MIKE MANEY

“You’re submitting that shot of the two nuns, right?”

I was thinking about it, I told my friend, but life was busy and I shoot mostly for fun now. Well, mostly. It’s still an adrenaline shot to the ego seeing one of my images on a display ad around town or accompanying a news story.

So, I submitted what I consider the single luckiest frame I’ve ever captured to the single biggest competition I know: National Geographic’s Pictures of the Year contest.

While best is subjective, there is little argument for this one being my luckiest. We were on a tuk tuk tour of Rome late in the afternoon getting our bearings to explore the city more throughout the week. We motored up to see the famous Aventine Keyhole. The line of other tourists extended farther than any of us cared to wait. Instead, we walked the adjacent grounds of Terrazza Belvedere Aventino and watched the sun descend behind the Eternal City.

Tourists and locals sat and stood against the stone wall overlooking Rome. I wandered. While wandering makes for a good photographer, it, conversely, makes for a frustrating travel companion. I wander because I want to see what others don’t, to get a different perspective. That’s when I saw the frame: two nuns in blue habits in casual conversation, legs dangling over the edge, Saint Peter’s dome perfectly aligned between them. I held my iPhone close to my chest, framed as best and quickly as I could, and fired off a couple of frames…giggling at my luck.