This is one of my favorite pictures from a trip I took to Rome a few years ago. Not as gorgeous or striking as some other shots I took (that's me behind the camera in this photo), but it moves me. I was trying to capture what struck me most about Rome. In one frame, you span two thousand years. Moving from the foreground back, you have the ruins of Ancient Rome, then the churches and homes of Renaissance Rome that sprung up around (and on top of) them, and finally, on the horizon, the massive (and cringe-inducing) Vittorio Emmanuele monument of Modern Rome. That's what I was going for. So not why I treasure the picture, though. What I got was a tender moment in time with the youngest old man I know, a Jewish grandpa only a generation removed from the fearsome pogroms of Russia, and his half-Asian Jewish/Buddhist grandson. Both brilliant, both hilarious, both maddening, and both among the favorite people of a middle-aged German Catholic homo from the Midwest. A few minutes after this was taken, we were all breaking bread and drinking wine in a quaint trattoria with a view of the Coliseum in spring. Crazy, huh?
This is one of my favorite pictures from a trip I took to Rome a few years ago. Not as gorgeous or striking as some other shots I took (that's me behind the camera in this photo), but it moves me. I was trying to capture what struck me most about Rome. In one frame, you span two thousand years. Moving from the foreground back, you have the ruins of Ancient Rome, then the churches and homes of Renaissance Rome that sprung up around (and on top of) them, and finally, on the horizon, the massive (and cringe-inducing) Vittorio Emmanuele monument of Modern Rome. That's what I was going for. So not why I treasure the picture, though. What I got was a tender moment in time with the youngest old man I know, a Jewish grandpa only a generation removed from the fearsome pogroms of Russia, and his half-Asian Jewish/Buddhist grandson. Both brilliant, both hilarious, both maddening, and both among the favorite people of a middle-aged German Catholic homo from the Midwest. A few minutes after this was taken, we were all breaking bread and drinking wine in a quaint trattoria with a view of the Coliseum in spring. Crazy, huh? 
4 comments:
That's a great image. I love the complexity in the layers of architecture and the simplicity in the affection of the guys.
it is a great photo; I would love to go to Rome for exactly this reason - all that history and all on top of each other.
It's been 30 years since I was in Rome. I spent many an afternoon sketching the Roman ruins while pondering what other young man had walked the very same path hundreds of years before me. It's a sobering experience to grasp the antiquity of the sites; they sorta represent just how fleeting our time here on earth really is.
I didn't get to visit Hadrian's Villa. Next trip for sure. I've always wanted to see that. Oh! and to tour Villa Lante as well.
Sweet. Next though you need a pic with the Sydney Opera House in the background. I'm just sayin'.
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