ROME – street photography

Street photography is the pursuit of quirky scenes to capture as they unfold, unscripted. Shooting in the same place over and over helps identify the patterns, which only helps spotting what might make a significant image.

Where it doesn’t help, is coming up with ever-clever, creative titles for my posts…

 

 

 

Three friars – one of which undercover – in the drizzle.

 

 

 

 

 

The symbols for different currencies seem to spell “yes” in this wonderful street art poster entitled “Money is your God” by artist Hogre photographed at Rome’s Porta del Popolo.

 

 

 

 

 

Classic Roman scene: umbrella-wielding tourists with cameras by great monumental art, some random guy on his cellphone and three nuns in the background. The elephant, legend goes, was sculpted by Bernini to face away from something he was not too fond of.

 

 

 

 

 

Romans are so used to great weather that at the very first sight of drizzle, out come the umbrellas. Work on the pipes running underneath the pavement of Rome’s narrow alleys sometimes leaves barely enough room for a pedestrian to squeeze by.

 

 

 

 

 

What do you get in Rome when a rich guy in the city center buys a big, expensive car? You get an ancient stone doorway that mysteriously carves itself out into the shape of a Mercedes…

 

 

 

 

 

Rome is full of small tunnels, such as Vicolo Sinibaldi, leading from one street to another by passing underneath buildings.

 

 

 

 

 

One thing you’ll have a hard time finding in Rome is two streets meeting at right angles: every single cluster of buildings is a different size and shape. Which is why Romans don’t measure distances in “blocks” as they do in many other cities in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Tourists taking in beautiful Piazza Navona. When caught shooting strangers, just grin like a fool and then grin some more.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a reproduction of the Befana, a generation or two ago, Italy’s traditional holiday-season gift-giver. She would come around by night in early January flying on a broom and wearing broken shoes to leave gifts in stockings for good children, and coal to bad ones. She is currently unemployed, all but replaced by Santa Claus.

 

 

 

Photo essay shot in the streets of Rome in November 2012.

Alessandro Ciapanna

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