Canon M6, 22 mm. ISO 400 & 800, various speeds @ f/4 & f/8

Consider this – it is quite possible that in a little under 2000 years’ time your current home or place of work will be part of a world famous heritage site, subject to the annual footfall of millions of tourists all fascinated by your ancient way of life. What would those tourists find? It is hard to imagine how the effects of long term decay or massive destruction might alter the buildings we see around us now. Factors would include the materials used during construction, the type of destruction suffered, environmental factors such as enduring weather patterns, etc…

For approximately 11,000 citizens of the Roman town of Pompeii in Italy, life came to an abrupt end in August of AD 79 courtesy of Mount Vesuvius. Over just a few days the whole town along with several others in the region, were obliterated by a massive volcanic eruption that buried the town with up to 6 m of volcanic ash. The impact of this total devastation was to create a remarkably well-preserved time capsule that was left undisturbed for some 1500 years.

I visited Pompeii in September 2017. Challenges of photographing there include…Continue reading→