Andrea Monti

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  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Social Control,  Summer

    Off Duty

    September 4, 2015 /

    From the back, their posture says almost as much as their uniforms. Four policemen walk away from the viewer, the word Polizia split and partially hidden by their movement. There’s no confrontation here, no heightened drama — instead, the image captures that moment of decompression, when the weight of vigilance begins to lift. The decision to shoot from behind removes the personal identifiers that a front-facing portrait would reveal. We are left with silhouettes of authority in retreat, the curve of a shoulder, the relaxed drop of an arm, the natural slouch of someone whose shift may be ending. In the background, the urban night hums along: signage, faint light,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Mailbox

    May 5, 2013

    Yet Another WDISF Post

    May 5, 2024

    In praise of ‘cheap’ lenses for ‘pro’ works

    April 4, 2021
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Summer

    A Smoker

    September 2, 2015 /

    Some portraits are not posed; they happen between moments, in that thin sliver of time when the subject is simply being. This was one of those. The woman — cigarette in hand, wrist adorned with metallic bangles catching stray light — had the stillness of someone lost in thought. The background was unremarkable, and that suited me: no distractions, no narrative clutter, just her profile against a soft blur. The shot was taken in available light, which was far from ideal. The conditions pushed me to raise the ISO more than I’d have liked, and as a result, the image carries a touch more grain than a studio portraitist would…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Romeo’s Hideout

    December 16, 2015

    Portrait of a Cosplayer

    July 3, 2017

    @ Mediterranean Beach Games 2015 – Italy Beach Soccer Team’s Goalkeeper (and a primer on sport photography, part 2)

    September 24, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Odds,  Summer,  Visual

    Shadow On The Wall

    August 30, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Calm Person

    January 8, 2014

    Leo Gullotta – Bartleby lo scrivano@Teatro Marrucino

    March 15, 2022

    The Sorcerer’s Shop

    November 1, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Summer

    Mind The Step

    August 28, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Last Puff Before the Ride

    December 26, 2015

    Let’s get the party started…

    January 20, 2014

    Just A Phone Call – 1

    February 18, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Odds,  Past&Relics,  Summer

    In Hoc Signo

    August 20, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Stairway to nothing

    September 18, 2013

    The Silent Geometry of a Trabocco

    December 22, 2022

    A Relaxed Call

    February 12, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Odds,  Past&Relics,  Summer

    A Skull

    August 18, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Mid-Knee Clinch

    July 7, 2019

    An Old Wi(n)dow

    November 17, 2014

    Does It Worth It?

    May 22, 2017
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    An Old Motorcade

    August 10, 2015 /

    Photographing this scene with the Leica M9, I was conscious of wanting to hold the atmosphere of a summer night where history and spectacle meet. The procession of vintage cars is framed by a corridor of spectators, their attention divided between living the moment and documenting it through their phones. The motorcade moves away from me, which allows the viewer to share my vantage point — both a participant and an observer, close enough to feel the heat of the engines, yet outside the flow of the event. Compositionally, the perspective lines of the barriers guide the eye straight to the lead car, and further still down the illuminated street…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Art Auction at Piazza Navona

    February 6, 2016

    Sting of the Vespa

    March 7, 2025

    Action! (beware of Fuji X-Pro 2)

    February 2, 2016
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    The Driver

    August 8, 2015 /

    Shot on a Leica M9 during a vintage car rally, this image invites a quiet question: what exactly are we looking at here — the driver or the car? The frame is tightly composed, the perspective intimate. We sit directly behind the driver, almost in the passenger seat, with the blue cockpit wrapping around us like a suit of armour. The leather cap, the quilted racing jacket, the badge that reads FIAT — all signs of a time when racing still smelled of oil and cotton rather than carbon fibre and digital telemetry. But the face is hidden. There’s no expression, no glance, no story told in eyes or brow. The driver…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Silent Listeners

    December 27, 2013

    Gliding Away

    December 21, 2021

    An Early Morning Fishing Expedition

    July 29, 2014
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Lightspeed

    August 6, 2015 /

    I shot this with a Leica M9 late one night, leaning out from the kerb on a curve that begged for something fast and unreasonable to come tearing through it. And eventually, this red Italian masterpiece did exactly that—roaring past with the kind of throaty snarl that makes small children cry and grown men buy things they shouldn’t. What you’re seeing isn’t an accident. It’s the moment velocity became geometry. The long exposure distorts everything into kinetic abstraction: the trees become green flame, the streetlamps twist into electric comets, the background collapses into a wash of speed-induced delirium. But the car—mid-century, low-slung, all attitude—remains just visible enough to read as…

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Old School Workstation

    September 12, 2014

    Absence in Three Acts

    May 21, 2015

    The Restorer’s Nest

    June 27, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Odds,  Social Control,  Summer

    The Stare of a T800

    August 4, 2015 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    @Rome Maker Faire – 3. Stare Of The Mechanical Man

    October 13, 2014

    Shooting the Shooter…

    February 12, 2013

    What an Elegant Chocolatier!

