Exploring the city of Bologna: The red, the fat and the educated
MANILA, Philippines — There will always be a place that someone wishes to go in his bucket list. Like me, I have a lot of places I wish to travel to and experience someday. I was fortunate that, despite the pandemic, which postponed my trip in 2021 to this city in Europe, I would have the chance to visit and share my experience in one of the beautiful and historic places in Italy: the city of Bologna!
Bologna is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region. For me, visiting new places is exciting. You get to know the history, culture, and language of its people.
The excitement I felt cannot be explained in words. The feeling was due to the prospect of photographing new places, events, and people from different walks of life. My work as a photojournalist is different from that of a travel photographer. As a photojournalist I take photos of the news and daily life. In travel photography, you look at the history of the place and it makes you feel more eager to take photos because the things that you see seem to always look brand-new. There is always something new that you can look forward to and there will always be something you capture that tells a story.
Every time something catches my attention, I take the time to think of different ways to capture it. Frankly, it’s difficult to take pictures of places, landscapes and people because foremost in a photographer’s mind is that a photo must inspire the audience and uplift the spirit. Sharing my photos with friends and colleagues evokes a feeling of accomplishment, and I feel my happiness swelling whenever I tell stories about the places I’ve visited.
I am a man of few words; it is also my first time to write an article. The city of Bologna is known as “the red, the fat, and the educated.” Red is because of the color of the walls and structures all over the city. “Fat” is for the rich gastronomical culture of Bologna — there is always exquisite food to eat. And, I was given the opportunity the visit the oldest university in the world, the University of Bologna, the mother of all universities, hence “the educated.” These three things encapsulate the experience I had of this majestic place in Italy.
I walked 22,000 steps a day in Bologna alone. It did not stop me from visiting other historic places in Italy, like Venice and Florence. Each city has its own character, allure, and photographic prospects. Everywhere that I turned there was a feast for the eyes — something that photographers can’t resist. That is why I rapidly clicked all the sceneries, structures, human interest, and other photography-worthy shots to my heart’s content.
Indeed, a photographer can never be contented with just a few shots. Moments are important; that is why I capture them.
