rachael & nick | an early morning couples shoot in Prati, Roma
Rachael and Nick moved to Rome last year from the United States with their sweet pup, Lentil. To make the move, Nick—of Italian descent himself—studies full-time, while Rachael works and runs her nascent and incredibly successful Instagram and Substack detailing her experience for travelers to Rome. (You must enjoy a lengthy perusal through her creative content and her brilliant writing!) I am so grateful to have been able to photograph these two, and in doing so mark their transition from the States to Italy with images to be treasured.
We began early in the morning on a Friday in the infancy of May. Rome is a sunny, vivid city—indeed, at the time of writing this, it has not dawned cloudy in my recent memory—and by the time we met on the Bridge of Angels, the sun was shining quite sharply and the morning was full of distinct contrasts between light and shadow. (Though I am a fan of working with direct sunlight, truthfully, we could have started a little earlier! Allora, we learn!)
The Bridge, at this hour, was beautifully vacant; we joined only a handful of early runners and a few pairs of friends strolling to their morning bar for a caffé. Rachael, Nick, and Lentil walked, danced, and moved together through the early sunlight on the empty bridge with the monumental Castel Sant’Angelo—once the mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian the second century, then a fortress for Pope Clement VII during the Sack of Rome in 1527—rising from the background.
We then moved from there to Saint Peter’s, experiencing once more a main road, the Via della Conciliazione, that was deliciously void of the crowds of pilgrims, visitors, and scholars typically engulfing the cobblestones. As we walked, we all agreed: there is truly nothing like the dome, and even on those days where we seem to be hurrying, head down, from one errand to the next, passing by Vaticano and placing our eyes on the dome is a stark and beautiful reminder of the deep history and embodied awe we live every day as residents of Rome.
One of my favorite series of photographs from our shoot are those that follow. From the middle of the main square, we moved to the sides, where Rachael and Nick embraced each other within the embrace of the Vatican colonnade.
Saint Peter’s, as it exists today, is the product of over a century of different directions and designs from architects and popes, and the colonnade is one of the last additions to its glory. Designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini (the artist behind the sculpture that never fails to take my breath completely away) during the tenure of Pope Alexander VII (1655–1667), the colonnade gently extends from the main basilica and rings the main piazza in the manner of encircling arms. (Look at this aerial photo for a good visual of the effect!) Early in the morning, the piazza was relatively empty; the light streamed through the elegant white columns as Rachael and Nick shared a quiet moment in the space that centuries of pilgrims have gathered together.
We then exited through the Leonine walls—the red brick defensive enclosure, built mostly by Pope Leo IV in the ninth century, that now demarcates the territory of the Vatican from that of Rome—and wandered the streets of Prati, the Roman neighborhood that surrounds the Vatican. Rachael and Nick lived right in these streets when they first moved, and though they are located just a little farther out now, the narrow alleys and wide streets of Prati hold all the memories of their first enchanted weeks in the Eternal City. We found all the textured corners and earthy colors so innate to Rome, and I’m in love with what we created here.
We finished our shoot at Bibliobar, a favorite open-air café of Rachael and Nick—and me! (I’ve finished many graduate school papers and have shared many Aperol spritzes with friends at these colorful tables and in this lively, family-friendly atmosphere.) The cafe is situated right on the Tiber River, a short distance from Castel Sant’Angelo—we first strolled through the paths adjacent to the Castel, where Rachael and Nick often take Lentil to play in the dog park with his Roman neighbors. I parted from this wonderful couple as they tucked into their Roman breakfast of caffé e cornetto—espresso and a pastry, this one specifically chosen by Nick for its luscious pistachio crème filling.
Rachael and Nick, it was a joy to photograph you in this gorgeous city, and to celebrate your move to Rome with images in places that mean a lot to you. Thank you for a beautiful, creative, and calm morning; it was an honor and a gift to spend time with you and to document the way that you hold each other—and the way that you love Lentil—in front of so many iconic monuments of chaotic, messy, ancient, beautiful, Rome. Grazie di cuore!