A truncated San Gimignano Skyline, Italy
Fujifilm GFX100S II, Fujinon GF100-200mm F5.6 R LM OIS WR, f5.6 @ 1/450 second, ISO 400

We arrived at our accommodation after a successful day of travelling - a great lunch followed by the wonderful Cappella della Madonna di Vitaleta near San Quirico d'Orcia at sunset. So, our last shoot being a couple of hours away, we had arrived in the dark.

As we ate our supper, I was trying to orientate myself: where would we go in the morning to find a view over the remarkable San Gimignano and its multiple towers? I looked on the hotel's website and there was a great photo of the skyline - but where was it taken? I asked my waiter: 'Can you show me where this photo is taken from'?

Certainly sir, and he took me out onto the patio next to the pool and pointed - and in the darkness I could just see a couple of the towers illuminated. I vaguely remembered this was a little odd because there were more than two towers in the photo, but this was obviously the spot for the morning.

Have you stayed at a hotel where the floor plan is rather difficult to grasp? My room was on the right from reception, but the restaurant was another 200 metres along the hallway, down a lift, along an internal corridor without so much as a photo on its bleak white walls, and then into a massive room full of tables and a grand piano. I had no idea where I was.

In the morning, I looked out my window as the sun was coming up and tried to figure out where I was. It only took two wrong turns, one locked door and a bash through some gardens when I found the lookout with its wonderful view: not. The photo on the website is far from accurate or honest. It is taken from the other side of the town and all we could see from our vantage point were two towers and a construction crane!

Still, it was a beautiful morning and the two towers looked great. The surrounding countryside was magnificent as well, but we would have a little more work to do to find a better angle.

We did find a better angle, but more was to come. The following morning when I put my head out the window, I almost went back to sleep as it was clear. But something made me get up. Something was afoot and so I grabbed my camera and headed back to the terrace - and the morning fog. I couldn't have asked for better conditions as clouds of fog came and went with the towers behind.

And I quite like the simplicity of just two towers!