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  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Reportage,  Winter

    Denegata Justitia

    March 2, 2020 /

    Sometimes a picture acquires a meaning that goes beyond the original intent of the photographer. In this case, taken from a reportage I did for Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables featured at Teatro Marrrucino, in Chieti, the photography becomes the archetype of the denegata Justitia. The defendant asks to speak, the justice stares elsewhere.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Portrait of a Politician – 2

    June 15, 2014

    Up from the Waterline

    December 3, 2016

    The Soul Of Politics

    July 17, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Technique,  Winter

    Breaking the Fourth Wall

    February 17, 2020 /

    Shooting a play is challenging because you must be ready to seize ‘the moment’ and, at the very same time, think of unusual compositions to avoid the boring ‘frontal’ perspective. Shooting part of the reportage from the backstage of Hamlet, with Giorgio Pasotti and Mariangela D’Abbraccio directed by Francesco Tavassi I had the possibility to experiment the breaking of the fourth wall. This picture is one of the results.

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Virtual Glance Dance

    December 28, 2019

    A Ferrari 812 GTS in Boston

    July 14, 2023

    Ni

    January 26, 2014
  • Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  PhotoCritics,  Technique

    Counter-intuitive Focus

    February 9, 2020 /

    This photo I took during a reportage for a theatre hosting a concert of Uto Ughi shows a counter-intuitive use of focusing. Rather than go for the obvious option, the attention is shifted on the two musicians in the background capturing their concentration, with the leading violin blurred and conceptually, thus, ‘left behind’. The global effect is reinforced by a neat separation between the dark and light parts of the frame.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Al Di Meola, Peo Alfonsi, Sergio Martinez – Live @ Teatro della Villa Comunale – Roseto degli Abruzzi

    July 30, 2025

    Outside the Courthall

    April 15, 2015

    No Tablet, No Problem

    April 12, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Technique,  Winter

    When Colour Helps Composition

    February 7, 2020 /

    This photo I took during a reportage of Miseria e nobiltà – a classic of the Neapolitan comedy by Eduardo Scarpetta – in the mise en scene of Lello Arena e Luciano Melchionna gives a lot of insights on how composition works. The triangle designed by the two actors on the sides and the taller actress in the centre is reinforced by the colours of the costumes: black in the centre, white in the sides. Finally, the purple background behind the black figure enhances the eye-driving effect toward the centre.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Carabinieri:To Serve And Protect

    February 8, 2016

    A Fence

    November 6, 2014

    @ Mediterranean Beach Games 2015 – Italian Beach Volley Female Team – Laura Giombini, Giulia Toti

    October 17, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Seasons,  Winter

    On “timing the moment”

    January 20, 2020 /

    This photo I took during an assignment for a reportage on the theatre drama called “Le Signorine” with Giuliana De Sio and Isa Danieli is an excellent example of the “Timing the moment” concept. “Timing the moment” is a skill any event-based photographer should develop (or hone, if he’s gifted enough to have been born with the gift.) Especially in sport – but too in concerts and theatre’s show if you did not attend the rehearsal – you don’t know in advance what is going to happen. A unique mixture of intuition, reflex and decision (what the Japanese would call 決め – kime) allows capturing an unforeseen – and excellent…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Menu Meditation

    February 16, 2018

    Processing DSLR-digitized film with and without Pentax K-1 Monochrome Custom Image profile

    April 30, 2023

    A priest

    October 19, 2019
  • 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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    A lighter

    February 14, 2013

    Footprint

    April 24, 2014

    National Security

    April 4, 2014
  • 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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    Arrested Behind the Door

    March 29, 2015

    Rocco Zifarelli, Jeff Berlin, Beth&Danny Gottlieb, Gabriela Sinagra

    June 10, 2013

    A chocolaterie in Bruxelles

    January 6, 2014
  • Artists,  Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Portraits,  Technique,  Winter

    The Power of Underexposing

    December 25, 2019 /

    Properly mastering underexposure helps to obtain pleasant results in challenging light conditions. I took this picture of a soprano by lowering the camera exposure by two stops, thus preserving skin tones burning, and “fading” the background to black. A proper in-camera under-exposure has the advantage of requiring lesser work in post to toggle clarity, temperature and black point.

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Curious Mushroom

    November 16, 2013

    A Lamp in an Old Teather

    March 8, 2016

    Too Busy to Enjoy the Life…

    April 12, 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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    Traffic Jam in Rome

    December 14, 2015

    An inconvenient way to spend time.

