“Kill him! Flog him! Burn him alive! Why is he such a coward? Why won’t he rush on the steel? Why does he fall so meekly? Why won’t he die willingly?” Imagine a crowd shouting this at you as you fight for your life. This is the famous philosopher’s, Seneca, eyewitness account of what the crowd would chant at matches. He was not a fan of the games, calling the gladiatorial games, “plain butchery”.

November 2013, single image, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 16mm, aperture f/8, shutter speed 30 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

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He warned his friend to stay away saying, “Unhappy as I am, how have I deserved that I must look on such a scene as this? Do not, my Lucilius, attend the games, I pray you. Either you will be corrupted by the multitude, or, if you show disgust, be hated by them. So stay away.”

When you enter the space one can’t help but think back to the gladiator games. It is hard to even imagine that at one point the gladiators and the Colosseum were forgotten or disregarded as insignificant. At one point the Colosseum was quarried for building material. Other times used as a place to garden. Even it was considered for a wool factory.

Luckily none of these things came into fruition. Thanks to restoration and preservation we are able to enjoy this glimpse into history today.

Half of the building was covered in scaffolding, so the classic view of the building was not available for a shoot. Luckily, I was able to find a unique angle that did not have scaffolding or people covering my view.

Much of history has been destroyed, looted and burned. The building pictured here, the Pantheon, is one that managed to escape the destruction of the Middle Ages.

November 2013, single image, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 16mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 13 seconds, ISO 200, tripod.

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Instead of destroying it, the Pantheon was converted into a church. This doesn’t mean it stands as it once did back in acient times. Paul the Deacon records the destruction of the building:

“Remaining at Rome twelve days he pulled down everything that in ancient times had been made of metal for the ornament of the city, to such an extent that he even stripped off the roof of the Church of the blessed Mary, which at one time was called the Pantheon, and had been founded in honour of all the gods and was now by the consent of the former rulers the place of all the martyrs; and he took away from there the bronze tiles and sent them with all the other ornaments to Constantinople.”

We are lucky that something remains of the Pantheon, and it truly is one of my most beloved buildings in Rome. Before I even planned the trip, I was desperate to shoot it as soon as possible. During the trip a dozen different reasons kept popping up that I couldn’t make it to the site to shoot it in the morning – it is too busy in the evening to try to even shoot it.

The last day the opportune moment pops up, but guess what, it rains! I was devastated. Still, as many desperate man has done, I decided to shoot it anyways despite all forms of logic and experience telling me this would not be a fruitful experience.

When I arrive at the Piazza della Rotonda it looks completely ominous like a villain just entered the scene. The clouds are dark. The rain is heavy. The Pantheon is actually closed for the night since I arrived well before dawn. Like a trooper, I find a space under the pillars to hide from the rain, but this limits my view.
As the sunrise approached, it starts to get brighter. I set up my tripod under my hiding place from the rain. Miraculously the sun comes out! This is like Christmas morning for this photographer! I run out from hiding then start shooting like crazy.

The sunrise offered the perfect light and it was a fantastic shot! Remember to be persistent and sometimes the sun will shine just for you!

Old construction has a way of making one really feel the history of the place, and I can’t help but envy the walls of ancient cities like Rome. The bridge in this photo, Fabricius Bridge, has stood in Rome for over 2,000 years and still exists in its original state!

October 2013, panorama from 2 horizontal images, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 16mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 25 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

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It really does blow the mind to ponder all the characters who walked across this bridge. Think of any historic figure of Rome – Julius Caesar, Octavian Augustus, Nero, Virgil, Ovid, Apostles Peter and Paul, Constantine the Great and many others. Chances are they may have walked across this bridge. Even before the bridge was constructed in 62 BC, a wooden bridge stood in its place. Lucky bridge! I would have loved to see the history of Rome unravel before me, but I guess I shouldn’t push it too far with the personification. Bridges after all don’t have eyes.

This area is without a doubt beautiful in a timeless sort of ways, and I arrived with my wife long before twilight to get the perfect shot. The river is surrounded with stunning sycamore trees. I setup beneath sycamore trees to get my shot, and I noticed thousands of small birds begin to perch on the trees above me in the middle of my shoot. How scenic and beautiful – or so I thought when they first landed!

Gradually the birds begin to drop little presents everywhere, if you know what I mean. Soon realizing what these drops were, I ran out of the way taking my camera with me. I realized before locals seemed to be carrying around old umbrellas even though it was a sunny day. Obviously it wasn’t for rain, but it was to take cover from bird droppings!

Although my shoot was somewhat rudely interrupted by the birds, I still managed to capture a shot!

