People are Everywhere

If asked which of my hobbies I would like to really dig deeper into in order to better perfect it, my answer would be, without pause, people watching.

I imagine most have participated in this laid back activity. Time to time I often find myself engaged in a beautiful moment of people watching with the pressing thought at the back of my mind being, “I need to get out and do this more often.”

Metro entertainment!

The key to perfect people watching is getting over yourself. Forget you are even there. Make yourself invisible. Excellent people watching occurs when you aren’t part of what is happening, but instead become a member of the audience.

Think about it. We pay money for actors, comedians, athletes, artists, singers, dancers, writers* to entertain us, but there is so much free entertainment right outside our doors. You just have to be on the lookout for it.

*But, blogs are free, so, you’re welcome.

You know I love a good selfie photo

While in Italy, I was so absorbed in the beauty of the country I often allowed incredible people watching moments to pass by without documenting them. Luckily, I still ended up with several winners which have filled the body of this blog post.

An ordinary family just feeding the birds…

Hey! What are you looking at? (I don’t know if his hat is hipster or hysterical).

Apparently, in Rome, it is totally normal to bring your dog to the hair salon.

Don’t you hate it when you’re casually singing opera in Firenze and…

…someone decides it’s time to cut the grass?

Sometimes, people watching is simply me being nosy.

For example, after snapping the above picture, I wanted more than anything to slide up next to these girls and ask what exactly they were drawing*.

*Because, with all of Rome to choose from, I couldn’t understand why they had chosen that spot to sketch. Regardless, I am sure their sketches were beautiful.

Do you see it?

The closer we got to the popular monuments, the better people watching opportunities occurred.

How about now?

Not exactly sure what is happening here, but I love it.

They might be slightly over dressed for a tour of the Colosseum.

This is sure to be this family’s 2018 Christmas card photo.

Nun crossing.

While we waited in line to enter Castel Sant Angelo we saw no less than three* recently married couples.*

*I am pretty sure there were more and by that point I was tired of sneaking pictures of them.

When it comes to people watching, my first joy is eavesdropping in on raw conversations of various groups of people at a time. My second is watching any kind of street music performance.

Initially, there is the performer to consider. Why is he playing Bach* on the streets of Rome instead of in a concert hall?

*To perfection, I might add.

Then there are the people around the musician to consider. For example, the mother who is ignoring her toddler. Or the group of people laughing and chatting as art is being created only feet away from them.

Most of all, what I love about people watching is the ability it gives for us to glimpse into someone else’s world, if but only for a moment. While I may never know the subjects of my people watching studies, for that brief span of time, they entered my life.

I hope somewhere, there is someone whose life I momentarily entered, snapping awesome candid pictures, as they people watch me.