Let's go to the beach....a little sand between the toes always take away the woes...
i Bagnanti di Senigallia (The Bathers of Senigallia) is a whimsical street photo done on the side streets of Venice during the Venice Carnevale. The Venice Carnevale is characterised by masked costumers but local Italians actually prefer costumes with painted faces. This is a family portrait of my friend Anna Marconi and her family. They come from a family of doll makers hence their costumes are very doll like and they come from Senigallia, a commune and port town on Italy's Adriatic coast. Senigallia is one of the most important holiday resorts in Italy.
The costumes have a 1920s feel about them and the photo was done using just natural lighting alone. But wait...Their clothing look really thick and bathing suits made of…wool? You are right. In the 1920s, the idea of going to the beach and actually getting into the water to swim was still relatively new. Functionality in swimwear was not as important as fashion, so the prevailing theory was that wool would help keep people warm. It is amazing to see how much things have changed over time...
Apart from using up the clarity to a max to achieve a HDR feel, there is almost zero photoshopping done otherwise. The graffiti on the walls are all real. This is one of my favourite photo pieces and works well on all kinds of exotic professional print paper type.
The photo gained recent attention again by being a TOP 10 Finalist at the Australian Institute of Professional Photographers' Silver Lining Awards, a Professional-only photo contest. So stoked to be competing against all the very best in the continent and being ranked in the TOP 10...
The photo is also a Gold Medalist and Winner of the Portrait Group/ Family of the Cosmos Award 2020...and featured on the webpage of Beautiful Bizarre magazine webpage on 24 April 2021.
To view my winning entry at the Cosmos Award 2020,
To view the winning and finalist entries at the Silver Lining Awards:
And to visit my friend Anna Marconi's shop and webpage:
The same models were featured in an Italian movie Addio in Febbraio on 13th October 2022....
