Euro Cup 2021 – Documenting Italian fans with the Fuji XF10

Italy, 11 July 2021
The Italian national football team is the winner of the European 2020. It is our second European won after that of 1968, 53 years ago.

A tough match for both teams, England, scores after just two minutes but fails to conclude anything else for almost the duration of the match, Italy instead that finds the goal of the draw in half a second time. It goes to overtime, then to penalties. High tension until the end. Almost two hours of agony.

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The echo of the last missed penalty from England, paraded by Donnarumma, rumble in all the squares, houses, bars and Italian restaurants. Even in those small villages like mine (where the photos were taken), the fans gathered like a big family waiting for the whistle to start the game, and then run off at the end of the game to the centers of the larger towns to make noise and celebrate late at night. In fact, all the locals immediately emptied with hundreds of people who joined the carousels and celebrations between tricolor flags and blue shirts.

Smoke, firecrackers, stage horns and choirs completed the whole thing.

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Shooting under these conditions was not easy. For me, who likes to get into the crowd’s mess, it was difficult not to get elbows or unintentional handfuls in the face of the euphoric people who celebrated. Never like this time, I preferred to stay slightly further apart even not to risk damaging the Fuji XF10 I use on these occasions.

I often used a long shutter speed to get photos with a slightly blurred effect, highlight the movements, the agitation, and the subjects’ euphoria. A short time for a more static shot, for example, to capture a young lad, as he stood still waiting for the result of the penalty.

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