Andrea Monti

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  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Rome,  Travels

    What Souvenirs Say About Rome (and Your Attitude Toward Life)

    August 6, 2025 /

    Rome’s souvenir shops are full of busts, plaques and other artefacts mixing the sacre and the profane —and sometimes even things that have nothing to do with the Eternal City. This make it challenging for a tourist to actually understand what he is looking at —and googling for information is not a common practice among that kind of visitors who, as Aldous Huxely brilliantly pointed out, travel without knowing exactly why they are visiting a certain place or another. Nevertheless, these souvenir displays offer an insight into some of the most fascinating aspects of Rome’s culture and history – Initially published on 35mmc.com. On the top shelf, a plaque shows Latin…

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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

    Red Storm

    June 30, 2013

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

    December 22, 2024
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Rome,  Spring,  Tokyo,  Travels

    5 Frames with various cameras – Ferrari On The Road(s)

    February 22, 2025 /

    Sports car photography usually happens in specific settings such as motorshows, official events, race tracks etc., where lights, crowds, fences and limited access to restricted areas are an issue. Doing the same on the street, however, is no less challenging as things happen unpredictably and, unless taking photograph of parked vehicles, there is no time to compose – Initially published on 35mmc.com In this photograph of a Ferrari F8 Tributo, the framing makes the car the focal point, and even though the door on the left adds a bit of visual clutter, it doesn’t detract from the overall result. The following image illustrate the trade-offs of reacting in real time…

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Off Duty Anchor

    September 21, 2014

    Out for a While

    September 26, 2013

    The Restorer’s Nest

    June 27, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Downtown,  Nagasaki,  Osaka,  Photography,  Streets&Squares,  Thoughts,  Tokyo,  Travels,  Yokohama

    Why You Should Only Shoot in Your Backyard (or ‘The Art of Belonging’)

    December 19, 2024 /

    What do these pictures have in common (apart from having been taken in various places in Japan)? No, they don’t have the same look and feel, composition or use of light, nor they convey a particular meaning. What they have in common is that they’re just dull and boring —meaningless, indeed. This picture of the Yokohama’s Chinatown Dragon is hardly different than the others available on the Internet. Initially published on 35mmc.com It shares a similar fate with this one, taken last Mid November in Osaka, and, as Google Lens mercylessly shows, with this one, shot in Omura, near Nagasaki. One can hardly say that this is a never-seen-before view of Tokyo’s Kyu-Shiba-rikyū Gardens, or of…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Silver Pottery

    November 4, 2014

    Good Plan, Poor Execution

    December 15, 2019

    Small Talk

    February 10, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Travels

    A Stop in Reggio Emilia

    February 21, 2024 /

    I was on the Freccia Rossa, heading north, not looking to make a photograph — but then the train slowed. It always does here. Reggio Emilia AV, Calatrava’s cathedral of transit. Seen from inside a carriage, the station transforms into a cinematic abstraction: rhythm, shadow, tension. You’re not meant to get this view. You can’t stand still inside it, only pass through. This frame came with no time to compose. I raised the camera, guessed exposure, shot through a tinted window, and trusted instinct. The image that resulted is harsh, grainy, flawed — and I kept it that way. A perfect rendition would have dulled it. What mattered was the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Lost Hotel

    September 5, 2014

    Right before the gig

    September 14, 2018

    EOS-M. An Act of Fairness

    July 24, 2013
  • B&W,  Boston,  Buildings,  Daily photo,  Docks,  Downtown,  Parks,  Streets&Squares,  Summer,  Travels

    From Waltham to Boston

    August 4, 2023 /

    ‘From Waltham to Boston’, an offshoot of a bigger project on documenting Boston’s pulse, is now available on Amazon as a Kindle e-book.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Skating at Palais de Tokyo

    June 11, 2015

    A Vessel Moored on the Pier

    September 27, 2022

    Mind Your Way!