Here we are at Capitoline Hill at the famous statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. This statue has born witness to the city for almost 2,000 years, and it will hopefully see another 2,000 years come and go so future generations can enjoy the sculpture.

October 2013, panorama from 4 horizontal images, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 16mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 5 seconds, ISO 200, tripod.

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The man behind the statue was Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. We often imagine Roman Emperors as adults ruling, defeating, feasting and doing other spectacular things that the strongest leaders in the world are want to do. Emperor Marcus Aurelius did all of those things, but he was quite multi-dimensional character.

As a boy, the story goes he was always very curious and interest in philosophy. At one point he even dressed like philosopher and slept on the bare floor – much to his mother’s chagrin.

This desire to learn and seek of knowledge would serve him well, and he even left behind readings which are still popular today. One famous quote of his is “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” Even if you are sceptic about Roman Emperors, it is hard not to admire some aspects of the character of Marcus Aurelius.

Before capturing this photo, I had already done a morning photo shoot at the Roman Forum. The Piazza del Campidoglio is very close to the Roman Forum and I hoped to grab some final rays of best sunrise light with this photo of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. I still needed to rush to get there in time, and this is always a little nerve wrecking to try to run from one photo to shoot to another. Despite my rush, I think this photo has a calm and meditative feel to it that captures the essence of Piazza del Campidoglio quite nicely.

As I mentioned in my last post, the Roman Forum once was a more natural area with marshes, hills and a lake where people conducted trade. As the Roman Empire thrived they filled the space with temples, monuments, triumphal arches and other buildings.

October 2013, single image, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 26mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 6 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

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When Rome fell thieves swooped in and plundered monuments and buildings. The Roman Forum itself became abandoned. What was once the center of trade and worship was left for land for cows to graze. The Roman Forum area became know as the “Campo Vaccino” or “the cattle field”.

Our attitude towards history has changed, but we must never take it for granted. Now many put forth an effort to restore, visit and honor the past by visiting the Roman Forum. It is easy to forget that at one point in history many societies neglected or even destroyed their past.

Taking another photo from of the Roman Forum, it was actually challenging to alter the composition at all. I stood on a vista point at Capitoline Hill and there was not so many options to manipulate the scene there. In order to enhance the view I created a very tight composition to show you the main buildings – Temple of Saturn, Arch of Septimius Severus and Tullian prison. I hope it gives you the feeling that you are actually standing over the Roman Forum yourself with a gaze over the past.

The ruins of Roman Forum serve as a reminder that nothing is eternal.

October 2013, panorama from 4 horizontal images, additional exposures for highlights, focal length 21mm, aperture f/11, exposure 15 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

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Before the Roman Forum was built, all that stood on the ground of Rome was the seven famous hills on which the city is built. Where the Forum stands was a marsh where waters from the springs of hills above sprinkled into a lake. At the upper end of the hill called Capitoline, which is where I took this shot from, people of the valley would meet to trade simple, everyday items. Fishermen, hunters, weapon-makers, and shepherds would buy and sell to one another.

As you look at the ruins it is hard to imagine a time when the Roman Forum was in use, but it is even harder to conjure an image of the people who dwelled the seven hills long before the Roman Empire. Yet it is interesting that the greatest of Roman business would be conducted right on the grounds where their predecessors had exchanged seemingly simpler goods.

I captured shots from sunset to the blue hour and into the twilight, watching the astrological timelapse through the lense of my camera from Capitoline Hill. This shot taken during the blue hour turned out to be my favorite of the batch.

Always when travelling it really gives you a flavor of the grandeur historical figures demanded. From this perspective we get a view into the mind’s eye of Roman Emperor Hadrian. This bridge, the Ponte Sant’Angelo spanned the Tiber river to reach his mausoleum.

October 2013, single image, focal length 23mm, aperture f/11, shutter speed 151 seconds, ISO 50, ND 10-stop filter, tripod.

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Angels leading the way on both sides of the bridge. Here we see one angel holding a column and the other holding a whip. Each statue offers a level of intricacy worthy of its own photo and pedestal. Yet these are just small pieces of the elaborate path to the mausoleum.

On top of the mausoleum rests the archangel Michael. As I mentioned in the last post, citizens thought an angel appeared on top of the mausoleum to indicate the end of the plague.

The fantastic sunrise light had already begun to fade when I found this photo. Yet I managed to capture just the last rays of it here. The long exposure makes the strikes of clouds lead the eye to main subject of the castle. It really gave a dynamic feeling of motion in this scene.

After a long morning shoot I was pleased with this collection of resulting photos. Magnificent sunrise and dramatic October clouds helped me to add a handful of great Rome photos into my portfolio.