Tales of Tails & Travels

This time last year we were chatting New Year’s resolutions; which involved looking for a boat, but mainly making changes for a better work life balance. With me moving to be a locum and choosing when to work, our life opened up to travel more. Something that very much fits my idea of work life balance, the balance being how little can I work to still be able to travel!

At the beginning of 2023 we started as we meant to go on, with a trip away almost every month for the first 6 months. Then we got Skinny and our focus shifted to fixing her up and getting her back in the water. For now though I am going to take us back to January and February 2023 where we got away on a couple of overnight stays to Milan and Rome. On both trips I took my Olympus OM-1n analogue camera and shot some black and white film.

It goes without saying that in both cities we ate fantastic food and enjoyed some incredible architecture. For both the cities everywhere we wanted to check out were within easy walking distance. Personally though Rome was my favourite, being just as I had hoped; it lived up to all expectations and more. I have had Rome on my list for years, when I was a teenager I studied Ancient Civilisations for one of my GCSEs, I learnt (and have now subsequently forgot) how the Colosseum was made and how the city was structured. Milan had a quieter vibe with the museums and designer shops. Italy is a tourist hot spot for a reason, and every place I have been to (I’ve been to the Amalfi coast and a few cities when I was much younger) has had its own essence but all have made me feel welcome and offer promise of a wonderful time.

Below I have popped the scanned film shots from both places. All Milan images were taken on Ilford HP5 at shot at ISO 400, developed by myself in a workshop with The Darkroom at Beach Creative. Rome images were taken on Ilford FP4 shot at ISO 100, Kentmere 400 shot at ISO 1600 and Kentmere 400 shot at ISO 400 they were scanned and developed by Take it Easy Lab.

Milan

Above are Duomo di Milano, Arco della Pace, Sforzesco Castle, Galleria Vittorrio Emanuele II and Pinacoteca di Brera.

Rome

Above is the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, Foro Romano, Pantheon, Castel Sant’Angelo, Basilica di San Pietro, Fontana dei Fiumi, Ponte Vittorio Emanuele II and Arco di Tito.