A Moment in Milan....

Next to the Duomo in Milan there is a ornate and posh shopping arcade, called the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II.

Also know as 'Milan's drawing room' the arcade was designed by the architect Guiseppe Mengoni, who unfortunately fell to his death from the scaffolding a year before the shopping arcade's completion in 1877 . . .






There is a Louis Vuitton shop and a few of the other famous Italian luxury brands, the names that escape me now. It is usually crowded with tourists and sightseers, like my wife and I. In South Africa these 'uber' luxury brands are large non existent and only found, if at all, in the most exclusive and expensive shopping centres.  So for us it was a bit of a treat to see all this 'luxury' that the pampered 1% so enjoy... Most of the shoppers look like tourists and it was a disappointment to see so few of the  'locals'....

...but suddenly this couple came round the corner, walking briskly, and lost in their own private space...

I had to literally run to keep up with them ...I had my Canon 5d2 with me and a 24-105L lens attached. Fortunately the lens has IS, because even at 2000iso my exposure was only 1/50th sec at f6.3. I really didn't have any time to set the controls or even think about the situation, I just lifted the camera to my eye whilst trying to keep up with the couple and keeping half an eye on the other tourists so as  not to bump into anyone, squeezing off a few frames........and then it was all over.....the moment had passed....

I had many thoughts going through my mind when I looked at these photographs afterwards....'Italian style' was one of them but some Italians has suggested that this is more a case of 'Berlusconi style'.......in Milan one sees many many pretty ( and tall! ) girls dressed in the latest fashions...but this girl stood out from all the others, she almost looks like she had just walked off a movie set...fish net stockings, leopard skin dress, Marilyn Monroe hairstyle, dainty shoes.....and then there was the man by her side, he looked quite a bit older with an old fashioned haircut, cigarette in his fingers, high heeled 'cowboy style boots, hard face......I love these photographic moments that just happen, even if I am not quite prepared for them....!

I thought for a change I will show the whole sequence of what I had seen that Sunday afternoon in Milan...

click on images to enlarge...

regards, Ivan...