1EYE, ROAMING | BOOK II

VENICE & ROME

laROQUE
 1EYE, ROAMING | BOOK II
VENICE & ROME
Text and photography by Patrick La Roque
Prologue p.4
Venice | 19 colour files p.5
Venice | 16 monochrome files p.25
Passage p.42
Rome | 15 colour files p.51
Rome | 16 monochrome files p.67
Backstory & process p.84
The Fleeting Masterpiece | A traveler’s eye on street photography p.91
Acknowledgements p.88
We first saw Venice ablaze, dark red and gleaming. Silhouettes jutting out of doorways at the
edge of a black canal, its waters like oil. Our first real glimpse came in the morning—of
shingled roofs and TV antennas from our apartment window. For the next eight days we
would wander, mostly aimless and without agenda. A few moments in Venice; then a few
more in the shadow of St-Peter’s Basilica—vagrants in the Eternal City.

Eight days...and a thousand years behind us.

VENICE
19 COLOUR FILES
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VENICE
16 MONOCHROME FILES
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PASSAGE
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ROME
15 COLOUR FILES
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ROME
16 MONOCHROME FILES
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BACKSTORY & PROCESS

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We were walking along the Grand Canal, shoulder to shoulder with the mass of daily visitors, when we
passed over one of Venice’s many bridges. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed this boat—essentially the
equivalent of a delivery truck—trying to back up through the gondolas; essentially, the equivalent of rush
hour traffic. I took two very quick shots back to back but this one was the keeper. A keeper...but in need of
work.

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First off: the picture lacks contrast and punch. Most
of the information is there but it’s a tad too bright
—my exposure compensation dial must’ve been on
the + side. A pilot error without question but:
better to take the shot than fiddle with settings and
lose the moment. So we need contrast and a bit less
exposure. No problem: it’s a raw file right? Uh, no.
I shoot JPEG when I travel and on most of my
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personal work—a by-product of using Fujifilm
cameras and their exceptional processing engine.
It’s never let me down but there’s much less
headroom available. In this case, because the data is
there, a mix of tone curve and contrast adjustments
will do the job.
With every image the #1 question I ask myself is: does the colour add to the scene? Here, I don’t believe it
does. Aside from the main boat, all the splashes of blues and reds are part of elements that distract from the
subject. It forces our eye to wander around the periphery instead of remaining anchored. Converting the
image to monochrome immediately neutralizes this fact, our brain now focusing on light and shadow. It’s still
too flat but we’ve already removed much of the visual noise.

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Now it becomes about toning, density and impact. With simple global adjustments we can add intensity
—details now pop and the scene comes alive.
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All that’s needed now is a quick correction to the background: a radial filter brings back some of the details
lost in the tonal adjustments.

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The final image: processing is about revealing what exists already.

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THE FLEETING MASTERPIECE
A traveler's eye on street photography.

(Published in the June/July 2016 issue of Photo Life)