    May 28, 2013
  • Daily photo,  Portfolio,  Street Photography,  Travels,  Urban Landscape

    Hidden in Plain Sight. A Japanese Journey

    August 3, 2023 /

    Although I have a lot of pictures from my various trips to Japan, organising them into a book is a challenge. The photos themselves are good enough to deserve publication. However, most of them are affected by a ‘déjà-vu’ effect. People on the subway, crowded crossroads, striking contrasts between modernity and the past, or between rural areas and highly urbanised ones, pop culture vs. business culture… no matter how hard I try, every single photo gives the feeling that someone has already done it. I am neither an anthropologist nor an expert on Japanese society, so I have no reasonable explanation for this feeling. Perhaps it is simply a matter…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Kite Surfer Under Duress

    January 29, 2021

    A Fountain

    May 17, 2014

    Shrinking Knowledge Into A Small Brain

    July 24, 2018
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  People,  Stockholm,  Summer,  Technique,  Travels

    DSLR film scanning: episode three

    January 24, 2023 /

    This is, by far, the most pleasing result I have ever had from digitising a film negative with a DSLR.Contrary to many suggestions found on Youtube, I did not invert the negative RAW curve by tweaking the Master RGB option. I did it, instead, channel-bychannel minding each clipping point. This approach allowed for a better reproduction of the grey tones, and in the end a fair result.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Street Magic@Nagoya Castle

    July 21, 2019

    A Zen Garden?

    February 22, 2014

    An Old School Workstation

    September 12, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Tokyo,  Travels

    Nittele Tower

    April 25, 2022 /

    This photograph was taken on the move, from the Tokyo Monorail, aimed at the glass façade of Nittele Tower. Shooting through layers — the monorail’s own window and the tower’s reflective panels — created a composition that is equal parts interior, exterior, and abstraction. The grid of the building’s structure acts as both frame and subject, compartmentalising the scene into individual vignettes where people, staircases, and architectural lines intersect. The DA* 16-50 on the K-5 handled the mix of reflections and transparency better than I anticipated. Exposure was tricky: the overcast light outside diffused evenly, while the building’s interior lighting added warm pockets of contrast. I kept the balance slightly…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Portrait of a Politician – 2

    June 15, 2014

    Sky Patrol

    September 12, 2021

    Carabinieri in Milan

    January 28, 2014
  • 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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    Norwegian Suits

    October 15, 2014

    A Maserati GranTurismo

    July 15, 2023

    Evolution of a Guitar Player

    July 5, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Marketing,  Nagoya,  Reportage,  Travels

    Nagoya’s reportage featured in The Good Life

    October 29, 2020 /

    The Good Life‘s October issue features my photoreportage of Nagoya.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Hard Stare

    April 26, 2016

    The Ghost

    February 15, 2013

    Before The Match

    October 20, 2014
  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Landscape,  Travels,  Winter

    Hope after the Storm

    January 8, 2020 /

    The sea hadn’t quite calmed when I made this frame—the wind still cut the crests sharp, and the noise of the waves clashing against the pilings of the trabocco was thick, physical. I waited for a break in the light, not hoping for much, and then the rainbow broke into view—just briefly—and gave the scene a tension it was missing. Not the kitsch kind of rainbow, but the kind that appears in defiance of ruin. The trabocco—an ancient fishing machine precariously perched on stilts—has always struck me as the embodiment of resilience. I framed it slightly to the left to leave space for the arc, letting the rainbow anchor the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Driver

    August 8, 2015

    The Ghost

    February 15, 2013

    Lady Gaga Art Rave

    October 5, 2014
  • Airport,  Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Travels,  Urban Landscape

    Leaving

    September 27, 2018 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Wasubot. A Stiff Organ Player@Tsukuba

    June 21, 2018

    Tsutaya Bookstore@Ginza

    December 6, 2020

    Batklubben

    July 23, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Photography,  Travels

    From Camera to Print…

    March 17, 2015 /

    This is what happens when a shot is not taken thinking of its final destination (or when a graphic editor doesn’t consider what the outcome would be once printed): a poor rendition.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Hope after the Storm

