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  • Beach&Shores,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Photography,  Spring,  Visual,  WideAngle

    Noon on the Beach

    May 1, 2014 /

    Another experiment with the Nikkor 16mm F/3,5 Fish-Eye. Using this lens in a less conventional way is really challenging for the composition. Keep trying.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Batklubben

    July 23, 2016

    The Lost Battle

    January 11, 2014

    The Silent Listeners

    December 27, 2013
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Milan,  People

    Damned Autofocus

    April 20, 2014 /

    I like this photo very much. The two travelers, mutually unbeknownst, stroke a pose like if they were on duty fashion models. Unfortunately, the Fujifulm X-E1 autofocus didn’t work fast enough and, as I’ve already told, zone-focusing is a pain in the neck without a properly marked focus-ring. Long live to Hasselblad, Zeiss, Leica and Nikon…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Rest under a tree

    May 31, 2013

    A Standup Paddleboarder

    August 25, 2014

    The Seagull And The Sentinel

    October 27, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  Observer Bias,  People,  Photography,  Spring

    Brain vs Camera

    April 19, 2014 /

    The picture on the left is what the camera saw. The picture on the right is what I had in mind while shooting. Thanks to Photoshop I’ve been able to bend the “objectivity” of the camera along the line of my creativity.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Distraction

    April 6, 2016

    Photography and the dangers of ethics

    April 17, 2013

    Silhouettes@Osaka Castle

    June 12, 2018
  • Barcelona,  Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Spring,  Street Markets

    A Fujifilm X-E1 Annoyance

    April 15, 2014 /

    The X-E1 is a good camera, though has some annoyances that make it less handy for Street Photography. Contrary to Leica, (some) Zeiss or (some) Nikon lenses, zone-focusing is not set on the lens barrel. You must do it either through the viewfinder or the LCD, and this makes problematic the switch from one technique to another. Same is true for aperture settings. Operating the camera one-handed, happened twice to me, led to a change of the image quality settings from RAW to Jpg. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware while shooting and I’ve wasted half a day in Barcelona getting inferior quality pictures.

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    Andrea Monti

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    A Bubble In The New York Sky

    July 2, 2014

    The Oslo Opera House

    October 24, 2014

    Where Did I Left My Car?

    April 2, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Milan,  People,  Street Photography

    Street-Photographer’s eye side effect

    April 8, 2014 /

    Seeing the world through the Street-Photographer’s eye makes you more aware of your surroundings both at a conscious and unconscious, Zen-like, level. A side-effect of this state is that you can exploit-it for personal safety when traveling in risky places, like big stations where pickpockets are doing their tricks.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Fantozzi’s chairs

    May 4, 2013

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

    December 22, 2024

    Garbage as usual@Pantheon’s nearby

    October 4, 2019
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Spring

    Hanging Towels

    March 29, 2014 /

    This is what happens when coupling a summicron 50 (third gen) with a Fujifilm X-1.

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    Andrea Monti

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    Open Interior

    March 14, 2021

    Just Another Times Square View

    July 9, 2014

    Another experiment, now with a Kodak Portra 400

    May 4, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Paris,  Spring,  Street Photography

    Tour Saint-Jacques, Standby

    March 27, 2014 /

    Paris, the city of light, reflects off the polished chrome helmets of the sapeurs-pompiers. The firemen stand poised, immobile but ready. Their posture does not betray fatigue, nor doubt—it’s the stance of trained patience, of focused anticipation. This image captures a moment between action and calm. The fire hoses lie coiled with potential energy, valves shut, mechanisms still untouched. Behind them, the urban rhythm carries on: buses glide, pedestrians move, the sirens wait. The presence of the firefighters, framed by the bustle of Haussmannian façades and traffic, signals that something mighthave happened—or almost did. The mirrored helmets become metaphors themselves. They do not just shield: they reflect the world around them. Their function is…

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    Andrea Monti

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    An Athlete@Stadio Marmi, Rome

    October 11, 2018

    Floating

    February 5, 2023

    TelcoMan

    January 26, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Street Photography,  Winter

    Is This Photo Illegal?

    March 20, 2014 /

    Yes, if it were taken in Hungary. Against the European Convention of Human Rights, Hungary passed a law that by next March 15 will require any photographer shooting in public space to obtain a signed “model release form”. This provision will be bashed by either the EU Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights (for the very same reasons I explained here), but it will take time and – first of all – a photographer that sacrifices himself on the altar of freedom.  

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    Andrea Monti

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    Fixing the ship

    August 18, 2021

    Free Ride

    October 2, 2014

    The Expired Film Series – Episode 3 – Ilford HP5 400 – Dec. 2010 shot in August 2023

    August 30, 2023
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Landscape,  Photography,  Winter

    Italy, Landscape Photography and the Law – Part Two

    February 23, 2014 /

    In a previous post I addressed some of the legal issues involved in Landscape Photography where copyright was willfully not mentioned: since copyright is an outcome of human creativity who might ever think of imposing it over a landscape? Well, as much as it sounds crazy, somebody did it: on 2o11 the Town of San Quirico d’Orcia, in Tuscany, passed a local regulation that copyrights landscape images and artistic, cultural, environmental and architectural “stuff”, making mandatory pro shooter to ask for an authorization before starting their sessions. This local regulation is simply illegal, because “copyright” implies an act of creativity, while the landscape in itself doesn’t (unless you believe in…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Turiddu repeals Santuzza

    November 19, 2022

    Partner in Glam

    May 3, 2023

    Every Single Day

    June 28, 2017
  • 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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    Shooting Sanda (Chinese Kickboxing) Bouts

    June 26, 2025

    Different Life

    June 24, 2016

    Fisherman’s Friend

    January 10, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Photography

    The Google Experiment

    February 1, 2014 /

    The usual note: I don’t write about gear. But this time I want to do an experiment inspired by the consequences of having the post about Street Photography and Italian Law bounced by Adam Marelli and Luminous-Landscape. Since these two websites channeled my post around the world, the access to (other parts too of) my blog – mostly unknown, previously – steady increased. I’m far from saying that I’ve reached an “audience”, nevertheless this blog is gaining its space among the zillions  of pictures that live on the Internet. And it is “quality” space, meaning that visitors (you’re always welcome, folks!) find something of interest by looking at my pictures…

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    Andrea Monti

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    DSLR-like…?

    March 21, 2025

    Good Idea

    January 31, 2014

    A ghostly bystander

    September 21, 2013
  • 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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    Processing DSLR-digitized film with and without Pentax K-1 Monochrome Custom Image profile

    April 30, 2023

    Into The Cube

    November 18, 2014

    Fisherman’s Friend

    January 10, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Landscape,  Photography

    Italy, Landscape Photography and the Law

    January 23, 2014 /

    Welcome back to the “Law, Order and Photography in Italy” series. The second episode (the first being about Street-Photography) deals with Landscape Photography and, again, provides practical advise for the photographer who travels through Italy shooting its nature. Summary Landscape Photography, at first sight, looks like a piece of cake. No need to hip shoot, no fear of being confronted by an illiterate policeman or angry passerby, no model-release to carry… just you, your camera and your subject: the Nature. But things, as often in Italy, aren’t that simple since rules and regulations extend (literally) up to the top of the mountains. To put it short, there are a few…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Lorenzo negli stadi

    July 11, 2013

    A Seagull in Rome

    June 28, 2013

    Horizontal

    March 14, 2015
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  People,  Rome,  Streets&Squares

    So Long, Eos-M

    January 17, 2014 /

    A couple of days ago, while wandering around a street-market, I spotted a small “exhibit” of old Nikon and Hasselblad lenses. I thought it would have been nice to get the two “classic” lenses for the System V, so I traded my Eos-M (and lenses) for a Carl Zeiss lenses: a Distagon 50 and a Sonnar 150. The seller was eager to strike the deal, but I’m not sure who actually got the best bargain…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Guest Are Welcome!

    December 1, 2014

    Overexposed?

    March 14, 2013

    Waiting for the Fish

    December 18, 2021
  • 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 locked…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    A videographer…

    February 27, 2013

    A Fishnet – 1

    October 28, 2014

    The Siamese Boats

    June 1, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Observer Bias,  People,  Photography

    Multiple Meaning

    December 10, 2013 /

    We do see, in a picture, what we want to see. While the vast majority would focus on the dynamics between the shooter with the hoodie and the man with spectacles, those familiar with the inner circle of photography in Pescara will immediately spot, behind the man, Mrs. Franca Cauti, the Big Boss at Ohmasa Foto Video…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Pensive

    June 13, 2015

    A Little Of Thailand In Rome

    August 2, 2013

    Pure Joy

    May 25, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Landscape,  Winter

    A HDR Experiment

    December 9, 2013 /

    This is my first – and possibly, last – attempt of using HDR to post-process my pictures. Unless I’m able to get a more creative outcome, there is no reason to have pictures that look deadly similar to those of the other users of Nik Software Collection (as I am:))

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Stripes

    March 2, 2015

    Silver Pottery

    November 4, 2014

    A Jazz-Manouche Guitar Player

    August 17, 2014
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Gear,  Visual