We recognize nothing. Our hearts are pumping,
our senses buzzing and our eyes—our eyes are
overwhelmed. We're clutching our camera,
clicking that shutter every chance we get. Rome,
Shanghai, Paris—we're here for five or fifteen
days...whatever. In the end we're all too aware
that our state is temporary, that we're bound to
leave. We want to see everything.
Traveling is an incredible jolt to the system for
anyone, but for photographers? To us it's like
drinking an elixir of awakening. Essentially it's
the antidote to any dulling of the senses we may
struggle to fight off in our everyday lives: colours
are brighter, people are prettier, everything is
clearer and more defined. Basically, it's a
photographer's dream. But all this energy must
still be channeled— we need to be aware that a
reflection must take place, that we should push,
claw and dig because ideally, our images should
look beneath the veneer, beyond monuments,
tourist traps and the common viewpoints of
well-worn paths. We owe it to ourselves to make
the most of these opportunities. Go beyond the
postcard.
I have yet to find a better way of experiencing
any city than to walk around and lose myself in
its crowds and structures for days on end; so
when I travel, I exist purely as a street shooter. I
know for many there's a stigma attached to street
photography—some see it as intrusive, hardcore,
perhaps intimidating. Workshops will often speak
of overcoming a certain shyness, of developing
the courage needed to do street work. But I don't
see it that way at all: for me there's no
confrontation involved, no fear to overcome
because shooting street is simply about exploring
the living, breathing heart of a society. It's never
about entrapment or catching someone in the
act. In many ways I consider it to be more of a
state of mind, a method of awareness that can
be applied to any number of subjects or
locations. The question of where "the street"
actually ends could be an interesting topic in
itself...
...
Famous or exotic locations can have a
mesmerizing effect—like suddenly walking onto
a movie set. But people don't live in the Eiffel
tower, they sell trinkets in its shadow. They don't
have breakfast at the Coliseum or do laundry in
the middle of Piazza San Marco. Life lies
elsewhere, on some side street, off the beaten
path. Street photography is a way to access these
realities. And sometimes it's as easy as turning
right when everyone turns left: on a trip to
Venice we decided to do just that to escape the
crowds and ended up, fifteen minutes later, in a
quiet, mostly empty residential area that felt
miles away from the madness of cruise ships and
group tours. Still perfectly safe but an entirely
different world we would've missed. Another side
to a city that's been photographed from every
angle—without exploration there can be no
discovery.
Does this mean we shouldn't take the most
obvious pictures when traveling? Of course not.
We'd kick ourselves if we didn't. But sometimes
it's just a question of changing our perspective.
For instance, once you've taken that general shot
of the Eiffel tower, turn around. Move away
from the crowded vantage point, explore the
nooks and crannies everyone else may be
overlooking as they gaze upward, slack-jawed.
Notice the people around you, the details.
Sometimes the sideshow is much more
interesting than the main act. In the end an
image of the Eiffel Tower will certainly prove
you were in Paris; but a shot of it in context or at
a less familiar angle may convey how you felt in
that very specific moment, communicate that
day's energy and in turn make for a much more
compelling memory.
Some tips that may help:
1) Trust your camera. When shooting street/
travel I set my camera to aperture priority
and Auto ISO, usually with a minimum
shutter speed of 1/125 sec and max ISO at
3200 (base ISO at minimum). This means
the camera is choosing the shutter speed on
its own. I ride both the aperture ring and
exposure compensation as I go along (f/8 be
there is still a good rule of thumb). I mostly
shoot with an EVF (electronic viewfinder) so
I can always tell exactly what the camera
will be capturing in terms of exposure and
depth of field and react accordingly.
2) Don't wear a machine gun around your
neck. I know that 70-200mm lens was the
price of a small car but seriously, it's a
bazooka. Unless you plan on always
shooting close-ups from across the street go
as small and light as you can: the bigger the
kit, the more trouble it can be in certain
locations. Your back will thank you, you'll be
much more inconspicuous and chances are
you'll get very different images too.
3) In street photography there's often a reflex
to find "special situations". Don't drive
yourself mad looking for Someone doing
Something. The theatre of life can be
enough on its own: people going about their
business, the right light, the right moment,
the setting...when I look at past travels these
are the pictures that instantly snap me back.
Small and innocuous slices of time.
4) Dare to go prime. Yes, a zoom allows us to
cover more ground and common wisdom
dictates it's the perfect travel/walkabout lens
but: zooming introduces indecision. A zoom
traps us into a constant re-evaluation of framing
on every single shot—simply because we can—
creating a paradox of choice. Once we're used to
it, a fixed lens will become our eye, remove
second-guessing, force us to move around and
think creatively. Entire careers have been built
on a single focal length. I'm partial to a 35mm
FOV when traveling but recently shot with
nothing but a 50mm on a trip to Japan.
5) Don't dwell. Spending five minutes framing a
guy on a street corner will most likely get you
noticed and break the spell. Get used to reacting
quickly and hone those reflexes. Practice at
home in ordinary situations and apply those
same principles when you're on the road (see
Beyond the Snapshot in the February-March
2016 issue).
6) Book a bus tour. No, seriously. 1) it's a great
way to get an overview of a city you don't know
and 2) when do you ever get to shoot in traffic,
from the middle of the street, twelve feet off the
ground? That's right, never. It's a point of view
we can't get any other way. But make sure you
get a double-decker without a roof and ideally
find a seat upstairs: more freedom to move and
less obstructed views. Shooting through dirty
windows will kill the mood pretty quickly.
Most importantly: none of this needs to be so
intense that it prevents us from being with our
family, friends or loved one (s). Travel
photography usually implies company and being
able to shoot while carrying on a conversation
and still being present is a skill that will serve us
across the board, and in many situations. Letting
go is part of the equation; relying on instinct is
another.
...
As fascinated as I am with proximity and the
simple beauty of our everyday lives, I can't deny
the pull of the exotic and the sense of wonder it
triggers. Traveling is insanely addictive and
rewarding. But still: remembering the mundane
in strange lands, revealing the ordinary as much
as the monumental...these are the ties that bind
everything together. Because small realities are
part of every city, in every country, on every
continent. They make us who we are. And they
hide in the streets and back alleys of the world, a
thousand fleeting masterpieces waiting for a few
nomads to stroll by.
Waiting for the fugitive eye of a witness.
Patrick La Roque
Many thanks to Fujifilm Canada and Fujifilm Global. To Billy Luong, Greg Poole, Kunio Ao,
Guy Langevin, Valérie Racine and Jenny Montgomery. To Cynthia for being the ever-patient
travelling companion. To Jacob, Anaïs and Héloïse for letting us leave. And finally to my
mother-in-law Lise Lamy...for letting us leave.

All images in this book were shot with a Fujifilm X100S, in JPEG and Pro Neg Standard film
simulation.

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 Patrick La Roque is a freelance photographer, writer and
speaker based in Montreal, Canada. He is an official
Fujifilm X-Photographer and founder of the KAGE
COLLECTIVE, an international group of photographers
focused on visual storytelling and documentary work.

Photography, text, illustrations and music by Patrick La Roque. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ©2017
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
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law. For permission requests, visit http://www.laroquephoto.com