When in Rome

geoff Harris, Deputy editor

Olympus PEN E-PL1, 17mm, 1/200sec at f/10, ISO 125 One of the challenges of shooting in a photogenic city like Rome is trying to find something ‘different’. So when I visited Rome for the first time on a very short trip in spring, I was keen to try some infrared shooting, focusing on places that are not so well known.

Armed with an old infrared- converted Olympus PEN, borrowed from AP regular Ian Burley, I visited the EUR district. EUR was a vanity project by Mussolini and his fascist architects to try to recreate the glories of the old Imperial city. I was drawn to the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, an imposing icon of neoclassical and fascist architecture. Its facade has been shot to death, but you can also get unusual shots by wandering around it, as I did. Back home, I converted the picture to black & white using Silver Efex Pro and edited in Lightroom. As a keen travel photographer, I find it useful to be able to turn harsh midday sunlight to my advantage by shooting in infrared. This image made the AP 23 June issue cover. It also shows that you don’t need to convert an expensive, fancy camera to infrared in order to get good results.