Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy
Fujifilm GFX100S II, GF20-35mmF4 R WR, f10 @ 2 minutes, ISO 80.

The classic photo of colourful Manarola village clinging to the cliffs above the Mediterranean Sea is not difficult to emulate. And like visitors to Sydney’s Opera House, there are one or two classic angles that everyone seems to take.

Social media is full of images from this angle and while I’m not a huge fan of trophy hunting famous landmarks, on this occasion I couldn’t help myself. I love the Italian landscape and I hadn’t visited the famous Cinque Terre area before.

Our visit in October coincided with a poor weather forecast. It rained all day, on and off, and it was tempting to return to the hotel and dry off. However I didn’t know when I would return to Cinque Terre and its famous villages.

One of the challenges photographing Cinque Terre is simply getting to the locations. There are no roads. The villages are in walking distance, but that can involve many hours and so the solution is to take the public railway which stops off at each town, or very close by.

But the crowds! I was there in shoulder season and yet the train platforms were full. I find it hard to imagine how busy it must be in peak season!!

In Riomaggiore, our first location, there were queues in the narrow laneways and on the stairs that led to the viewpoints and then you would wait for people to finish their 27 selfies to get a clear view.

We planned to be at Manarola for the evening light, so after lunch we boarded the train. However, the weather had its own plans and we disembarked in torrential rain. At the end of the long tunnel leading from the station into the town, we found a small cafe and took a seat. I’m always partial to a hot chocolate!

As the rain continued, streams of water washing down the steep streets, we waited under shelter. Although the forecast was not good, you simply don’t know what’s going to happen, so the rule is you never give up. You go.

As it turned out, the weather cleared a little and the rain stopped. And over on the western horizon the clouds thinned, not enough for full sunshine, but enough to light up the village.

I probably shot fifty frames of essentially the same scene, exploring different framings and watching the light as it changed. And I enjoyed the results provided by a long exposure.

In post-production, the challenge is to balance the exposures in the sky and foreground. With modern sensors so good, I tend to expose for the sky and then use my shadows and blacks sliders to produce an evenly exposed starting point for further exploration.