We just got back from 10 days on the Greek Islands that culminated in an amazing Greek Wedding in Crete.  1,762 images were shot during that time, but let’s start with the first adventures on the island of Kos.
Ancient and Modern Greeks love to be entertained.  It is no surprise that the few buildings that have survived from Ancient Greece are either Theaters or Temples.
America has her drive-ins theaters that started in the 1930′s; Greece introduced their first Open Air Cinemas or Therini Kimimatografiin in 1919.  Like the drive-in, they went out of fashion in the 60′s-80′s.  But now, the romance of a movie under the stars, or even under the Acropolis, is back and Greeks and tourists alike are flocking to these nostalgic venues.
Once Nancy and I had checked into Hotel Americana, we strolled towards the city center of Kos and stumbled upon The Orpheus outdoor cinema.  It was early afternoon and a women was struggling to open the front gate.  I excitedly approached, probably too much American coming at her too fast, but she slowly understood that we would like to peak inside the theater if possible.  The gate finally clicked open and she let us slip in.  She was coming in to clean the theater in preparation for tonight’s 9pm show.  It was a mess, typical of any movie theater, people left there garbage everywhere after  the show.
But it was beautiful.
Vines, jasmine, and Bougainvillea grew all over the 2 side walls that enclosed what appeared to be an outdoor cafe.  Approximately 80 chairs and 20 tables where set up in front of the beautifully white screen.
Click Click Click.  I turned to Nancy and we immediately knew what we were doing for our first night in Greece.  Going to see……The Prince of Perisa?
You’ve got to be kidding me?  They’re showing a Hollywood Persian Action film in Greece?!
They’ve been enemies for over 2500 years, oh Alexander the Great is surely spinning in his grave!
We got there early for the 11pm show,  I wanted to find the manager and ask if I could set up two tripods and cameras to capture the theater at night, during a long exposure.
The ticket taker pointed me to a man who was smoking a cigarette and chatting with someone right before we walked into the theater.  I showed him my tripods and explained that I’d like to take some pictures of the theater during the movie.  I’d sit in the back and not use flash and promised not to disrupt anyone.
He really didn’t care, as long as I paid for my admission.
So in we went, and I set up in the last row, in front of the concession stand.
Two tripods, two cameras; one digital, and one film.  Hey, I got permission, so why not go all out!
About 30 people were settling into their seats, no one seemed interested in me until the credits started rolling and then an older gentlemen, in broken English, asked me what I was doing.  I told him that I was documenting the theater.  He told me I couldn’t take pictures during the film but I assured him that I had permission and the ticket taker who was now running the concession also backed me up.  He didn’t want to, but he let me be.
I set the film camera to expose…the exposure which you see below was for half the movie or about an hour long.  The quick digital test shots proved that an 8 minute exposure was adequate at f/11.  It was probably in the high 70′s and the mosquitos were now beginning to attack Nancy.  Another beautiful aspect of the Greek Cinema is that they do not dub non-Greek films.
Though I don’t think a good dubbing would have helped The Prince of Persia.
Another thing typical to the Greek Cinema, there is always a halftime.
Usually it is a mad dash to go out for a smoke, but at the outdoor cinema you are allowed to puff as much as you please.
Our friend, who I know think was the projectionist, came down to see me as the 2nd half started.  He told me I definitely had to stop taking pictures.  He was citing that the movie industry owned the rights to the movie and no recordings were permitted.  I showed him the back of my screen and pointed out there were no images being captured, just the white screen and the theater.  The images kind of threw him, but he was determined that I stop and take down my rig, so I did.  I had captured what I came to capture and was now testing out some new compositions and didn’t want to cause a scene.  As we broke down the tripods, the woman from the concession stand sounded like she was telling our friend to chill out.
No worries, I told her, I appreciated the chance to capture the cinema and gave her one of my cards.
As we pass the halfway mark of the summertime, take a look around; lots of Therini Kimimatografi can be found, not only in Greece, but here in America.  So enjoy the magic under the stars!

If you are in Las Vegas and want a landscape that is far more impressive then the manscape called Las Vegas Boulevard, I highly recommend a trip out to the Valley of Fire.

