🧳 2019: Italia

Exploring Abandoned Italy 2019: Echoes of Industry and Skyward Gaze

In 2019, my lens led me on a journey through the forgotten corners of Italia, seeking out the silent stories etched into decaying concrete and the stark beauty of technology reaching for the heavens. This collection, encompassing "Fabbrica e Industria Abbandonata" and "Antenne e stazioni paraboliche," is a testament to the passage of time, the resilience of nature, and the human ambition that once powered these spaces. Wandering through these vast, desolate industrial complexes, I felt a profound connection to the past. Each rusted machine, every stack of impoverished contracts, and the very air thick with dust whispered tales of lives lived and work accomplished. Then, shifting my gaze, the colossal parabolic antennas stood as monuments on barren hills, symbols of an unseen network, their silent watch under often dramatic skies offering a different kind of contemplation.

Behind the Lens: Capturing Italy's Forgotten Grandeur

• For these diverse scenes across Italia, I relied on a range of equipment to adapt to the varied conditions. My `Sony Alpha 6300` often paired with the `E 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS` lens, offered flexibility for both expansive interior shots of abandoned factories and tighter compositions. For the dramatic wide-angle views of vast industrial halls and the distant parabolic antennas, I frequently turned to my `Canon EOS 550D` with the `EF-S10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM` or the `TAMRON SP AF 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical IF B001N` for its impressive field of view. The `NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3400` with its `18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6` lens also proved invaluable in capturing the intricate details of industrial decay, while my `OPPO Find X5` and `samsung SM-A715F` were always ready for quick, spontaneous captures, especially in challenging light situations. I pushed the ISO from `40` to `6400` to adapt to the often dim, dusty interiors and the variable natural light.
• Lighting was a constant challenge and a key element in defining the mood. Inside the abandoned factories, shafts of sunlight piercing through broken windows often created dramatic contrasts, illuminating forgotten objects like the 'Vecchia auto d'epoca' or the 'Manoscritto dimenticato'. Outside, the 'cielo plumbeo' (leaden sky) and 'cielo nuvoloso' (cloudy sky) over the brulla collina (barren hill) where the parabolic antennas stood, added a sense of isolation and grandeur, requiring careful exposure balancing to retain detail in both the sky and the landscape. The interplay of light and shadow was crucial in highlighting the textures of rust and decay.
• These journeys through Italia in 2019 took me to regions where industrial might once thrived, now left to crumble, and to remote hillsides dotted with the silent sentinels of communication. Each location, from the vast, empty halls of dismantled factories to the imposing torre di raffreddamento (cooling tower), spoke volumes about economic shifts and technological evolution. The juxtaposition of man-made structures with encroaching nature, like vines reclaiming a pannello di controllo abbandonato (abandoned control panel), was a recurring and powerful motif.
• My approach was to immerse myself in these environments, focusing on the intricate details of industrial decay – the connessioni elettriche arrugginite (rusted electrical connections), the polvere e oblio industriale (dust and industrial oblivion) on a control panel, the ricordi sbiaditi (faded memories) of a forgotten ciclomotore. I aimed to capture the quiet solemnity and the raw beauty of these spaces, allowing the atmosphere to dictate the composition. It's about preserving a moment of history, giving voice to the silence, and finding art in the forgotten.