Nicolò Pudel
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Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
2026 · Milan

Milan by Night

Shot in Milan over several nights in March 2026, during a workshop with Todd Hido. Digital, colour, and built around a single question Hido keeps returning to: what does a place look like when you stop trying to describe it?

Todd Hido spent five days with a small group of photographers in Milan, pushing everyone to get out of their own way. His framework was simple: work at night, trust the light, resist the urge to explain what you're photographing. The images here came out of that.

There was no predetermined subject. Some nights it was a petrol station on a quiet corner, or a flower shop window still lit at midnight, or a doorbell panel throwing green light onto a gate. Other times it was a spiral staircase glimpsed through glass, or the way blue neon turned a row of garage shutters into something that looked almost deliberate. Milan has a lot of those accidents.

Working digitally felt right for this: less precious, faster, closer to the way Hido actually moves through a place. The colour does things film might not have let through. The work isn't really about Milan. It's about what happens when you slow down in a city you think you know and start noticing what it looks like after dark.

Lit timber-slatted doorway in a stone facade at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Spiral staircase glowing inside a glass and steel stairwell at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Florist shop window at night with vases of pink flowers under a single lamp, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Closed Keropetrol petrol station lit at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
TERRA sign and an ashtray on a worn counter at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Glowing red and blue gallery window in a dark courtyard at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Blue light spilling under a shuttered garage door at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Empty curved amphitheatre steps lit by globe lamps at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Cluster of glowing globe lamps on a brick pillar in a dark park, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Shuttered green and white striped market stalls at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Green-lit intercom panel on a dark doorway at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
OPAN graffiti on a wall below a lit apartment balcony at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel
Lamplit church niche with a statue beside a brick wall at night, Milan. Film photograph by Nicolò Pudel