    January 8, 2020

    Common Fate

    November 15, 2013

    Life, the Universe and Everything

    July 28, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Past&Relics,  Spring,  Travels

    A Broken Gearwheel

    August 27, 2014 /

    I came across this fragment of concrete by chance — two heavy, jagged halves lying on a bed of smooth stones, their shapes echoing the teeth of a gearwheel. It looked industrial, almost mechanical, yet entirely static and inert. There was no motion here, only the suggestion of it, frozen in decay. When I composed the frame, I aimed to make the gear the clear focal point while still allowing the surrounding textures to play their part. The roughness of the stone bed contrasts nicely with the flat, worn surface of the concrete pieces. The diagonal orientation of the gear halves gives the image a touch of dynamism that the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Busy

    December 24, 2015

    Portrait of a young scholar

    October 28, 2013

    The Ubiquitous Mobile

    July 14, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Spring,  Travels

    A Green Patch

    August 26, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    So Long, Eos-M

    January 17, 2014

    John De Leo’s Grande Abarasse Orchestra – Live

    February 10, 2015

    Histoire d’O

    November 11, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  New York,  Restaurants&Bar,  Spring,  Travels

    Mulberry Street, When Benito II Was Still There…

    July 7, 2014 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Couch in the Yard

    November 18, 2013

    The Real Street Photographer: Bold and Fearless

    February 25, 2013

    Walking at Night, in Milan

    September 30, 2013
  • Airport,  Bruxelles,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Spring,  Travels

    Guru Meditation

    May 12, 2014 /

    Airports are temples of waiting. They strip away the illusion of control, leaving travellers suspended in time between one place and another. In that in-between, people invent ways to cope. Here, in a lounge of muted reds and glassy daylight, a man folds himself into a private space. One leg drawn up, back curved, cap pulled low, he cradles a tablet as if it were a small book or a talisman. His fingers rest lightly on it, not tapping, not scrolling—just holding. The surrounding noise and movement dissolve in his stillness. This is meditation for the digital age. Not in a forest clearing or a candlelit room, but in an…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Red Curtains

    August 28, 2014

    Portrait of aTocaor

    October 8, 2013

    Portfolio

    February 24, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Landscape,  Summer,  Travels

    EOS-M. An Act of Fairness

    July 24, 2013 /

    I’ve been anything but gentle in my assessment of the Canon EOS-M’s street photography credentials. In the chaos of fast-moving urban life, it has always felt a step behind — hesitant where others are decisive. But fairness demands balance, and in the stillness of landscape work, this little mirrorless manages to surprise. This frame, taken with the humble 18-55mm stabilised kit lens, shows the EOS-M in its element. The river’s current twists and glides across the frame, textures shifting from silky blur to glassy detail, the greens of moss and the reddish undertones of the rocks holding their place against the moving water. The stabilisation works in quiet partnership with…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Footprint

    April 24, 2014

    Weight Training @ Rome’s Stadio Olimpico

    October 9, 2018

    An illuminated escape path will help you to reach the exits …

    November 10, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Spring,  Travels

    The Worst Moment to Fix a Shoe’s Problem

    April 14, 2013 /

    Caught on a descending escalator, mid-bend, mid-thought—this is the photograph of a decision made too late. Everything in this frame leans forward. The vanishing point pulls you down, hard, like gravity with intention. The blur on the metal steps mimics momentum. You can almost feel the hum of machinery and the silent urgency of descent. At the centre of it all: a man hunched over, trying to wrestle control over something small and unruly—perhaps a loose shoelace, perhaps something more symbolic. I didn’t plan this shot. It happened fast. A reflex. Shot handheld, low light, no time to think, just enough to feel. The imperfection—the motion blur, the noise, the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Marianna D’ama – Live

    December 2, 2018

    Photography and the Importance of a Proper Training

    April 23, 2024

    Late for Lunch

    March 26, 2014

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