Santa musicians.
Roman street photos
My first time in Rome
I had never been to Rome when the opportunity to spend three months there came my way in 2022. I knew it was an important city to visit, but since I didn't speak Italian, I usually went to places where language would not be an issue.
My grandparents were from Italy and my bilingual parents didn't teach us Italian. That's typical among my Italian-American classmates and friends. I had a few months to prepare for this trip, so I bought some books, found Youtube videos and language websites, and sat myself down to learn as much as I could before leaving. When I finally arrived in Rome, I knew enough Italian for reading signs, navigating the city, shopping, ordering food and such. I find that people are more helpful and friendly when I make the effort to know at least a little of their language.
Translation apps were a tremendous help, especially for practicing what to say before entering a shop or asking directions. I think I did OK sounding Italian (I looked the part) as long as I had only one or two lines to say. Many times though, someone would rattle off a long answer and I'd just nod and say, 'Grazie, mille!" before walking off to figure out what they said. Linguistic confusion seemed better than expecting everyone to speak English —the majority of people I encountered didn't and I was glad about that.
My daily routine was to walk as many streets as I could with my camera slung around my neck and a bag with just a few lenses. Since I clocked 10-16 kilometers on any given day it would have been unproductive and painful to lug too much gear. The small, light lenses from my old film cameras had wider apertures than their modern, expensive counterparts. They were also manual focus, which meant I had to work harder to catch the photos I wanted. That slowing down made it necessary to anticipate and prepare for photo opportunities coming my way just ahead. The readiness process was part of the fun.
Rome's treasures are found not only in the city's history and ruins, but also in its people —those who live there and those who are just passing through. Their footsteps, chatter, and laughter bring the city's ancient ruins back to life in the present.
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Technical Notes
This was the first time I worked seriously with the mirrorless Nikon Z6 that I'd purchased years earlier. I had a lot of misses before figuring out what settings best worked for my style of street photography. Unfortunately, mirrorless cameras lack microprism screens that allow for precise manual focusing on their film camera counterparts, but there are some assists. My favorite is the ability to enlarge a tiny section of the scene in the viewfinder based on the chosen focusing point, which also works well in low light. Another assist is zebra strips that can outline the parts of the image in focus. I kept the enlargement assist assigned to one of the camera's function buttons.
Unfortunately, the Nikon has no way to lock the focus point. When carrying the camera at my side as I usually did, the focus pad bumping against me invariably sent it off to the corner of the viewfinder. I lost count of how many times I lifted the camera to my eye for a quick shot only to find the focus point lost in a corner, and the button for re-centering it was never as as responsive as the buttons that moved it around. As much as I like the camera, it's lack of a focus lock is a huge oversight on Nikon's part.
© Dan Murano, 2025
Comments
Will Gowdy (not verified)
Dan,
You're an excellent writer. I'm enjoying your travel tales, your exploration of Rome. I like the descriptions of the workings of your cameras too. I look forward to viewing the rest of your site.
Dan Murano
Thanks for taking a look, Will, and I much appreciate your comments. -Dan
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