Private Night Photography: Light Trails and River Reflections

Three hours, one instructor, one student or one group, never combined with strangers. That is the structure, and it decides what can be taught. The subjects here are the ones that move. Traffic along the Lungotevere, where a thirty-second exposure turns headlights into continuous red and white lines and empties the road of cars. The Tiber at night, where the bridges and the lit facades come back off the water doubled and slightly wrong. The city lights themselves, which are what make Rome photograph well after dark and are also the fastest way to ruin an exposure if you meter for them. Working through those means long exposures, low light metering and knowing when to stop the lens down, and because the session is private the pace follows what you can already do rather than a fixed syllabus. Beginners and experienced photographers are both taken on, from different starting points. The route covers the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Via dei Coronari, Castel Sant'Angelo, St Peter's Square, Campo de' Fiori and Largo Argentina. Entry to the Pantheon and to Castel Sant'Angelo is not included: both are photographed from outside, which at night is the better angle anyway. Meet in front of the Feltrinelli bookshop at Largo di Torre Argentina.