    VueScan and the missed Bits-per-pixel

    December 1, 2013 /

    Ed Hamrick’s VueScan is a great software that supports almost every scanner available, including out-of-production film scanner. Sometimes its interface behave in non documented way as in the case of the Bits-per-pixel option in the Input tab that disappears once the Infrared Clean option is enabled in the Filter tab. I wasn’t able to figure out the relationship between the two settings until Ed Hamrick himself kindly answered (lightfast, I would say) to my question. Kudos to him for that, but it would be nice to have this Infrared clean-Bits per pixel issue mentioned in the user guide :)

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    The Coach

    December 9, 2018

    The Real-Life Lens Test Series – Episode 1: Viltrox XF 56/1,4 AF

    June 6, 2024

    Breakfast at Rue Brisemiche

    March 25, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Street Photography

    Meaningless

    November 9, 2013 /

    Sometimes it is easier to tell “what this is not” instead of “what this is”, as in the case of this photography. Meaningless, wrongly shot and overexposed. A good reference point to consider when thinking of my own photos as something that worth to be seen.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Caparezza – Live@Palamaggetti Roseto degli Abruzzi

    February 12, 2018

    Hanging

    May 29, 2016

    Shooting Fast Alfa Romeo on a Race Track

    October 22, 2024
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Photo Journalism,  Street Photography,  Thoughts

    Italy, Street-Photography and the Law

    October 29, 2013 /

    Update – 2 On July 2014 the Polizia Municipale of Rome seized a street-photographer ‘s camera, but the Court bashed the seizure. Update – 1 Here is an A4 leaflet useful to stand your ground if your street-photography work is questioned by somebody else. Introduction* As there are few texts in English dealing with (street) photography and Italian laws, I’ve decided to put my lawyer‘s hat and sketch some toughts on the two main topics involving the Street-Photography: shooting candid and publishing them online. To cut a long story short, Italian law follows a similar approach to other Western jurisdictions and – in particular – of Articles 8 and 10…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    Portrait of a Master luthier

    October 26, 2013

    Portrait of keyboard player

    May 18, 2014

    Falling Tree

    May 8, 2014
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  People,  Photography,  Thoughts

    The Nightmare

    August 23, 2013 /

    I never realized how important is to shoot unnoticed – and respect people – during public performances until I went to a tango exhibition, last night. This guy has been a pain in the neck: he shoot by paying almost no attention to the public, his remotely-operated flashing at his ease – no matter if the people was getting strobes in its eyes.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    For Sale

    May 5, 2014

    Parisian’s Bags

    April 6, 2014

    A Vessel

    December 18, 2015
  • Artists,  Daily photo,  Observer Bias,  Photography,  Thoughts

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

    August 21, 2013 /

    The close-up delivers a feeling of hot passion, as often tangueros do. But a wider view, including that sneaky photographer, kills the mood.

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    An unusual flowers’ field

    June 30, 2013

    A (Out-of-Focus) Break Between Lunch and Supper

    December 8, 2015

    Inside an Old Gym

    February 16, 2015
  • B&W,  Daily photo,  Doors&Windows,  Gear

    EOS-M. Manual focus tips and results for Street-Photography and more

    August 9, 2013 /

    In the quest for an acceptable use of my Canon EOS-M I think I’ve finally found a way to exploit my M-mount lenses after the poor experience with the LCD focus. The last two exposures posted, this and this, have been shot with a Carl Zeiss T* Biogon 35/2,8 through zone-focusing, while the picture of this post has been manually focused using the EOS-M’s 5x magnification feature. In both cases the results are more than acceptable, giving a new life to this severely limited camera. All I can say is that is true what seasoned photographers use to say about the cameras: as soon as you get acquainted with your…

    Read More
    Andrea Monti

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    The Expired Film Series – Episode 2 – Ilford XP2Super 400 – Nov. 2017 shot in May 2023

    July 25, 2023

    Nature gets its space back…

    November 7, 2018

    Renovating Milan

    November 18, 2017
  • Colour,  Daily photo,  Gear

    Carl Zeiss T* 50 1,5 Sonnar and EOS EF-M 18-55

    August 4, 2013 /

    Gear time again. Notwithstanding its quirks I can’t get rid of this EOS-M camera and still try to find a reason not to dispose of it. This time I wanted to see how does the camera performs with Zeiss ZM lenses (namely, the Carl Zeiss T* 50 1,5 Sonnar) thanks to the – again brilliant – EOS-M to Leica M lens adapter by Master Adriano Lolli. As everybody can see the results are of a poor quality compared to the (not stellar) performance of the Canon EF-M 18-55. The Zeiss is not faulty (I use it on a Leica M6 and it works like a charm) so I came to…

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    Andrea Monti

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    Ready For Lunch

    November 1, 2014

    Lockpicking Tools

    December 11, 2018

    The Quiet Riot

    November 19, 2017
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