View allAll Photos Tagged ROME
Stop 2 of my week-long “past vacation shots never posted” tour is Rome. What a dream destination for photographers! The colosseum, ancient ruins, beautiful cathedrals, 7-hill vistas. So what did I choose to photograph? An alley. Well, to be fair a motorcycle riding down an alley. But strangely enough I appreciate the composition of this alley image as much as any of my other Rome photos. I was going to title it “Facile Rider” but thought it might give away I’m not fluent in Italian.
Rome, Italy
The triumphal arch right next to the Colosseum is called the Arch of Constantine .
It was erected in 315 AD in honor of Emperor Constantine and is the largest surviving Roman triumphal arch.
A view across the River Tiber with the Ponte Vittoria Emanuelle II bridge and the Basilica San Pietro in the far distance.
©all rights reserved.
Copyright ©Zino2009 (bob van den berg) . All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, kopie, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
Night shot of the Roman Forum (Foro Romano) in Rome's historic centre. 60 second exposure, tripod mounted.
From Wikipedia:
The Roman Forum (Italian: Foro Romano), also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the centre of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.
For centuries, the Forum was the centre of day-to-day life in Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial and legal affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's leaders. The heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million or more sightseers yearly.
Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman Kingdom's earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.
Other archaic shrines to the northwest, such as the Umbilicus Urbis and the Vulcanal (Shrine of Vulcan), developed into the Republic's formal Comitium (assembly area). This was where the Senate—as well as Republican government itself—began. The Senate House, government offices, tribunals, temples, memorials and statues gradually cluttered the area.
Over time, the archaic Comitium was replaced by the larger adjacent Forum, and the focus of judicial activity moved to the new Basilica Aemilia (179 BC), formally Basilica Fulvia. Some 130 years later, Julius Caesar built the Basilica Julia, along with the new Curia Julia, refocusing both the judicial offices and the Senate itself. This new Forum, in what proved to be its final form, then served as a revitalized city square where the people of Rome could gather for commercial, political, judicial and religious pursuits in ever greater numbers.
Eventually, much economic and judicial business would transfer away from the Forum Romanum to the larger and more extravagant structures (Trajan's Forum and the Basilica Ulpia) to the north. The reign of Constantine the Great saw the construction of the last major expansion of the Forum complex—the Basilica of Maxentius (312 AD). This returned the political centre to the Forum until the fall of the Western Roman Empire almost two centuries later.
Anyone that visited Rome will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the centre. Photographers from all over the world come to that same spot to make a sunset image of the Ponte Sant'Angelo and the St. Peters basilica. So I don't pretend that this image of mine is unique. The Roman city-council is fixing a lot of the old buildings and also one in this view. That's no problem for me. But when they permit a German car manufacturer to place an ad with bright white light on the restoration-site .... hmmm, that's a different story.
I got 2 choices here: one was leaving the ad (the size of the building lit up by a bright white light) in the centre of my frame. Or two: plant a tree in front of it and getting the chance of being accused of manipulating the truth. Since I'm a professional forester I chose the latter.
Sorry folks, but I think this serves a good cause, and it makes the image unique (in a way)... ;-)
Enjoy!
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs*