Hey all,
I’m fortunate that I have some friends visiting from the UK for the weekend. I suggested we go up to Lake Como, which is only 1-hour train ride from Milan.
These mini-trips, including bike trips in Italy, serve me a great opportunity to combine some relaxing leisure time with shooting for stock & fine art. In this post I’ll explain why I shot what I shot and where I’ll submit them to ensure that they hopefully will be downloaded regularly.
Arriving in Como
Leaving behind the humid and hot city of Milan, arriving in Como was a delight as the air was clear and crisp as it rained overnight…the best conditions for photography! It was only my second time in Como so still a bit of an adventure and lot’s of new places to experience.
Next, headed along the promenade to take in the scenery.
A blonde bombshell photobombs my scene!
Right when I was taking some images of the centre of Como with a telescope in the foreground, a blonde bombshell decides to lie down and relax close to me! Whether she did so purposely or not so I could take some shots of her I don’t know but I managed to anyway (keeping in mind that her boyfriend/husband may be nearby).
I managed to get some nice shots of her from the side and behind and maybe maybe maybe [UPDATE: they were all accepted] these will be accepted as commercial images as her face isn’t visible. I previously wrote an article on taking pictures of people and how to still get them accepted as commercial – check it out here with this link.
House-hunting for my retirement
I found a perfect house which I’ll make an offer in a few decades when the world has gone to shit and I just wanna chill out next to the lake, with hopefully a good internet connection.
Chillin’ in Bellagio
The real and authentic Bellagio is located a 30-minute boat’s ride away from the city of Como. It’s a cute touristy town and since I was there on a Friday afternoon it wasn’t so busy and managed to capture the following postcard scene without many people.
Next, we went to the tip of the Bellagio peninsula. I love panos and I did one capturing 5 shots with the intention of stitching them together later in Lightroom – here’s the result:
On the way back to the centre of town, I saw someone with their feet up on the terrace. Not too sure what to make of this image and whether it has stock potential but I took it anyway and I’ll think about it!
Golden Hour!
By the time we were going to catch another ferry across the lake to Varenna, the sun was setting and producing some spectacular effects. I was happy to snap away while my friends enjoyed a drink at a terrace.
Taking the boat across the lake
While taking the boat across I didn’t bother so much with shots of the colourful architecture of Bellagio as the ones I shot on my last trip didn’t sell at all as there’s probably too much competition as it’s such a popular tourist destination.
Therefore, I was looking for something special and unique to make it stand out.
Images of the town of Varenna across the lake are also extremely popular, but I managed to include a small airplane within the frame, thus making it more unique than the competition. I’ll still submit at to micros as it’s generic and should get some repeat downloads!
At Varenna
Arriving at Varenna, the light was just perfect! Along another promenade, I managed to fine some nice spots:
I found some beautiful frames to shoot into for my fine art collections
Sunset
I didn’t have my tripod with me but managed to learn my camera against a railing for a long-ish exposure of the sunset setting with some boats on the foreground.
That’s it folks – what a perfect day at Lake Como. Hope I brought some positive energies to your day and looking forward to some comments!
Alex
Alexandre Rotenberg's Brutally Honest Guide to Stock Photography & Footage 
Leave a reply to Koen Cancel reply