What (or Who) Are These Hangs For?

Shot under the sharp midday sun, this image was never meant to soothe. The rope nooses hanging beneath the Egidi bridge in Lazio weren’t installed for dramatic effect—at least, I assume not—but the visual reads like a theatre of unease. Their symmetrical placement across the frame, knotted with intention, stirs something more than curiosity.

I took the photo from a boat, drifting slowly beneath the bridge’s concrete weight. The water was still, though not glassy—its murky green caught just enough reflection to add texture. Compositionally, the image divides into thirds almost intuitively: the river below, the ropes suspended in the centre, and the man-made bridge above. The eye bounces between these zones, never quite at rest. The tension, both literal and figurative, sits in the ropes.

Technically, the exposure leans bright, especially where the sun hits the concrete. Shadows under the bridge threaten to swallow some of the subtler details, but I let them be. No HDR tricks. This isn’t a polished narrative. It’s uneasy, unresolved, and that’s its point.

Photography isn’t always about resolution—in either sense of the word. Sometimes it’s about leaving questions hanging.