • Bridges,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer,  Urban Landscape,  WideAngle

    A Bridge

    September 22, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Road To Justice

    August 31, 2014

    Mistress Of Puppets

    April 30, 2017

    Late Night Conversation at Cardinal’s Wharf

    September 29, 2016
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Exhibitions,  Nagoya,  Summer

    Old Rolls, Immortal Style

    August 12, 2019 /

    When I stepped into the Toyota Museum in Nagoya I wasn’t there to chase a vintage V12 roar – I was after a photograph that could make the steel of those hatchbacks sing. I set the camera, took a breath, and aimed at the gleaming 2000‑series Corolla perched beneath that cathedral‑like skylight. The result is a picture that feels like a high‑octane sprint through a showroom, but let’s not pretend it’s flawless; let’s break it down the way a proper car reviewer would.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Same Space, Different Worlds

    October 18, 2013

    Self-Defense

    July 27, 2013

    Kite Surfing, Again

    February 19, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Exhibitions,  Nagoya,  People,  Summer

    Who Is The Machine?

    August 5, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Hanging Clothes

    February 18, 2014

    Portrait of a young scholar

    October 28, 2013

    Late Afternoon Workers

    December 23, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Exhibitions,  Nagoya,  People,  Summer

    Mandatory Photo Position

    August 3, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Stand-up, Sugar!

    March 8, 2014

    Should I Seat?

    December 15, 2021

    The Double Helix

    October 13, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Nagoya,  Parks,  People,  Seasons,  Summer

    Street Magic@Nagoya Castle

    July 21, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Selling Italian Ice in Boston

    March 11, 2025

    Three of a Kind

    July 6, 2013

    Photography and the dangers of ethics

    April 17, 2013
  • Cities,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Nagoya,  People,  Restaurants&Bar,  Seasons,  Summer

    Fast Food Loneliness in Nagoya…

    July 17, 2019 /

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    Cold Stuff

    November 28, 2015

    As much as you’re far from home…

    April 5, 2013

    A Silohuette on the Bridge

    March 3, 2014
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