Italy (in 349,247 Steps): A Photographic Exhibition by David Collopy

A photographic exhibition of Italy: the places, the people and the culture captured over a five-week period (and walking 349,247 steps), by David Collopy, a professional Melbourne photographer who travelled there for the first time in 2018 and again in May 2019. This exhibition depicts Italian landmarks, people and culture not usually captured by tourists to this delightful country. There are two aspects of this exhibition that make this unique compared to others on a similar subject. Firstly, the images were photographed in locations throughout the northern and southern regions of Italy with the intention of excluding any (non-Italian) tourists from the image. At times this required waiting up to 40 minutes (and sometimes longer) before all tourists had vacated the frame and the camera shutter could be activated. Secondly, many of the displayed images were captured with a 24 mm tilt-shift lens – a manual focus only lens typically used in architecture. The principal advantage of this lens is that it ensures the vertical lines of buildings retain their perspective and integrity especially when photographed the narrow streets and thoroughfares of the historic centres and coastlines. Image: Collecting the laundry, San Gimignano, 1918, by David Collopy.