Multiple Peripheral Visions

This frame was shot instinctively—no time to refocus, no second attempt. What emerged is less a photograph than a study in misdirection. Every figure in this image is out of focus, yet the meaning is sharper than most high-resolution portraits.

The scene plays like theatre. A soldier, heavily armed, stands at ease in the foreground. A woman in heels walks away, blurred into silhouette. In the background, people sit, smoke, talk, check phones. The corridor and its black door—dead centre, unnerving in its neutrality—stares back like a question. The sign reads “BALCONE DIPLOMATICO,” almost comical in its contrast to the ordinariness of what surrounds it.

Technically, it’s a failure by classic standards. Nothing is sharp. But the lack of focus reinforces the narrative. This is about the illusion of awareness. A soldier is present, yet no one notices. People pass by, unseeing. The camera mimics their inattention. The image forces the viewer to linger, searching for something that won’t resolve. That’s deliberate.

I used a short telephoto, wide open, handheld. Shutter fast enough to avoid motion blur, but the focus was never locked—on purpose or by luck, it doesn’t matter. The composition holds because of the balance: figure on the left walking in, figure on the right standing guard, and a vanishing point that doesn’t offer resolution.

It’s not a pretty image, but it’s loaded. Distraction isn’t an aesthetic choice here. It’s the subject.