Tag: Italy

Frosty Ice Cream

Family eating ice cream one a rainy day
1/250 sec | f/6.3 | ISO 6400 | 175mm

Are you kidding me? Eating a frosty ice cream on a cold and rainy day? Not for me, anyway! Spending the last week in our Southern Home in Genoa, The Significant Other and I were not blessed with the sunny and warm Spring weather you would expect from Italy. In fact, back in Nuremberg the weather was great all week with summer like temperatures.

Despite the wet weather, we headed into town a few times to run errands and treat ourselves to some great food. Having taken the Nikon Zf with me, I captured this mother and her kids enjoying some Italian ice cream, albeit a frosty one. Maybe they were visitors coming to town from one of the Cruise ships in the harbor. And felt they had to do it. At least they provided an awesome street photo subject, matching perfectly the image visible behind their backs. Quoting Shakespeare once again: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players”

Tonight, we will return to the Streets of Nuremberg to celebrate Easter with the family.

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, head to my free Learning Center.

Have a great day Saturday

Marcus

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Ice Ice Baby

Promise to myself

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ascend

Say Cheese

9

White Giant

White Giant - a stuffed white Tiger in Genoa's Museum of Natural History
White Giant | Genoa | 2025

There is more from the last weekend’s visit to Genoa’s Museum of Natural History. In my last post I have mentioned juxtaposition as compositional element. Now how about this juxtaposition? This white tiger was by far the largest tiger I ever saw, dead or alive. Crazy big. The card in the display said the animal died in 1758 in a Circus, was subsequently stuffed and eventually ended up in the museum for everyone to simply admire. The Tiger was huge by my standards. How must that little girl feel looking up to this white giant?

A street photographer can apply many compositional elements to the images to generate a viewers interest. Leading lines guide the eye through the image, creating a sense of depth and direction. The rule of thirds divides the frame into a grid, helping to position subjects in a way that feels balanced and engaging. And, like in this example, Juxtaposition places contrasting subjects or elements side by side to create visual tension or highlight differences. Like the white giant and the little girl.

Taken with my Nikon ZF and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE, image specs 1/125 sec @ f/5.6 and ISO 6400, 40mm focal length. Jpg out of camera using the Zf’s default black & white mode that can be quick-selected by a dial on top of the camera.

If you are looking for more tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Thursday

Marcus 

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Instant Inspiration (4) – Juxtaposition

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A Whale of a Day

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Ghosting

Skeletons looking over the shoulders of museum visitors doing Ghosting
Ghosting | Genoa | 2025

Another one from the last weekend’s visit to Genoa’s Museum of Natural History. Wouldn’t these scene be considered ghosting? Maybe the skeletons noticed the Street Photographer behind the glass of a display with stuffed primates. Musesums or exhibitions are great places for some inconspicuous “street” shooting, as people with cameras (or smartphones) would not stand out much. And there are always funny juxtapositions to be captured.

Taken with my Nikon ZF and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE, image specs 1/800 sec @ f/2 and ISO 6400, 40mm focal length. Jpg out of camera using the Zf’s default black&white mode that can be quick-selected by a dial on top of the camera.

If you are looking for more tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus 

Related Posts:

Street Photography Quick Tip 2 – Another way to shoot inconspicuously

Street Photography Quick Tip 10 – Using Photographic Obstacles

Instant Inspiration (13)- Pictures in an Exhibition

Instant Inspiration (6) – Storefront Windows

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Casual Observation

Mom looking into a stroller in front of a museum showcase of skeletons seemingly on a casual observation
Casual Observation | Genoa | 2025

Regular readers should know that I have a hang for street photography in museums. And that where I run across skeletons on display, try my best to have them “interact” with the visitors in front of the displays. Like in this snapshot taken yesterday, when The Signifcant Other and I visited Genoa’s Museum of Natural History. Creepy? No, not really. Come one, after all they are just a bunch of skeletons on a casual observation of people passing in front of the glass cases. Or not? Well, as long as it is not yet Night in the Museum 😉

Taken with my Nikon ZF and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE, image specs 1/30 sec @ f/13 and ISO 6400, 40mm focal length. Some post-processing (mainly cropping) in Lightroom Classic.

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Monday

Marcus 

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15

Fearless

Man looking fearless at a grinch mural
Fearless | Genoa | 2025

We are living in a crazy world. There are plenty of things around us that cause anxiety. But at least we all should do the things we can do to make things better, safeguard democracy and keep the planet afloat for our children and future generations. Like casting our votes in general elections. It won’t help to stick our heads into the sand. Germany is voting today. Let’s keep the faith that everyone has realized what’s on the plate.

This is the first street photo I have taken with my new Nikon ZF and the Nikkor Z 40mm 1:2 SE on a walk through Genoa’s historic center yesterday. It is a jpg straight out of camera, only some cropping in Lightroom Classic. Images specs 1/1250 sec @ f/4 and ISO 6400, 40mm focal length. I love my new camera more every day!

If you feel like picking up your camera (or smartphone) for a Sunday walk and are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Let’s all be fearless!

Have a great Sunday

Marcus 

Related Posts:

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Divine Observation

Under divine bbservation are visitors to Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola in Genoas Via Garibaldi
1/8 sec | f/5.3 | ISO 1600 | 70mm

Visitors of Palazzo Angelo Giovanni Spinola are under divine observation by this antique marble statue of a roman god. The palace of a Genovese noble man was completed in 1576 and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage, together with the other magnificent palaces in Genoa’s Via Garibaldi.

I took this street photograph with the Fuji X-T2 and the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR. RAW processing and conversion to high contrast monochrome in Lightroom Classic. 

