8/29/11 Tolmezzo Mercato and the Patience of Photography

Most larger towns in Italy have a weekly street market where traveling vendors set up shop on the streets and in the town squares.  People come from the smaller towns to buy clothing, household goods, shoes, fruit, cheese and hardware.  Today’s market was in the nearby city of Tolmezzo, a fifteen minute drive away.  The draw of the mercato is really one of nostalgia.  Everything you can find there can be found in other stores at any time during the week, but small town life and survival in it demands that you find excitement wherever possible; the mercato provides a weekly destination to escape the boredom.

Sandals grandmothers like..."they're cute!"

Any gathering place of people provides a challenge for a photographer.  So although I had no interest in cheap socks and underwear, the mercato was the place to be.  Shooting photos in crowds teaches patience.  It’s a double edged sword; the crowd provides ample material but you have to isolate your subjects.  So you oftentimes find yourself waiting patiently for the scene imagined in your head to materialize around you.  Most of the time it doesn’t work out; it’s the ones that do that keep you searching for the next great shot.




Would you buy a balloon from this man?



Look familiar?  Part I



Look Familiar?  Part II



The English spelling police are watching



Red Hot Chilis...everywhere!



Stefan



Monica



Camouflage...camouflage...everything camouflage!