Catch and Release Photography on the Streets of Rome
Rome is a dream city for street photography, partly because of Rome's scenic variety, but also because its narrow and densely packed sidewalks and teeming streets allow relatively unimpeded picture taking. A photographer is just another person with a camera. And many people are either taking pictures with cameras or smart phones, or they are intent on either getting somewhere or studying their screens. The bustle and flow of foot traffic makes objection unlikely; people are too busy and self-absorbed to notice or object.
Here are some fairly recent examples of photographic catch and release on the streets of Rome.
Intent on getting somewhere or looking at screens:
Or satisfying basic needs.
Social interactions are on display.
Tour guides abound, here near the Pantheon,
and here awaiting his group at the Galleria Borghese beneath a headless figure.
Tourists are everywhere, bumping along rough pavement, cobbles, and intersections with wheeled suitcases.
Rome's night streets bustle, and freight bicycles mingle with cars and trucks.
Tourist attractions, features of Roman life, are everywhere, as here the Trinità dei Monti church atop the Spanish Steps.
And, by the way, the two photos above were massaged in Photoshop to remove many tourists (but leaving those behind the railing) crowding the Spanish Steps area. This type of edit would be photo-journalistically completely unethical, but for private, illustrative purposes is not problematic. So far as known, the digital removal of about forty people did not cause them any harm or result in their actual real-world disappearance. The usual throng by the fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps was left unmolested.
A favorite place to visit and experience, the Piazza Navona, was being heavily refurbished, and the piazza was almost silent in comparison with its usual vitality. People moved about, confused, uncertain; the restaurants were not having a good day. Behind a wire grill workers cleaned and restored the Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune). The fountain had long existed, but the sculptures, including the figure of Neptune wrestling an octopus, were added in 1878.
Barricades and construction walls separated tourists from workers.
A lively promotional panel remained visible.
The days of unmuffled two-stroke dirt bikes and motor scooters rocketing through Rome's alleys may be over, but there are countless modern scooters and motorcycles on streets and parking lots. It is a good way to get around on crowded streets, despite the seeming chaos. Lanes are merely advisory; merging and diverging in heavy traffic is an Italian art form.
Rome, like every community in Italy, has somber reminders of wars' sacrifices.
Cobbles in a traffic triangle are re-laid with skill and aesthetics.
But the sidewalks provide a cross-section of society.
And some eye-catching moments.
It is usually said that good photos don't need explanations. And, as a corollary, if a photo needs an explanation, it isn't a good photo. And even if there is no ambiguity about what a really good photo depicts, it may raise many questions about what is really going on (as in many photos by Dianne Arbus or Garry Winogrand). That is especially so for street photography. That said, the next image is a complete mystery. It depicts a pedestrian passing two young women who are lying in a sidewalk's corner crosswalk close to a very busy street in late afternoon. It isn't clear if they are napping, impaired, or acting, or possibly seeking reactions from passing pedestrians and drivers or even photographers, or waiting to meet someone. Coming upon this scene while walking the sidewalk after leaving a shop was a complete surprise. The pedestrian's position hid the recumbent women until the last moment and there was no warning as we came upon the tableau and then the flow of foot traffic propelled us on. There was just time for one unaimed walk-by photo taken while the camera was waist-high, and set for other subjects and single-shots. Another Roman street mystery.
Despite street ephemera, life goes on for Rome's sidewalk merchants.
Thus, caught momentarily (in less than an eye-blink) and released, preserved, but not restrained.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.