Tag:Chinese New Year 2026
Dragons and Lanterns: Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year isn’t just a celebration: for a photographer, it’s an uncontrollable visual explosion. Over the weekend of 21 and 22 February 2026, the Giardini Nicola Calipari in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II became the beating heart of Rome’s Chinese community celebrations.
I was there on Sunday 22 February 2026, on the culminating day of the event, immersed among thousands of people who literally flooded the Esquilino neighbourhood to watch the parade. With my camera around my neck, I tried to go beyond the classic souvenir shot, focusing instead on movement, colour contrasts and the stories unfolding behind the smoke of the firecrackers.
The challenge of light and the Year of the Fire Horse
Photographing an event at Piazza Vittorio means dealing with an absolute colour dominance: the bright red and gold of the lanterns, decorations and traditional costumes chosen to celebrate the new lunar year. Balancing these vivid tones under natural light, without losing facial detail or the depth of the shadows between the gazebos, was the first real technical challenge.
I chose to work almost always with a slight underexposure to isolate the subjects and make the shiny fabrics of the costumes stand out against the backdrop of the Roman gardens, creating an almost cinematic atmosphere.
The frantic rhythm of the Dragon Dance
The most eagerly awaited moment of the Sunday was undoubtedly the official 10:00 am parade, with the skillful and striking Dragon and Lion Dance. Here, street photography merges with pure action photography, but with one extra complication: the crowd at Piazza Vittorio was like an ocean, a genuine tide of people pressed right up against the barriers, to the point where it was physically impossible to walk or move to find a better angle.
The performers’ movements were fast and unpredictable, and with the crowd pressing in from every side, there was almost no room to manoeuvre with the camera. To handle this frenzy while stuck in the crush, without risking blurry or wasted shots, I worked with very fast shutter speeds. The goal was to get perfectly sharp images capable of freezing the exact instant: the embroidered details of the costumes suspended mid-air, the tense expressions of the dancers under the weight of the structures, and the sparks of the first firecrackers. Amid all that visual and human chaos, the razor-sharp focus of the shot let me isolate the beauty of the athletic gesture and the tradition, delivering a clean, close and impactful record of those frenzied moments.
See you out on the streets
A reportage like this is a reminder of how essential the synergy is between the culture being celebrated and the eye of the person photographing it: when you immerse yourself respectfully in someone else’s traditions, that energy shows in every single sharp frame.
The files from this incredible day at Piazza Vittorio are ready, and I can’t wait to get back out shooting on the streets of Rome for the next big urban events. For any information about reportage, event or street photography services, you can contact me directly through the form on the site. See you next time!
