For my second day travelling, I visited Pompeii, an ancient-roman city near modern day Naples. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under volcanic ash in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Pompeii is one of the most significant proofs of Roman civilisation and, like a book, provides outstanding information on the art, customs, trades and everyday life of the past. The city has remained intact until the present day, not only as far as its buildings are concerned, but also as regards the contents inside the houses and shops, providing a fascinating picture of daily life.

This was a fantastic location to visit, and provided me with lots of photographic opportunities that I did not expect. I was extremely surprised by the scale of the ancient city, as I had previously believed that it was just a couple dozen ruins and small houses. Nevertheless, I was blown away by the site, confronted by intact theatres, roads, mansions and shops. This truly enables you to visualise what this city would have looked and functioned like before the disaster. The sky was clear and the sun was high in the sky, generating some beautiful shadows across the town that made excellent photograph opportunities. The goal on this shoot was to capture interesting backdrops and environments for my digital illustrations. This would involve trying to take pictures with basic compositions that are not too crowded nor hectic. Its incredibly important that the lines and marks i overlay upon these images stand out to the audience, and they must therefore not clash with the details of the photograph. In addition to this, I focused a lot on shadows and lighting. Some excellent silhouettes were being casted from the peculiar and rustic shapes of the ruins, and this is something special that I wanted to draw attention to. I believe this is evident through the images seen within the contact sheet below, which presents the photographs taken on the shoot.

Next, I will be going through a few of the best images from this shoot. These are photographs that are essentially on the shortlist for the next stage in the process, which is the drawing part. Its worth noting that these photographs are not edited and therefore do not meet their complete visual potential. I have not done this yet, as the editing should be dependant upon the nature of the overlaid artwork. I will complete this part during the illustration part.

This photograph was taken within the Quadriportico dei Teatri, also known as the Barracks of the Gladiators. This part of the city was initially used for the audience to stroll and converse during intervals between acts and later as a barracks for gladiators. The portico of the Theater was built in the early first century BC, as a recreational area or shelter from the rain for the  spectators within the Great and small theatres. Nevertheless, after an Earthquake, it was completely renovated and expanded,  changing its function into a school for gladiators. I like the shot I have taken here as there is an appealing palette of colours and interesting lighting composition. The photograph features a warm set of colours, the greens and oranges of the field and blue of the sky creating a summery, positive atmosphere. The large head statue within the foreground, incorporates some interesting textures, as generating from the rusty, cracked metal. I like how we only see one side of the statues face as this produces a sense of mystery and intrigue.  In addition to this, some vivid shadows are being casted from the sunlight as we see one surface of the ruin in the background masked in darkness. Nevertheless, a contrast is made as the highlight of the sky and pillars work nicely in juxtaposition with the shadows. These pillars are a pivotal component of the photograph working extremely effectively to generate a sense of perspective. The pillars start in the foreground and as they follow the natural flow of the courtyard they lead the eye of the viewer towards to the background. Instinctively, our eyes follow the positioning of the pillars and directing us towards the arch in the background and eventually the sky. This would be a perfect place to include an illustration. 

In this photograph, I have tried to capture some of the wall art within the Forum Baths. There were two separate bathing areas, one for men and one for women and there were two separate entrances. After the earthquake in 62 AD, the baths were restored and were being used again when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. This picture shows the tepidarium or warm room of the Forum baths. The warm room was heated with hot air provided by a brazier which is at the back of the room. The walls are covered with a series of alcoves which would have been used for storing oils and other bathing accessories. These alcoves are decorated with terracotta giants holding up the architrave. You can see these sculpted figures within the photograph, lining the walls of the room. The focal point of this image is the lighting, which is dynamic and atmospheric. The room is casted in darkness, but a small leak of light that shines from the ceiling illuminates this segment of the wall, revealing the Terracotta figures. This ray of light glows upon the surface of the sculptures, highlighting the intricacies in texture as we see the powerful, carved torsos of the giants. There is an intense and compelling contrast created from this as the golden highlights clash violently with the surrounding blacks. It almost produces a heightened sense of scale as these tiny wall sculptures look like gigantic, powerful men. The fact that a lot of the content of image is shrouded in darkness, constructs a sense of mystery and fear. We see the strong muscular figures fade into the darkness as the escape the vision of the audience and camera. We are left wondering how many more live within the shadows. I really like this photograph and although it may be quite difficult, I would love to try and impose some form of illustration upon it.

This final photograph is quite basic, but I do really like it. It is very successful in providing a response to my primary intentions, which was to capture simple and minimal environments to draw on. This part of the city is called the Forum. A huge grassy rectangle flanked by limestone columns, the Forum was ancient Pompeii’s main piazza, as well as the site of gladiatoral battles before the Anfiteatro was constructed. The buildings surrounding the forum are testament to its role as the city’s hub of civic, commercial, political and religious activity. One thing I really like about this photograph is that you can see Mount Vesuvius in the background. This was of course the volcano that erupted and destroyed the ancient city. The large cloud that is present within the photograph almost makes it look as if the volcano is erupting as it is positioned directly above the volcano peak. This creates a really though-provoking background. In the foreground we again see a clever use of pillars, as these columns lead our eye throughout the composition of the image. There is a lot of empty space for me to work with here, which is why I its a perfect photograph for my idea.