I am writing a short entry today, a little update on my last shooting adventure.

The Roman countryside is full of derelict, abandoned buildings.

What’s even more interesting is that underneath those places and almost everywhere around here, there is an incredible quantity of ancient remains.

Every time I come back home and after living for so long in Northern European countries, I am always blown away by the history, the beauty and the decay of my home country.

The place where this image was shot is a perfect example of this layering of the land through time.

The country side house we entered was in a complete state of decay. The only accessible room had three very large columns in the centre, the wall structure was exposed, and from the way it was built we could see that this building was built on the remains of a much older structure, perhaps an ancient Roman house.

I just loved the light that was coming from the door, and I wanted to shoot a backlit image for a while, I had this idea of blowing out the head using a wide aperture and complete the image in post production adding a smoke effect where the head was supposed to be.

So we did. Whit the help of Giancarlo, I set the camera and found the right angle and settings.

I then started walking back and forth from the door posing for the shots and checking the results on the camera screen.

Next to the door there was a huge wasp nest. Eventually I got stung. Luckily we had already got the shot I needed. The sun was about to set and we made our way back home.

Driving back, despite the burning sensation on my left arm, we enjoyed the most beautiful evening light.

In Rome, during the long summer evenings, when the sun has just disappeared behind the horizon, the sky is set on fire by shades of reds, oranges and yellows, so strong that make the few sporadic clouds take on a magical golden tint.

In these moments nothing can disrupt the joy of been alive.