What a great and interesting Local Guide spotlight! Thanks for all the information, it was a great pleasure to read through this, watch the attached pictures und literally feel the “passion” @AT_Rome has given into it.
Thanks!
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@AdamGT . I found this episode very engaging and emotive. @AT_Rome . I love your way with words esp the description that we are modern legionaries of knowledge. The way you have crafted the answers made them a pleasure to read. Italy is my favourite country and i have been to Florence and Rome thrice besides Venice, Milan, Tirano, Vatican, etc,etc. Dan Brown being my favourite author you can understand my facination. Done on my own Angels and Demons, Inferno book tours. Toscana movie is one of hot favourites. Thanks for bringing alive these memories. Looking forward to celebrating 150 million views with you soon!
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I still prefer to look into a viewfinder of a DSLR instead of a little, sometimes reflecting display of a smartphone. Also preferring shots with a longer focal length instead of cropping either with digital zoom in the camera or afterwards.
When I replaced my Galaxy A50 by an S24FE, the main reason to choose the model was the existence of a dedicated telephoto lens and sensor. This led to the habit, to leave the DSLR at home more often then before. But whenever I go to specifically to make photos or visit unknown places, I always carry the heavier camera.
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Hi @tony_b, @AdamGT, and @WilfriedB,
this is such a fascinating discussion! Reading your comments made me reflect on my own long journey with photography, which actually started decades ago in the days of 35mm film.
Back then, my absolute pride and joy was a professional 1970s SLR camera. I used to carry around a huge collection of lenses and colored filters. In those days, if you wanted a special effect, you had to create it directly while taking the shot. For example, who remembers putting a piece of nylon stocking over the lens just to get that beautiful, soft-focus look?
After countless analog photos, I moved on to early digital video cameras in the 1980s—first with VHS-C tapes and later with memory cards that felt big then but seem incredibly tiny today. Eventually, I transitioned to digital photography. My first digital camera took decent pictures, but they couldn’t quite match the quality of analog film, and it was hard for me to truly love them.
However, technology has made massive leaps forward. Today, the compact lenses inside our smartphones can genuinely compete with traditional cameras. In fact, historic photography brands have partnered with smartphone manufacturers—think Leica with Xiaomi, Zeiss with Vivo and Sony, Hasselblad with OnePlus and Oppo, or Ricoh with Realme.
Of course, holding a real print on photographic paper—maybe one that has turned a bit yellow over time—brings back a warm, nostalgic feeling that technology can never truly replicate. It is deeply connected to our personal memories. But when it comes to Google Maps, our goal is different: it is all about sharing. Sharing places, monuments, restaurants, and food with the world is only possible thanks to modern technology. The smartphone allows for an immediate, fast capture of the light and colors of a fleeting moment.
Perhaps this shift is simply a sign of our times, where slow reflection often gives way to a fast “consumption” of emotions and sensations. Speed has become an inescapable part of our modern life. However, it is up to us to bring this speed back to a more human scale, making sure we still carve out moments to truly appreciate the world around us.
Warm regards from Rome, Italy
@AT_Rome
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Thank you for the detailed story @AT_Rome. Mine is quite similar, except for the fact, I never touched video (and most likely never will). I got a Kodak Retina S1 as a Christmas present in 1966 or 67 and bought my first Minolta XE1 SLR in the early seventies. Both cameras and others I owned later still exist. Most, if not all of the photos I took in the sixties on negative film and paper print, got lost.
Starting in the seventies, I made color diapositive slides, which are now still in my basement. A couple of years ago, I rented a slide magazine scanner for three weeks to convert most into digital images.
For me, the main difference between analog and digital photography, is the presence of metadata. But starting with my DSLR, I always kept notes on paper to remember date and place.
My attitude for Google Maps is a bit different compared to many other local guides: I continue to take photos for myself and then consider, what might be useful to post on Maps not vice versa. Although the focus might have shifted a little, specially when it comes to make pictures inside a restaurant, by making photos of the interiors, the menu list (primarily to remember the exact names of the dishes, but also to post to Maps) and each of the dishes, we consumed.
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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Introduce Yourself — June 2026