PhotoSecrets Colosseum

A Photographer’s Guide

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COLOSSEUM

Photos

Diag looking upMoyan Brenn/Flickr

Colosseum

14 views to photograph
Dusk light trailsVichie81/Shutterstock
Exterior classic duskDiliff/Wikipedia
Grass and Meta SudansIakov Kalinin/Shutterstock
From west side with pathVeronika Galkina/Shutterstock
From east platform looking westJean-Pol Grandmont/Wikipedia
North side ColoseeumJerzy Strzelecki/Wikipedia
From southwest upper levelPaolo Costa Baldi/Wikipedia
From west platform looking eastBengt Nyman/Wikipedia
Martyrs’ crossProtoplasmakid/Wikipedia
From north sideBengt Nyman/Wikipedia

Contents

Map

About PhotoSecrets

 
 
 
 

Foreword

A great travel photo­graph, like a great news photo­graph, requires you to be in the right place at the right time to capture that special moment. Professional photo­graphers have a short-hand phrase for this: “F8 and be there.”

There are countless books that can help you with photo­graphic technique, the “F8” portion of that equation. But until now, there’s been little help for the other, more critical portion of that equation, the “be there” part. To find the right spot, you had to expend lots of time and shoe leather to wander around, track down every potential viewpoint, and essentially re-invent the wheel.

In my career as a professional travel photo­grapher, well over half my time on location is spent seeking out the good angles. Andrew Hudson’s PhotoSecrets does all that legwork for you, so you can spend your time photo­graphing instead of wandering about. It’s like having a professional location scout in your camera bag. I wish I had one of these books for every city I photo­graph on assignment.

PhotoSecrets can help you capture the most beautiful sights with a minimum of hassle and a maximum of enjoyment. So grab your camera, find your favorite PhotoSecrets spots, and “be there!”

About Bob Krist

Bob Krist has photo­graphed assignments for National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, Travel/­Holiday, Smithsonian, and Islands. He won “Travel photo­grapher of the Year” from the Society of American Travel Writers in 1994, 2007, and 2008.

For National Geographic, Bob has led round-the-world tours and a traveling lecture series. His book In Tuscany with Frances Mayes spent a month on The New York Times’ bestseller list and his how-to book Spirit of Place was hailed by American Photo­grapher magazine as “the best book about travel photo­graphy we’ve ever read.”

The parents of three sons, Bob and his wife live in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

Welcome

Thank you for reading PhotoSecrets. As a fellow fan of travel and photo­graphy, I hope this guide will help you quickly find the most visually stunning places, and come home with equally stunning photo­graphs.

PhotoSecrets is designed to show you all the best sights. Flick through, see the classic shots, and use them as a departure point for your own creations. Get ideas for comp­osition and interesting viewpoints. See what piques your interest. Know what to shoot, where to stand, when to go, and why it’s interesting. Now you can spend less time researching and more time photographing.

The idea for PhotoSecrets came during a trip to Thailand, when I tried to find the exotic beach used in the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. None of the guidebooks I had showed a picture, so I thought a guidebook of postcard photos would be useful for us photographers. Twenty-plus years later, you have this guide. Thanks!

Now, start exploring — and take lots of photos!

About Andrew Hudson

Originally an engineer, Andrew Hudson started PhotoSecrets in 1995. His first book won the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best First Book and his second won the Grand Prize in the National Self-Published Book Awards.

Andrew has published 38 nationally-distributed photo­graphy books. He has photo­graphed assignments for Macy’s, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Men’s Health and Seventeen, and been a location scout for Nikon. His photos and articles have appeared in Alaska Airlines, National Geographic Traveler, Shutterbug Outdoor and Nature photo­graphy, Where, and Woman’s World.

Andrew has a degree in Computer Engineering from Manchester University and a certificate in copyright law from Harvard Law School. Born in Redditch, England, he lives with his wife, two kids, and two chocolate Labs, in San Diego, California.

Introduction

At a Glance

Name:Colosseum (named for a colossal statue of Nero that stood nearby)
GPS:41.8901694, 12.4922694
AKA:Flavian Amphitheatre)
What:Oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome
Fame:Icon of Rome
Largest amphitheatre ever built
Far:1.27 km (0.8 miles) from the center of Rome
Opened:80 AD
Height:48 m (157 feet)
Style:Roman
Architects:Vespasian, Titus
Function:Amphitheater
Address:Piazza del Colosseo, 1, 00184 Roma, Italy
Area:Regio IV Templum Pacis (east of the Roman Forum)
Notes:Built of concrete and sand

Amphitheatre.

Exterior Colosseum

North side Coloseeum

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum
Addr:Parco Del Colle Oppio,
Viale del Monte Oppio,
Roma
Where:41.891096
12.493800
When:Anytime

West side Colosseum

Diag looking up

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > west side
Addr:Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890952
12.491266
When:Anytime

Ideas for Diag looking up

Exterior classic dusk

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > west side
Addr:Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890694444444
12.490777777778
When:Anytime

Ideas for Exterior classic at dusk

Grass and Meta Sudans

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > west side
Addr:Via dei Verbiti,
00186 Rome
Where:41.890149
12.490468
When:Anytime

Ideas for Grass and Meta Sudans

From west side with path

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > west side
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.8906573
12.4907194
When:Anytime

Northwest side Colosseum

Dusk light trails

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > northwest side
Addr:Piazza del Colosseo,
00184 Rome
Where:41.891303
12.491170
When:Anytime

Edge detail

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > northwest side
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.891136
12.491505
When:Anytime

Ideas for Edge detail

Entrance LII

Colosseum > Exterior Colosseum > northwest side

Entrance LII of the Colosseum, with Roman numerals still visible.

Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890827
12.491522
When:Anytime

Colosseum

From east platform looking west

Colosseum > Colosseum
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890079
12.492772
When:Anytime

Passageway

Colosseum > Colosseum
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890477
12.492933
What:PassagewayWhen:Anytime

From southwest upper level

Colosseum > Colosseum
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.889999
12.491643
When:Anytime

From west platform looking east

Colosseum > Colosseum
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890322
12.491869
When:Anytime

Martyrs’ cross

Colosseum > Colosseum

Cross dedicated to the Christian martyrs, placed in 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.890428
12.492452
What:CrossWhen:Anytime

From north side

Colosseum > Colosseum
Addr:Colosseum,
Piazza del Colosseo,
1,
00184 Rome
Where:41.8904789
12.4919928
When:Anytime

Credits

Thank you to the many wonderful people and companies that made their work available to use in this guide.

Photo key: Tap the camera icon to see the photo. The two letters reference the distributor and license. Key for distributors: f:Flickr; s:Shutterstock; w:Wikipedia. Key for license: a:CC-BY-SA; b:CC-BY; h:Shutterstock standard.

Cover image by .Alessandroferri ( wa); Alexandervanloon ( wa); Paolo Costa Baldi ( fb); Moyan Brenn ( wa); Diliff ( sh); Veronika Galkina ( wa); Jean-Pol Grandmont ( sh); Iakov Kalinin ( wb); Bengt Nyman ( wa); Protoplasmakid ( wa); Diana Ringo ( wb); Jerzy Strzelecki ( sh); Vichie81 ( wa); Warpflyght ( wa). Some text adapted from Wikipedia and its contributors where noted by the URL path in the “Wik” table field, used and modified under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC-BY-SA) license. Map data from OpenStreetMap and its contributors, used under the Open Data Commons Open Database License (ODbL).

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

K

M

P

T

W