Finding photography neverland

It’s been a while since I really felt passionate about taking pictures. For the last couple of years I have been dragging cameras around with me just because it’s what I always do, and, because I’ve spent so much money on them, it seems a waste not to take them. For the last few weeks I have been travelling through Italy. Starting in the Dolomites and then working my way down to Rome. It isn’t a trip I really booked. I just sort of came here because I knew I needed to do something with my summer and I had always wanted to see the Dolomites. Or course, I came fully armed with cameras. Too many, as I didn’t really have a plan for the trip and I didn’t want to get caught out. Obviously, the latest weapon in the arsenal, the Fujifulm GFX 100S, the Fujifilm X100V, Sony A7R3 and a DJI Mavic mini pro 3. Far too many. I only really brought the Sony because I wanted a telephoto for the Dolomites. I find longer focal lengths are always best for landscapes.

While the Dolomites were beautiful, I was just going through the motions of taking pictures because I was there and had cameras. There was nothing that really made me stop and go WOW! Which shows how spoilt I have become having traveled a lot. Are the Dolomites really going to look that amazing if you have been to Everest?

I ended up using the X100V most of the time. Really enjoying taking it out around cities such as Verona and Siena without needing a bag or any accessories. Especially when it’s bloody hot out. The images that come out of that camera are superb and it is a perfect travel camera.

The trip was mainly based on avoiding toursity locations apart from Verona and Siena. There was only really one touristy instagram thing on my list, and that was to go to the famous wheat field used in the film Gladiator. This was a combination of one of my favourite directors, composer and beautiful locations.

The location is actually quite easy to find on google maps. I planned to stay in one of the small towns just about 20 minutes from the spot and drive in, hoping that it wouldn’t be swamped by InstaMorons. Thankfully it wasn’t. There were a few of course, but as it’s quite a big area and we were all spread out. Some people literally just go to the top of the field took a quick snap and left right away, which tends to be the thing with Instatwats. It’s not about being there, understanding, appreciating or enjoying the place. It’s just saying you’ve been there.

This is what the view looks like as you descend from the church at the top of the hill. To most, it is recogniseable, but you need to get over to the right to get the angle seen in the film

But even here, I could feel a magic about this place. I don’t know if it was just because it was a beautiful landscape, and I had timed it well with the setting sun, or, if it was because I had seen it so many times on the big screen. But it absolutely did not disappoint.

Anyway, I spent a bit of time finding just the right angle, as close to the scene in the film as I could, and then I sat down and just absorbed it.

There were people inevitably pretending to walk through the wheat with their hand out. A few people walked right down to the trees to get a photo, completely missing the point of the location. But in general, considering the location, it was quite absent of idiots. I think this is mainly because the younger generation won’t have seen the film. You could tell that the people who had bothered to come, really appreciated it and clearly loved the film. It was nice.

I started to shoot with the GFX and the 80mm lens I had was just the perfect focal length for the scene. As the sun was setting, the light and colour changed a lot over the hour or so I spent there. I coninued to shoot through the time, sometimes waiting for people to move, or sometimes, making the most of them being there. If you look at the picture at the top of this post, you will see a woman in a brown dress walking slowly up the hill. This turned out to be perfect, adding some perspective, but also recreating the scene from the film.

GFX Pano

The point of this post though, is that from the moment of getting here, to the morning after when I looked at the images, I had a big smile on my face and was really enjoying photography again. I knew I had got some great images from this evening. The location and weather were perfect and I had the right camera and lens. All I had to do was make sure that I hadn’t made any mistakes in focus or camera settings. Which is why I took a lot variations of the shot.

There is something about being somewhere that really makes you stop and forget the world around you. This location in Tuscany really did and I will always remember it. I have been to some really beautiful places around the world, but there was something really amazing about this location. If you liked the film, you should go there. Maybe you’ll feel it too.