Rome

If you give a photographer a choice - "Would you like to travel somewhere new? Or return to some place you have already been" most will choose to visit some place new.

Not me. Im a creature of habit and because while shooting travel I am never really happy with the results of the first shoot. It does not matter how well my images are received by the client, I always feel like I am leaving something on the table.

So naturally one of my favorite things to do while shooting a travel assignment is to shoot at the same place twice.

Here is a recent photograph I shot of the Coliseum in Rome. like many other posts in my blog I always challenge myself how do you photograph something so iconic in a different way?

Many photographers choose to rely on extreme light (sunsets or sunrises) to add uniqueness to a travel image, but I choose a different approach when the opportunity presents itself.

Rather than making iconic landmarks the focal point of an images, I try to have the landmark as a mere backdrop to the daily grind of life.

In this series I had already shot the typical postcard coliseum photos that my editor would have been happy with... but this shoot was smelling alot like my shoot in 2007... so I wanted something more

In 2007 I shot a series in Rome that was very well received, but I felt it lacked the vibrant energy that makes up Roma.

I sat down on a stone ledge to contemplate what I was going to do. When a few school kids kicked a football past me. Then out of nowhere an intense game of grade 4 football ensued.

The camera came out, and here is the photograph.

This is why I like to return to the same places over and over again when shooting Travel assignments. The landmarks never change, but the river of life continually flows around them, constantly giving photographers new opportunities to create exciting photographs in a place they have already been.

In this image is one of the most honest travel photographs I have ever taken.

Enjoy!

C