There is something inherently bittersweet about a carousel. You hand over a token, climb onto an ornate painted horse, and for a few minutes, everything spins in an easy circle of music and warm bulbs. Then the ride slows, and the magic evaporates into the quiet evening air.
In his evocative series Ticket non remboursable (“Non-Refundable Ticket”), photographer Luca Battaglia captures that fleeting sensation by slowing down time.
Using heavy neutral density filters and long exposures lasting up to 30 seconds, Battaglia photographs traditional carousels across European city squares. As the carousel turns, the handcrafted woodwork, mirrors, and steeds blur into radiant, ethereal bands of color and light.
The surrounding city, including historic facades, cobblestone streets, and glowing streetlamps, remains razor-sharp and still, framing a spinning vortex that looks less like an amusement ride and more like a portal.
Like giant spinning tops, there’s a real sense of awe in these captures.
For Battaglia, the series is deeply personal. Growing up in Milan, he fondly remembered a neighborhood carousel that eventually disappeared. He began seeking them out not just as nostalgic roadside attractions, but as living hubs of memory and shared public life.
The title says it all: once you step on and the wheel starts turning, you can never get that specific moment back.
But in Battaglia’s frames, that dizzying, childhood joy is given a place to spin forever.
Images © Copyright Luca Battaglia.
