Moments in Motion: A Visual Story Journey in Tuscany (Analog)

Last summer I returned to Italy, as a master’s student. Usually I have to spend one or two weeks in Siena for exams, but as often happens, the trip became much more than an academic obligation.

The previous year, I had took my analog camera with me, an Olympus OM4 Ti. It is a beautiful machine, truly. I still remember the man in a small shop in the center of Siena, where I went to buy film. When he saw the camera, he smiled and said, “È una macchina! Bellissima” He was right. Unfortunately, the strap I had bought in Vienna broke one afternoon, and the camera fell right in the middle of Siena's main square. Some of the photos from that trip have light leaks and strange edges because the back of the camera opened. They were small accidents, but in a way, they gave the images a kind of unexpected beauty.

This time, I took photographs again, starting in Florence, then on the train from Empoli to Siena, and finally around Siena itself. The landscapes were as breathtaking as ever. The light in Tuscany feels different, almost soft but powerful, like it knows exactly how to touch the stone walls and old rooftops. In summer, Siena feels alive. The city celebrates everything, from tradition to simple daily joy. You walk through the narrow streets and you can sense a quiet rhythm of life, people greeting you kindly, the smell of good food coming from every corner.

There is something timeless about Tuscany. It is a place that moves slowly, almost deliberately, as if it refuses to let modern life rush it. And that pace seeps into you too. It teaches you to slow down, to look around, to notice the way light falls on a building, or how a shadow stretches across the piazza in the afternoon.

When I look at the photographs now, imperfect as they are, they remind me that moments do not need to be flawless to be beautiful. Sometimes the best stories are the ones that happen by accident. And maybe that is what travel, and photography, are really about learning to see beauty in the things that do not go according to plan.