The Story Story, or Talking Trash

Catchy titles aside, our story begins, oddly enough, in a dump in Rome, not far from the Aurelian wall.  A couple of thousand years ago, the population of Rome hovered around a million inhabitants or so (it was the largest city in the world at the time). In addition to wine, pepperoni, and garum (fermented fish sauce), Romans loved olive oil. The demand for olive oil was much greater than the local supply. So, it was imported, mainly from southern Spain, but also from North Africa, Greece, and the Adriatic coast. Olive oil was imported in "amphorae," or terra cotta flasks. 

The issue with the imported olive oil was that it left a residue inside the amphorae, rendering them unusable and necessitating their disposal. And dispose they did – by the millions. Over fifty million, give or take. This colossal heap of discarded amphorae, known as Monte Testaccio, became the eighth hill of Rome, stretching over a kilometer in circumference and towering over 160 feet in height. A staggering 1.6 billion gallons of olive oil were once stored in these now-broken vessels! 

Fast forward about eighteen centuries. The challenge in Rome was that non-catholics were not allowed to be buried in consecrated grounds or churchyards, yet they continued to pass away. In 1716, a member of the exiled Stuart Court received permission from Pope Clement XI to be buried in front of the Pyramid of Cestius, next to the Aurelian wall. In 1821, Pope Pius VII forbade further burials near the pyramid. He set aside a plot of land surrounded by a high wall to be used as a cemetery for non Catholics. The spot chosen for the non-Catholic cemetery is nestled between the Pyramid of Cestius and Monte Testaccio – the dump.

 Sadly, my blog doesn't have the space or time to list all the notable persons whose last resting place is this cemetery. Still, they include John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edward Trelawney, and William and Emelyn Story, plus thousands of others, some incredible statuary, and dozens of cats! The Metro stop is called Piramide, on the B Line; it's easy to find. Go and see for yourself. You're welcome!

To see more images from Rome, check out my portfolio here: https://www.patkofahl.com/Rome

We Are All Photographers

There are over seven billion cell phones in the world, most of them smartphones. We spend about 4 ½ hours on our phones every day. We check our phones about 144 times a day on average. In addition, almost every smartphone has a camera. I'd venture to say that most of us use the camera and/or photo feature of our cameras on a daily basis. That's a lot of chaff, but some wheat as well. so, most of us are curators as well. 

The term "selfie" first appeared in an Australian online forum on September 13, 2002, less than 25 years ago. Now, it's a common household term, used all over the world, billions of times a day. The Oxford English Dictionary proclaimed it the "word of the year" in 2013, and shortly thereafter, it was even permitted to be used in the game of Scrabble, an even higher honorific. 

What is the meaning of this, other than the fact that we may all be slightly self-obsessed? My guess is that most selfies are subjected to a level of scrutiny not even accorded to the Mona Lisa, which Leonardo fretted over for decades. Further, if we find a flaw, shadow, wrinkle, booger or other distraction in an image we just took, we can fix it with a click, or delete it and take another, and another, and another, ad naseum. In short, we're all critics, and damned quick about it, as well. 

But I digress. Because of this phenomenon,  photography has changed, and, it follows that photographers have changed as well.  For every tortured Van Gogh-like soul who insists, demands, extolls, or begs the public to see things in a new way, there are a million shooters who keep pumping out the same tired old images. Those shooters who never follow the crowd on principle are controlled as surely as all the camp followers, happy to stand elbow to elbow at photo-sites all over the world with kindred spirits  turning out the same old pablum as the rest of the crowd. 

The truth is, beauty is everywhere. Amazing moments happen millions of times a day, and most, sadly go unrecorded, and unshared. Photography has the power to unleash a sense of wonder, to stir the soul, to record life-changing moments, if we are only willing to stop and see things a little differently.