If you are looking for tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Sunday

Marcus

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Street Photography Quick Tip 9 – Motion Blur

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13

Liguria Explored – Bellissimi

Bellissimi Church and Balloon Mural
Bellissimi | Liguria | 2025

As promised in my last post, today I will take you along on a walk through a little village in the Ligurian Appenin mountains that run along the coast of the Mediterranean. What ties this little mountain village, called Bellissimi, to the balloon vendor I photographed in Genoa’s Porto Antico the other day, are well…balloons. Bellissimi (which means “the most beautiful”) is full of murals of balloons. To see a selection of the artworks, find out why Bellissimi’s claim to fame are balloons, and last but not least see a picture of the four Bellissimi who visited this village, click below for the full story of “Liguria Explored – Bellissimi”

Continue reading “Liguria Explored – Bellissimi” →
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Up

Up | Genoa | 2025

Up was the motto of the day! We went up the map, driving from Genoa north (up the map ) back to Nuremberg. The drive was uneventful, and even going up San Bernardino pass in Switzerland while crossing the Alps was on clear roads under a blue sky through snow capped mountains.

“Up” is also the name of the heartwarming Pixar movie about an elderly widower, Carl Fredricksen, who ties thousands of balloons to his house to fulfill his late wife’s dream of adventure.  Obviously the four balloons of the “balloon man” in Genoa’s Porto Antico are not enough to make him levitate. But the balloons will be the perfect segway into my next post, that will be about a little mountain village on the Ligurian coast that has made balloons its claim to fame.

This street photograph is a snapshot taken with my iPhone 14 Pro with some post processing in Lightroom Classic.

If you are looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Tuesday

Marcus

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10

A nightly view of our city

Genoa by Night
Genoa | 2025

Last night, The Significant Other and I have enjoyed a fancy dinner. We’ve cooked the handmade pasta (flavored with Red Beet) that Big Boy has produced as Christmas gift for parents, sister, grandparents, aunts and cousins. It was really yummy. We added some ricotta cheese, lemon zests and olive oil and had a bottle of Barbera d’Asti Riserva to go with it. Sure enough we needed to go for a walk after dinner. It was helped by the fact, that the heavy rain that had plummeted on Genoa all day, had subsided to a light drizzle. Taking the Fuji X-T2 with the Fujinon XF18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR along, we walked over to the nearby Belvedere San Rocco di Principe for a nightly view of our city. Aside from an unobstructed full view of the Old Town and the inner harbor, called Porto Antico, the little Belvedere also features a little wall to put the camera on for the long exposure night shots. For a couple more detailed images and to see our 500 year old lighthouse at work, continue after the jump….

Continue reading “A nightly view of our city” →
7

With the Fuji in the Centro Storico

Christmas Decorations in Via San Lorenzo in Genoa's Centro Storico
1/50 sec | f/4.5 | ISO 3200 | 41mm

The Significant Other and I are spending the first days of the year in our “Southern Home” in Genoa. Yesterday afternoon we walked from our place into the historic center to see the exhibition of Genoa born photographer Lisetta Carmi in the Palazzo Ducale (will do a separate post about the exhibition). Her black & white street photography work is really inspiring, and as I was with the Fuji in the Centro Storico, I dialed in the ACROS film simulation for some monochrome shooting of my own. For the resulting images (all jpgs out of the camera) continue after the jump….

Continue reading “With the Fuji in the Centro Storico” →
9

This House is on fire

This house is on fire - La Lanterna, the historic lighthouse of Genoa
La Laterna | Genoa | 2024

This house is on fire – as a lighthouse should be. Only that the backlighted illumination of Genoa’s historic lighthouse, La Lanterna, is natural, with the sun setting directly behind the almost 500 year old structure guiding to the entrance of the port of “La Superba”, as Genoa is also known since medieval times. The photo is a throwback to last November, when, during the first days of the month, the sun is setting directly behind the Lanterna, with 77 meters height the tallest lighthouse in the Mediterranean and still the second tallest in Europe.

The Significant Other and I left Austria on New Year’s Day to spend the last days of our Christmas break at our “Southern Home” in Genoa on the Ligurian Coast in Italy, enjoying the perfect weather, as beautiful as on that November day when I captured the lighthouse on fire with my iPhone 14 Pro while strolling along the Porto Antico.

I hope you all had a great start into 2025.

Wish you a great Friday

Marcus

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A weekend in La Superba

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13

Halloween Hunting

Halloween Hunting
Halloween Hunting | Genoa | 2022

Tonight is “All Hallow’s Eve”, the eve before the religious feast All Saints (aka All Hallow’s Day), remembering the dead, saints and martyrs of christianity. Obviously that calls for an appropriate street photograph, albeit one from the archives (but previously unpublished on this blog). I captured this shot I dubbed Halloween Hunting two years ago during a Halloween event in Genoas medieval city center.

Also this year, there is another Halloween Ghost Tour on the Streets of Genoa. The Significant Other and I still need to decide whether to go. Having spent last night on the road traveling down to our Home (South), and after putting in a full day for the work that pays the bills, there might not be enough energy left to go Halloween Hunting tonight 😉

Taken with my Leica SL2-S and the TTArtisan 50mm .95 prime M-Mount lens. Image specs are 1/250 sec | f/2.8 | ISO 6400 | 50mm.

Raw processing and monochrome conversion in Lightroom Classic. 

If you like to go Halloween hunting tonight and are still looking for some tips and inspirations around street photography, check out my free Learning Center. 

Have a great Halloween

Marcus

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