Less then an hour northeast of Vegas, past the quickly depleting Lake Meade, you’ll find Nevada’s oldest state park.  “Valley of Fire derives its name from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago.” Not only have the dinosaurs lived here but the Basket Maker people and the Anasazi Pueblo farmers have also passed through leaving their mark on Atlatl Rock.
The dramatic red rock surrealistscape makes you feel like you are landing on Mars.  No wonder it has been a popular location to shoot many movies, including Total Recall’s Mars.  So with an extra night in Vegas I loaded up the minivan with a group of friends and photographers and we headed out for a sunset/nightshoot.
The plan was to meet dear friend and wedding/fine art photographer David Ziser and his wife Ladawn somewhere in the park.  I’ve toured and worked with the Zisers for several years, but was really looking forward to actually shooting with them!  David just released his first book, Captured by the Light:   The Essential Guide to Creating Extraordinary Wedding Photography, which is quickly climbing the charts of Amazon’s top selling Photo books!
Well, 15 miles before we reached the park we quickly learnt that there is no cell phone reception in Mars.  Luckily the park if fairly small with the main Valley of Fire road connecting the East and West entrances of the park.  And surprisingly within 20 minutes we ran into each other chasing after the last licks of magic hour light.  Click on the wonderful group shot taken by Matt Hill to see who all the players are.
In order to photograph in the Valley of Fire at night you need to have a camp site.  So with the twilight hour now behind us, we headed out to the Arch Rock Campground that we had scouted earlier.  Zoobroker got right to work seasoning up the meat and firing up the grill.  Matt, Sylvester, and I set up our tripods and started popping red gel’d flashes as we went from chasing the light to chasing the stars.
Sebastian in the sky was a 6 minute exposure and then I pulled back to get more of a feeling of the whole campsite.  It was packed, we were lucky enough to get one of the last spots that was right in the front of the entrance.
We definitely felt that we were in the Valley of the Gods.
Thanks to Zoo that was the best camp meal I’ve ever had, pork loin and home-made cheese stakes!
Sorry, no pictures, it was quickly devoured by all of us in record time!
Most of the images you see here were shot at a lower ISO, but the “Elephant Eye” photo at the bottom was shot at 6400 ISO to capture what the night sky actually looked like.  Obviously we were far away from any city lights and the sliver of a moon had not risen yet which meant plenty of stars in the sky.  By keeping your exposures under 30 seconds you’ll get more of the celestial feel of the night which can be just as beautiful as those long star trails.
Sylvester, who I quickly learnt is prone to dancing with fire, was the next subject of our shoot.  The difference between the two photographs is what happens when you twirl light in a continuous pattern as opposed to a chaotic pattern.
Which one do you like more?
Remember any light that is in the frame of your photograph, whether coming from a flash, flashlight, or flame will be permanently exposed in your image.  Sylvester spun the light for approximately 30 seconds and then I popped a red gel’d SB900 on the rocks about 5-8 times at full power to enhance the red rock.  I needed to walk into the image during the exposure in order to get close enough for the flash to “read red” on the rock.
Why is it that you don’t see me in the image?  I was blocking the light, not getting hit by it directly, and I was never in the same place for more than a few seconds during these 8 minute exposures.
I did slip up once in the image Inside the Beehive #2, but luckily it perfectly matches up with some of Sylvester’s sparks.
In the last shot of the night I wanted to go long and get a more atmospheric shot of the Beehive.  I set up for a 15 minute exposure and popped the red gel’d flash at 1/2 power 4 times about 8 feet away and at an angle to add depth to the rock.  This ended up being my favorite shot of the night, though I really liked all the ones you see selected here.
Matt Hill also got some killer shots that you can see in his 3-part blog titled Valley of Fire.

Next up…Night exposures at the Drive-In Theater

So I’ve got a thing for bridges.

A significant part of my job involves traveling the United States, taking pictures along the way.  Besides the typical shots of the food we eat and monuments we see, I was looking to focus my “travel” work into a more cohesive theme.  I thought, “what can be found in almost every city?”  Looking back at my past work, I realized I have a fascination for man-made industrial objects, especially if they are set in a contrasting natural environment.   And thus the Bridge Project was born.

A bridge, as we commonly know, is a connection over an often dramatic obstacle.  The earliest bridges were made by nature, a simple log fallen across a creek.  The success of the Roman Empire relied heavily on their cement bridges and aqueducts that connected all roads to Rome.  The word bridge (besides the card game I’ve never figured out) is also a commonly used metaphor to describe a transitional route or phase between two times in one’s life.

I’m still in the collecting phases of the Bridge Project.  I started shooting it exclusively pinhole, mainly because I wanted to emphasize the solid foundation of the man made object and the continual flow of the natural obstacle, usually water.  Lately, I’ve been expanding the project to digital capture.   I often use a 10 stop neutral density filter over the lens to create exposures of up to 2-4 minutes during  bright sunny days when normal capture would be a fraction of a second.  I’m also utilizing the long exposures during the night to accentuate the flowing currents and clouds in the image.

Looking over last week’s images from Miami, it was this “end of the world” image of the Old Seven Mile Bridge, previously the Knights Key-Pigeon Key-Moser Channel-Pacet Channel Bridge, that won the Photo of the Week.

Constructed under the direction of Henry Flagler between 1909-1912 it was the first attempt to link the Florida mainland with the Key islands to the south and was part of the even bigger Florida East Coast Railway.  The construction employed over 4,000 men and the latest engineering innovations since this area was prime hurricane territory.  In fact, 3 hurricanes threatened the completion of the project.  When completed, it was one of the longest bridges in existence.  The total length was 35,815 feet and consisted of 335 steel girder 80-foot spans, 9,000 feet of concrete arch viaduct, and a 253-foot swing truss drawbridge span.  The Florida Overseas Railroad Bridge vied with the Panama Canal for the title of the 8th Wonder of the World.

