Not every photo you take will be perfect in form and technique: maybe the composition will be slightly off, the shadows are a bit too dark, or there is something in the background. Sure, there is always Lightroom and Photoshop, but personally, I don’t like editing too much unless the photo has an amazing subject and I messed up the settings. I’d much rather try to take a good shot from the start, but as we know that’s not always going to be the case (no matter how much experience you have).
That’s why today I wanted to share three photos from the summer with hopefully fun stories behind them.
A Swiss guard standing at the border of the smallest country in the world. But wait, why Swiss? Swiss soldiers, according to the Roman author Tacitus, were long renowned as the best soldiers in the world and were in especially high demand in the early renaissance. In 1505 Matthäus Schiner, a Swiss bishop to Vatican, proposed the creation of Swiss corps employed and controlled by the Vatican. The guards soon earned a reputation for bravery and sacrifice when 147 of 189 died defending Pope Clement VII during the sack of Rome in 1527, and later taking defensive positions despite being outnumbered when German forces rolled into Rome during World War II. Swiss guards protect the Vatican to this day and there are many requirements to become one starting with actual Swiss citizenship.
While touring the Colosseum we suddenly heard a faint noise from one of the columns. It was a ginger cat looking at the crowds of tourists walking by, but not at all scared of them – he seemed like he owned the place and we were the intruders. We joked that maybe it was Vespasian, the emperor under which Colosseum was built, although Nero would be more fitting – he was thought to be ginger and the Colosseum was built on the grounds he took for himself from the Romans as well as next to a giant statue of his, the Colossus. The truth is, in modern-day Rome, there are over 200 cats living in the Colosseum: reincarnations of Roman emperors or not, they definitely rule the place now.
A security guard takes a break to look outside of a museum of Markets of Trajan in Rome. It’s around 40 degrees outside (around 104F) and his windows are open. Almost every window surrounding him is different, but each reflects the clear blue sky that allows for such brutal weather. His view is even more impressive than his place of work: It’s the Forum Romanum, a collection of public buildings that would make up the center of Roman life for centuries.
Feel free to let me know what you think! I love when you guys reach out
Tola is a young photographer from Krakow, Poland. She transferred to the University of Michigan in Fall 2021 from Royal Holloway, University of London, to double-major in Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience and Classical Archaeology. Her series "Tolaroids" consists of photo stories, tutorials, and commentaries that explore all kinds of photography. In her free time, she loves dancing, painting, and sipping good coffee. She also pets all the dogs she can meet on the way to class.
Instagram: @akilian.jpg
Email: akilian@umich.edu
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