StreetWise – 24HourProject Interview with Valentina Martiradonna

What is your name and instagram username?

My name is Valentina Martiradonna @valenonvale on Instagram.

Image – @valenonvale

Was this the first time you participated in this project, or have you taken part in previous years as well?If you participated previously, how did this year’s experience differ from past experiences?

It’s the second time I participated in this project. The first time was in the 2014 edition. Last year was a very different experience because I was lonely all the time. This time I was with two big friends of mine (@vanepallotta and @orietta.gs) and we had a lot of fun together!!

What city where you able to document?

I’m from Rome and I decided to document my city.

What inspired you to take part in this project?

I was fascinated by this project since the first edition because I love street photography so much!

Did you plan where to go or did you have an idea what you wanted to document, or did you just let fate decide as you wandered through the streets?

This year we planned to document some favourite places in Rome but fate help us find interesting situations.

What was the biggest challenge you faced during the 24 hours?

The biggest challenge was to remain awake till Saturday at midnight, it was very hard to face the entire day!!!

Do you feel like the time pressure was beneficial to your creativity, or did it just make you nervous and diminish the quality of your images slightly?

The time pressure was beneficial to my creativity but trying to shoot high quality images for 24 hours was really hard!!!

Image – @valenonvale

Did you develop a workflow for every hour in order to manage uploading your next image in time?

It was very difficult to shoot and process every single hour, sometimes I processed in advance for managing some moments of stress but then I didn’t post those pics!!!

Did you follow the IG feed of other excellent photographers taking part in the project? Why or why not?

It was very interesting to follow other people’s feed taking part at the project. That’s made me feel more motivated!!!

What was your secret to staying up so long?

Italian coffee is famous all over the world, so you can imagine that we had a lot of cups of coffee!!!!

Would you take part in this again next year?

I would like to take part to the 24hourproject next year!

Was there a point when you considered giving up and going home? Did you walk the whole 24 hours?

I walked a lot around the city with my two friends but sometimes we had to take a rest. We had a car for long distances. Saturday afternoon was very hard because I felt very tired and I considered to give up… But I didn’t!!

Image – @valenonvale

Please share your 3 favorite images from the day and talk about why they are your favorites.

All of the above are my favourite pics. That’s an ordinary sunny day in Rome, you can see people at work and people wandering around the city. I was very happy when the young man starts to play with me in that spontaneous way!! Love that pic!!

What were some thoughts that ran through your mind when you were finally able to crash into bed?

When finally I came back at home I was so tired that lying in my bed was the only thought that came across my mind, but I felt really happy and proud of myself!!!