Roman Coliseum
Rome, Italy 2015
It’s difficult to find a new angle on a famous landmark like the Coliseum in Rome or the Eiffel Tower. I’m not sure, because I just thought of this, but maybe the key is to have the landmark recognizable. Sorry, but I don’t think my version of the Coliseum meets that requirement.
Scott Kelby suggests that when you photograph a landmark, try shooting it in sections. Also, shoot at odd angles. Then to finish, lay the shots out on a single print. Scott also suggested to print them in black and white. His looked good. I liked the idea.
When I got to the Coliseum and the Pantheon, I tried Scott’s suggestion. Who knew I would need to put some thought into it? Maybe what I really needed to do was to put some heart in it, but my heart wasn’t.
Here’s what I wound up with. I think the diagonal line saves it. I distressed it when I remembered the London Blitz. The Blitz was a nightmare of days and weeks and months of bombing of London and England by the Nazis during WWII. (There was no Blitz in Italy as Mussolini was a partner of Hitler.)
If you want to read about the strength of ordinary people during wartime, read some of the true diaries written by everyday British citizens as they lived through the Blitz. You will learn history and I think you will wonder how you would have behaved if you had lived then. I know that I wondered about myself.
Here’s a book I recommend, but there are many others. The British government asked citizens to keep a diary as a historical record.
“Few Eggs and No Oranges: Vera Hodgson’s Diary, 1940-1945”