Entering Warp Drive
This is another image taken in the Toledo Metro Station in Naples, Italy. Earlier this year, I featured an image of the escalator banks at the far end of this hallway - In an Octopus’s Garden.
The passageway features various shades of blue and continues the water theme with light panels of ocean waves. In my opinion, the best feature is the light fixture above. To me, it resembles the USS Enterprise just as it enters warp drive.
Warp speed, Mr. Sulu…
The Hidden Galaxy
Before arriving in Naples, I had researched a building that I wanted to photograph…specifically, its large, grand staircase. The building location is not well known and even though I had found the address online, I walked past it twice before I found the (somewhat) hidden entrance. Tucked in between two retail shops is a small walkway that opens into the interior courtyard of the building. I did not see a way to get inside though and I was a bit puzzled as to how to find this staircase.
Walking back towards the street, I noticed a security guard’s office. I approached him with my camera in hand to ask about the staircase. He instructed me that I could not go up the stairs as it is a private residence. He did, however, agree to allow me take a photo from the lobby floor and pointed to another (somewhat) hidden hallway located behind me.
At the end of that hallway, I entered the lobby and finally saw the staircase with this slender, oval design! It was beautiful, but not large at all. My assumptions were wrong. In reality, the lobby was rather small and narrow…this presented a challenge.
I expected my widest lens would be fine for this shot, but it was not wide enough! The only possibility to fit the staircase in the frame was to get on the floor…so that is what I did. Lying on my back with my legs under the stairs, I slid left & right and back & forth get in this position. With my head near the center of the lobby floor (and with the camera pressed against my face), I was just barely able to squeeze the entire staircase into the frame.
I suspect it would have looked comical to anyone watching this, but in the end, I got the image I wanted. Thanks in part to a kind security guard and the fact that I have a small head. :) Hope you agree that the results were worth getting a little dirty.
In an Octopus's Garden
One of the first things I did upon arriving in Naples was walk down the bustling Via Toledo and descend into the Toledo metro station. Numerous websites and publications proclaim this station as one of the most beautiful in Europe, so I had to see it for myself.
It was 8pm on a Saturday night and it was filled with locals & tourists going to/from the nearby bars, shops and restaurants. People were everywhere as I wandered down escalators, stairways and passageways looking for possible places to photograph. The architecture was interesting, but the scene was chaotic. I decided to wait and return when the station would be less crowded.
The next morning I returned at 6:00 am and was one of the first people through the doors. It felt completely different without the crowds. I could more easily appreciate all of the details in the architecture that were often masked by all of the moving bodies the previous day.
This area was my favorite. As you descend on the escalator, you become surrounded by colorful tiles and waves reaching out of the walls…it feels like you are submerging into an underwater cave.
Since there was no one there, I was able to take some time to capture images at the bottom. I definitely find it to be a unique and beautiful subway station.
