With the Australian Photography Awards for 2011 just a few weeks away I thought it about time I should blog the portfolio of images that won me the highly acclaimed title of The 2010 AIPP Australian Travel Photographer of the Year. I shot these in Italy – it’s always a daunting task choosing images to enter so I chose 2 portraits and 2 landscapes. Can you imagine how popular the little church would be if it was close to Brisbane !!!!
The shot of Tizio wearing his blue overalls is far and away my favourite of these, he really made an impression on us and the following is a bit of his story . . . . . . . . . We went to Soriano nel Cimino in an effort to find a holiday location off the tourist path where we could immerse ourselves in the Italian way of life. Travelling with two small children, we knew our holiday had to be quite different to how we travelled sans kids. My wife was learning to speak Italian, and I was learning to love the lifestyle and food!! We found Soriano after months of trawling the internet, looking for apartments in villages (rather than major tourist centres) and not somewhere in a villa on top of a hill next to no-one. We finally found an apartment in Soriano which happened to be owned by a couple who lived not far from us, so we were able to find out a lot of details before deciding to stay there. Can you believe the best croissants and fruit danishes cost just Eu.40c, enough fresh pasta to feed the 4 of us each night cost just Eu$1.00 !!
Yes, Tizio stopped us in the street, one that we’d walk up and down every day, past his workshop and on the way to our apartment. Calling it a street is probably a bit of a stretch, more of a lane way really. Soriano is a 13th century village at the top of the Cimino Mountains, still with it’s original castle above the village. The streets and lane ways are often still stone and wide enough for a couple of horses to pass.
The photograph was taken toward the end of our time in Soriano, and Tizio had well and truly touched our hearts and a fabulous bond had been forged between us. He’s very proud of what he does, and especially proud of the fact a few of the tools were handed down to him. We were walking past his workshop one day so we popped our heads through the door and I asked my wife to ask Tizio if he would mind if I was to photograph him working. He just smiled and replied “that would be fine”. He looked chuffed to have his photograph taken in his workshop, but at the same time I’m sure he was just happy to grant my request, it’s just they way they are there, people are just so happy to help in anyway they can. Within a few days I had prints made of this image and when I handed them to him, they literally brought tears to his eyes – he loved them! We were so grateful for the hospitality he and many other locals had shown us, and given it’s not common to have a portrait taken I asked if there was someone special he might like to have a photo with……. again tears welled up in his eyes and he told us of how he lost his dear wife years earlier. Hearing the story broke our hearts, I would love to have been able to capture Tizio and his wife together, for him.
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