    January 6, 2014
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Summer

    Who The Hell Killed the Light Off?

    August 2, 2015 /

    There’s a certain magic to photographing night-time events — the glow of street lamps, the hum of a crowd, the way artificial light sculpts a scene. But it also comes with its share of battles, and this image is a perfect example of working on the edge of what’s technically possible. The scene is rich in story: a vintage race car, its scarlet paint dulled slightly under the sodium and LED mix of city lights; two men in matching white overalls, one bending towards the vehicle’s front as if inspecting or coaxing it to life; a small crowd leaning over barriers, caught in their own observations. The moment feels candid…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Venditti&DeGregori – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella

    August 11, 2022

    Guest Are Welcome!

    December 1, 2014

    The New Church

    May 13, 2014
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Summer

    Lotus Tweak

    July 31, 2015 /

    At first glance, it’s a straightforward scene — two men leaning over the open engine bay of a bare-bodied Lotus, spanners in hand, eyes locked on some mechanical nuance that only they understand. But to me, it’s also a portrait of intimacy — not between people, but between man and machine. The bond here is tactile: the smell of fuel, the heat radiating off aluminium, the gentle precision of a carburettor adjustment. The Leica M9 lends itself well to this kind of work. The CCD sensor has that distinctive tonal rendering that keeps the colours honest but rich — the brushed metal gleam of the car body, the deep reds…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Nick Beggs

    July 12, 2017

    YANE – Yet Another Nepal Exhibit

    March 23, 2015

    Wrecked Ship

    November 23, 2013
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Last Check Before the Start

    July 29, 2015 /

    There’s something undeniably brilliant about this photograph. You can smell the oil, feel the worn leather between your fingers, and almost hear the mechanical clink as the strap finds its buckle. It’s a moment of quiet before all hell breaks loose — the pre-race ritual that separates the daydreamers from the drivers. From a compositional standpoint, it’s deceptively simple: two hands, a strip of leather, and the curved flank of what is clearly a well-loved vintage racing machine. But simplicity is precisely what works here. The frame is cropped tight, no wasted space, no distractions — just the intimacy of man and machine. The exposure is spot on. The late…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Tough Enough

    August 7, 2019

    Out For Justice

    June 21, 2014

    二千円

    December 20, 2023
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Summer

    After the Race

    July 27, 2015 /

    It’s not the roar of engines or the scent of oil that stays with you—it’s this. Two men, backs turned, still in their Fiat overalls. The crowd has begun to blur into the night, and the adrenaline has softened into conversation. Maybe they’re swapping lap times, maybe just trading silence. I took this shot at the end of a vintage car competition. Not during the parade, not at the peak of noise and chrome, but after. When everything meaningful often happens. Their suits are creased from hours of wear, and the red stitching on the white cotton glows under the street lamps like the last ember of something freshly burned.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Secret Beyond the Door

    October 24, 2013

    Red Wine Makes Good Blood…

    April 27, 2014

    Partner in Glam

    May 3, 2023
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Alfa (1750) … Dog

    July 25, 2015 /

    There’s something wonderfully fitting about photographing an Alfa Romeo 1750 with a Leica M9. Both are unapologetically old-school, machines that demand your attention and reward patience rather than speed. Neither will do the work for you — they expect you to know what you’re doing, and they don’t forgive sloppiness. I didn’t want the whole car. That would have been too easy, too obvious. Instead, I went in close, focusing on the sweep of that impossibly red wing, the chrome stalk of the lamp, and the way the bodywork catches the light like a perfectly tailored suit. With the M9’s CCD sensor, the reds come alive — rich without bleeding,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Multiple Peripheral Visions

    February 10, 2016

    Christmas Time at Covent Garden

    December 25, 2013

    A true friend

    March 29, 2013
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Oh…MG!

