Rome on Film — Joel Chua

Hi Film Friends! It’s Chinese New Year today! 新年快乐 to everyone who’s celebrating it! Hope you guys get lots of red packets and eat lots of new year goodies!

This is going to be a shorter post than usual because I didn’t really take much photos in Rome. Perhaps of photo fatigue. But I wasn’t feeling very inspired. Anyway, here we go!

We arrived in Rome in the afternoon via train. For this leg of the trip, we decided to stay at an AirBnB. Marzia’s apartment was really beautifully decorated and she was a very nice person to talk to over the app. Sadly, we didn’t manage to meet because she was traveling. I’d definitely stay here again if I visit Rome!

We didn’t really do much on the day we arrived because we were recovering from the traveling. So on the next day, we had a lot of ground to cover.

We decided to cover the main tourist sights as they were all within walking distance of each other. Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountains and Pantheon. They are all definitely worth checking out as they hold a lot of history and are stunning to behold.

Legend says you should stand with your back to the fountain and toss a coin over your left shoulder to guarantee a return trip to Rome.

We spent the most time at Pantheon. I mean… Just look at how the light hits the interior of the Pantheon.

After visiting those sites, we still had a bit of time. So we decided to add the Colosseum into the itinerary. However, due to budget constrains, we didn’t do a tour of the Colosseum. We watched the sunset behind the Colosseum and it was glorious.

When the sky got dark, we met up with a friend I made through a film photography Facebook group. As mentioned in earlier posts, I always try to reach out to locals through social media so I can catch a glimpse of daily life through local lenses. Film photography has a been a great help in connecting me with people and I’m so glad that the film community has been so helpful and friendly.

Anyway, we met up with Simone, his brother, Andrea and their friend Jacopo. I’ve never done night photography before and so Simone decided to drive us around Rome to try my hands on night photography. I must say, Rome is quite lovely at night when the monuments are illuminated by the lights. I didn’t get many shots as I still wasn’t confident with my skills. But here is one which I thought was pretty acceptable.

The next morning, I had to get some film as I was low on film. I asked Simone for some recommendations and he suggested I check out ars-imago. It was a pretty cool space and near to Vatican City. I bought a block of 10 Agfa Vista 400s and they cost me around $6.50 per roll which was pretty affordable. So definitely check out this shop if you need some stocking up.

Since we were so close to Vatican City, we had to visit! We bought the ticket which allowed us access to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. It was around €56 per person but included a guided tour plus wireless audio headsets. I highly recommend taking the headsets as the Vatican museums are very big and having a little context about what we were looking at really helped us understand the history of the place much more, allowing us to appreciate them to a greater level.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Kodak Gold 200. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

By the time we were done, we realized we’ve already spent 4 hours wandering around the museum. The sun was nearly setting and we have still yet to visit St. Peter’s Basilica. Being the Kia Su Singaporeans we were, we wanted to make full use of the ticket so we made a mad dash towards St. Peter’s and luckily, we made it in time. We were the last few people that were allowed in. How lucky.

Vatican City was really beautiful and full of history and art. Plus, you’re basically in another country when in Vatican City, so you can tell people you’ve visited one more country.

Spiral staircases are always appreciated.

Swiss guards in their colourful uniforms.

Italy had the most beautiful sunrise and sunset skies while I was in Europe.

Photos up till now were shot on the Contax T2 with Fuji Natura 1600. Developed and scanned by Photocity Lab in Bangkok, Thailand.

We ended the night on pasta and gelato. A perfect end to the Italian leg of my European trip. The next day, Qi Xuan and I parted ways. Her for Amsterdam and me for Paris. Honestly, Rome was kinda meh for me. But the food and people really made Rome more enjoyable. I’ll definitley be back since I threw a coin into Trevi Fountain.

In the next blogpost, we’ll be exploring the City of Lights, Paris. I can’t wait for you guys to see the photos I took in Paris. I really enjoyed myself in that city. So till the next blogpost, keep shooting film friends!