Milan: Market Stalls

Milan at night. Glowing arches, packed steps, market light spilling into the street. Cyclists cutting through, crowds flowing between neon signs and baroque facades. The city at night is a different photographic subject from the daytime version. The light sources multiply — storefronts, neon signs, overhead fluorescents in market alleys, the blue and red glow of a parking garage entrance — and each one changes the color and the mood of the frame. This set was shot while walking Milan after dark, from an illuminated lattice structure in a grassy field to packed stone steps beneath a monumental arch to a narrow alley of souvenir stalls lit by fluorescent tubes. The mix of color and monochrome was decided frame by frame. The cyclist cutting through curved metal barriers against the city lights went black and white because it was pure shape and motion. The market stalls and the illuminated arch stayed in color because the light was doing things that monochrome couldn't hold — warm gold against cold blue, the red of a coat against the green of a sign. Motion blur appears in several frames, sometimes on the subjects and sometimes on passing vehicles. It's part of the vocabulary of night street photography — the city is always moving, and freezing everything sharp would be a lie about the way it actually feels to walk through it. Seven frames from one long walk through Milan at night. The city cooperated. "That light hitting the stalls in the alley was incredible—everyone was just completely lost in finding something, even with all the people around. It felt really alive."