    July 23, 2015 /

    Photography has an enduring love affair with contrivance. We dress it up in words like composition, timing, narrative—but at the core, it’s a carefully manufactured illusion, an assembly of elements that never truly existed together until the shutter stitched them into one frame. This image is a perfect case in point. Foreground: the polished rear of a vintage MG, British racing green, bristling with dials, a leather-strapped spare wheel, and a backpack so perfectly positioned it feels like a prop from central casting. The badge on the leather flap and the Union Jack sticker complete the period-drama perfection. Background: a passing moment, a pair of sunlit legs and a cropped…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Different Stories

    December 30, 2023

    The True Ironman

    March 4, 2015

    Imitation of Banksi

    November 1, 2021
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Spectral Lotus

    July 19, 2015 /

    Shot handheld with a Leica M9, this image was less about the car and more about the apparition it became under sodium vapour light. The Lotus, unpainted and unadorned, swept through the urban silence like a silver ghost. I wasn’t expecting it—no barricades, no marshals—just a curve, a rumble, and that brutalist sculpture on wheels appearing from nowhere. What caught my eye first wasn’t the vehicle itself but the way it reflected the city’s tired lights. The aluminium skin bounced back hues from old shop signs and streetlamps, turning the body into a temporary canvas of moving golds and yellows. The reflections aren’t clean. Nor are they meant to be.…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Reminiscenses From The Past

    September 7, 2013

    Chitchat under the rain

    March 10, 2013

    The Shooter’s Dilemma

    July 12, 2014
  • Cars&Bikes,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Streets&Squares,  Summer

    Balilla

    July 17, 2015 /

    Some cars don’t just roll into view—they make an entrance. This Fiat Balilla, polished to the kind of deep red you only get from decades of careful ownership, sits dead-centre in the frame as if the entire piazza has been rearranged to suit it. The symmetry is irresistible: the grille’s vertical bars, the balanced curve of the wings, the twin headlamps gleaming like theatre spotlights. CompositionFraming here is deliberate and effective. The Balilla claims the central axis, with bright orange crowd-control barriers creating a vivid frame-within-a-frame. The people behind form a secondary layer, offering scale and a sense of place without competing for attention. It’s an image that works because…

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Hellish Look

    March 26, 2024

    Red Curtains

    August 28, 2014

    Rush Hours

    March 10, 2014
  • Colour,  Fighters,  People,  Summer

    Mediterranean Games 2009

    June 28, 2015 /

    The cover image distills the Mediterranean Games 2009 into a single, decisive moment. Two judokas are locked in the opening clinch, bodies pressed forward, balance and leverage in a delicate contest. The Italian athlete’s gi dominates the frame—white fabric, bold blue “ITA” lettering, the name Frezza stitched above. Behind, the blurred figure of the opponent fades into a wash of deep blue, the background dissolved into the anonymity of the crowd and banners. It’s an image that works not by showing the entirety of the sport, but by narrowing the lens to the moment of contact. You can almost feel the strain in the forearms, the push of shoulders, the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Canon EOS-M. Useless for Street-Photography

    March 28, 2013

    Coffee Doesn’t Need a Table. It Needs a Moment

    June 17, 2013

    Breaking the Fourth Wall

    February 17, 2020
  • Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  People,  Summer

    The Leica M9 CCDgate Outrageous Case

    December 11, 2014 /

    This is not “new” news, but is getting momentum: Leica M9′ sensors (including those fitted into the more than expensive “special” models) are plagued. The repair cost is 1.800,00 Euros plus VAT and shipping, not to mention the time needed to get the camera back (weeks? months?) Leica claims to offer paid support to the older, out-of-warranty customers but just doing a few math shows that it doesn’t worth it: if you own a between-three-and-five-years old M9 you’re supposed to pay 600,00 Euros (plus VAT etc.) while more-than-five-years old M9 owner will pay 1.200 Euros (plus VAT etc.) to get an old and outdated camera new sensor, affected by the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Alone, Together…

    June 19, 2013

    Absence in Three Acts

    May 21, 2015

    The Silent Listeners

    December 27, 2013
  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    Billiard On The Field

    November 2, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Portraits in Skating

    November 30, 2024

    W Verdi

    January 29, 2014

    Steve Hackett – Live@Teatro d’Annunzio

    July 8, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Restaurants&Bar,  Summer

    Ready for lunch

    September 2, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Inside the Nazario Sauro

    August 10, 2014

    High Heels Ghost

    August 20, 2013

    Three’s Company

    November 14, 2014
  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    TicTacToe

    September 1, 2014 /

    There’s a curious satisfaction in photographing something utterly ordinary and discovering that it holds more visual weight than you’d expect. This playground tic-tac-toe frame caught my attention not because of its intended purpose — a children’s game — but because of its worn, slightly battered state. The fading X’s and O’s spoke of countless small hands spinning those yellow cubes, of games that probably never reached a conclusion before someone was called away for ice cream or a turn on the slide. I framed it dead-centre, allowing the game board to occupy most of the image, boxed in by the green plastic casing. The symmetry gives the photograph a formal,…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Sharp Shooter

    March 10, 2015

    Red Tears

    June 7, 2013

    Horizontal

    March 14, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Summer

    The Road To Justice

    August 31, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Ready for lunch

    September 2, 2014

    Deserved Rest

    March 21, 2021

    The Answer is On the Wall

    August 28, 2020
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