    March 15, 2013

    Sweet Dilemma

    November 4, 2015
  • 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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    The Quest for Belgian Chocolate…

    April 11, 2017

    Earbuds

    December 22, 2015

    The EOS-M just sucks

    July 18, 2013
  • 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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    A Dangerous Alley

    May 25, 2013

    Behind the Glass

    April 4, 2015

    The Watchman (Street-Photography Shortcuts)

    January 21, 2016
  • 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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    The Financial Times at Night

    October 1, 2016

    The Power of Music

    March 22, 2013

    Al Di Meola, Peo Alfonsi, Sergio Martinez – Live @ Teatro della Villa Comunale – Roseto degli Abruzzi

    July 30, 2025
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear

    A Weird Fujifilm Battery Issue for X-series cameras

    December 2, 2019 /

    A defective battery can cause a Fujifilm X-series camera to start rattling and displaying blue, white or purple-striped screen in the LCD viewfinder. After three months of troubleshooting, having the camera traveling back and fro between my studio and Fujifilm Italy tech support, they have been able to identify the issue: a defective battery didn’t send enough power to the camera, thus jeopardizing its operation. Here is a Youtube video I made that shows the issue

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    Andrea Monti

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    Sharp Shooter

    March 10, 2015

    Wasn’t He Supposed To Carry A Walther PPK?

    December 6, 2014

    Lost

    July 26, 2014
  • 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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    Light as Meaning Shifter

    December 11, 2019

    The Bodyguard

    April 13, 2014

    Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

    January 14, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  PhotoCritics,  Winter

    Evolution in Red

    November 20, 2019 /

    This is another example of how purely visual (the color red) and factual (a stroller on the far left, and an adult on the far right) elements create in the mind of the observer a semantic connection (in this case: the transition from childhood to adulthood) that does not exist in reality.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Table Dressing

    July 15, 2015

    Inside The Palace of Power

    September 17, 2015

    The Worst Moment to Fix a Shoe’s Problem

    April 14, 2013
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Technique,  Thoughts

    Will The iPhone Kill Traditional Cameras? Not Very

    October 15, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Ultras

    July 20, 2016

    The Straycat

    December 3, 2013

    Bus Driver

    September 16, 2016
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Seasons,  Street Photography,  Summer

    Helping the Elders

    July 10, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Nikon’s Portrait Made With a Fuji

    January 14, 2016

    Supporter or Photographer?

    March 21, 2013

    When We Were Kids

    August 18, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Thoughts,  Winter

    A shot wasted by Iphone 7 plus poor low light performance

    January 22, 2019 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Las Ramblas’ Lifestyle

    April 18, 2014

    A young Iron Maiden fan

    April 8, 2013

    Traffic Master

    December 19, 2016
  • 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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    A Spanish Long Jumper

    September 11, 2022

    Too Busy to Enjoy the Life…

    April 12, 2014

    The Boared Bassman

    March 16, 2013
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Lines,  Photography,  Spring

    The Solitude of Power

    May 6, 2018 /

    In this staged tableau, a single white king stands isolated at the centre of a chessboard, surrounded by a dense perimeter of pawns, bishops, rooks, and knights—black and white alike. The visual symmetry is precise, the tension deliberate. It is a composition that speaks of power, but also of its limits. The king is both the most important and the weakest piece on the board. Its capture ends the game, yet it is immobile without protection. The title, The King’s Solitude, plays on this paradox: the sovereign stands alone, sovereign yet vulnerable, elevated yet exposed. In the context of international relations, this image evokes the precarious nature of leadership on the…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Traffic Jam in Rome

    December 14, 2015

    Content Creators

    July 20, 2023

    Line Of Fire

    July 6, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Winter

    Fujifilm XF 100-400: a quick test

    January 12, 2018 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    She Died Alone

    February 15, 2022

    (Not so) Intelligent Design

    October 26, 2018

    Springtime

    April 23, 2015
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Photography,  Rome,  Visual

    An Essay on Light

    October 13, 2017 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    The Seagull And The Sentinel

    October 27, 2014

    TicTacToe

    September 1, 2014

    Americana Skating – Italian National Championship 2019

    February 4, 2019
  • Autumn,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Rome,  Technique,  Visual

    An Essay in Composition

    October 11, 2017 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Last Check Before The Show

    July 21, 2014

    Some odd outcomes from a photo recovering attempt using an AI

    July 13, 2025

    Big Brother Enhanced

    May 1, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Garages&Labs,  Photography,  Spring

    Leica Shop @ Strada Maggiore

    May 11, 2017 /

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    Andrea Monti

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    Who Can It Be Now?

    February 18, 2016

    LP – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella – The photogallery

    July 11, 2022

    A Splash of Colour

    November 13, 2013
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