Whats The Context?
Sunsets can be unpredictable at times. Sometimes you get nothing but an sliver of orange as the sun crawls behind the horizon. And other times you get this. Where the air around you seems to glow with the most unnatural shades of red, orange, and purple. And given the religious connotation of St. Peters Square, it makes this shot even more interesting for me. I’m not a religious cat, but I do believe there are things in nature we just can’t fully predict. And scenes like this remind me how special just being in the moment can be. Right place, right time.
What Was I Trying to Capture?
Now this shot wasn’t entirely unplanned. My years in the travel industry has given me a working knowledge of how tour groups work. In popular cities like Rome, tour groups tend to operate between 9am and 4-5pm. Outside of those hours you’ll almost always have the major sites wide open. Especially places like Vatican City which attracts and older crowd. So sunset, or Golden Hour, is the perfect time to photograph St. Peters Basilica. Vatican City is kind of alone. There aren’t really any other landmarks of note around so this area gets very quiet in the afternoons.I wanted to get some stock images of St.Peters Basilica for my portfolio. No matter what, some cities and landmarks ALWAYS sell. Rome and Vatican City are near the top of that list. So whenever I’m in places that are extremely popular I work to ensure I have updated images in my portfolio.
My Settings:
Hand Held or Stabilized: Hand HeldExposure: 1/15th at F5.6Focal Length: 24mmISO: 400Lighting: Golden Hour Natural Light Body: Canon 7DLens: Sigma 24-105Rome Travel Tips and Guide: I wouldn’t recommend anyone visit Rome just to visit the Vatican. While it certainly is worth a visit, it’s a half day of exploration at the max. If you do decide to visit the excellent Vatican Collection I HIGHLY recommend Context Travel. I took a private tour with them and it still stands as one of my favorite tours ever.Rome in general is like a living museum. There aren’t many places in the city where you won’t accidentally run into some landmark. But for tourists planning to stay 2-3 days in Rome, I recommend you stay near the “tourism” center.Before recommending exactly where to stay, let me explain something about Rome out the gate. I think their cost benefit range for hotels is insanely bad. What you pay compared to what you get is terrible. And I honestly feel Rome (well Italy in general is a problem) has some of the worst value when it comes to hotels. BUT you’ll still need a place to stay regardless. So, I recommend Hotel Rome Pisana and Hotel Cosmopolita Roma. Both offer great locations and relatively good value.