The Railroad successfully withstood the storms and traffic until the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, The Storm of the Century, devastated the Keys. Over 420 lives were lost, more than half were WW1 veterans who were working on the new US Highway 1 for the WPA (Works Progress Administration). Though most of the concrete sections of the Florida Overseas Railroad survived the storm, the many miles of rock-made causeways and rail beds were washed out. Thus the linkage of the keys was destroyed.
Cars were beginning to replace trains as the modern mode of transportation and the Florida East Coast Railway was financially unable to reconstruct the bridge.  At that time, the state stepped in and construction of the Overseas Highway which utilized parts of Henry Flagler’s railroad bridges was completed in 1938.   The new two lane Overseas Highway served the Keys well and successfully survived many hurricanes and brought more traffic and tourism to the Keys then ever before.  But time takes its toll and 40 years later the groundwork for the new 7 mile bridge was laid.  The new bridge is a box-girder structure built from precast, prestressed concrete sections, comprising  440 spans.  See the below images for a detail shot of the concrete sections, with pelicans, as well as the comparison of the new and  old 7 mile bridge.  The bridge arcs to 65 feet near the center to accommodate boat passage but mainly rides closer to the water surface the rest of the way.  It was finished in 1983 and the old bridge was designated for preservation by the National Register.  It no longer carries cars and sections have been removed for safety and boat passage purposes.  Now these 23 old sections are used as fishing piers or by joggers and strollers who want to take a stroll along what looks like the end of the world.

SoBe Happy Hour ~ Nikon D700 24 2.8 lens ~ 2 minutes at 5.6 ~ ISO 400

Full Moon in Pittsburgh
Night Photography Workshop

Limited Availability!
Fill out the form below to sign up!

Date: January 30-31st 2010 (Sat & Sun)
Time: 1pm to 1am
Instructor: Gabriel Biderman
Where: f295 Studio, Pittsburgh PA
Cost: $250

Join Night Photographer Gabriel Biderman as we photograph historic and rural Pittsburgh under the full moon. The Steel City has long been heralded as the industrial capital of the US and has continued to reinvent itself over the years.

In this exciting two-night workshop, we’ll adventure into various parts of the city including Mount Washington, the ‘Strip’ District, and the Pittsburgh River Walk which offers unrivaled views of the city’s many bridges. It’s a little known fact that with over 450 bridges, Pittsburgh has the most of any city in the world – including Venice, Italy! To fully explore the extremes of night photography, we’ll utilize longer exposure and search for star trails in the wilderness on Sunday night.

We will reinvent how we capture the “essence of Pittsburgh” at night; looking beyond the fleeting moments of time and explore the images that can be created when you expose for seconds, minutes, and even hours with your camera. The class will give you detailed information on how to meter and process your long exposures using either film or digital capture. Light painting, star trails, and creating ghosts will also be highlighted in this two-night workshop.

Agenda:

Saturday 1/30

• 1pm-3:30pm: Lecture & discussion on night photography including tips and techniques to make better pictures
• 3:30-4:30pm: Break for dinner
• 5pm-1am: Urban night shoot in various parts of the city including the River Walk, the ’strip’ district’, and Mt. Washington

Sunday 1/31

• 2pm-4pm: Review & discussion of previous night’s work
• 4-5pm: Break for dinner
• 5pm-1am: Rural Full Moon Night Shoot.

Technical Requirements:
Film and/or Digital SLR Camera, Tripod & Cable Release. You must be familiar with your camera, especially in Manual Mode. A full list of suggested gear will be sent to you upon payment.

Registration available soon!
Please fill out the form below to pre-reserve!

[contact-form]

I spent the last full moon weekend in Oregon visiting my oldest friend, Angus.  In the 20 years that we have known each other, we have had plenty of epic adventures in New Hampshire, Seattle, SF, Portland, and NY.  Usually one of us is visiting the others new home town and the fun follows.  However, on this trip out to see Angus in Portland, I suggested we do a road trip around the Oregon Coast.

Recently i was easily guilted into purchasing a 4×5 large format camera by another dear friend, David Brommer.  He had been nudging me this way, calling all my cameras “weenie format” as he lugs around his beautiful 8×10 Deardorff.  The Large Format cameras really haven’t changed that much in the last 75+ years.  They’re usually wooden, need a tripod, a dark cloth to view the image, and produce negatives/positives that are 13x larger than a 35mm neg.  You get optimal image quality and less to enlarge in the dark or lightroom.  Pictured on the left at the bottom is what my Wisner Technical Field camera looks like, red bellows and all.  It only weighs 6 lbs and I love it!

So I have been “getting to know” the Wisner lately and wanted to dedicate this trip to Large Format shooting.  I warned Angus that if he thought I was an annoying photographer friend before, this LF camera would only make things worse.  My man has the patience of a saint and did a good job documenting our escapes!   I probably got it down to about 8 minutes to set up and 2 minutes to break down the camera.  My shortest exposures were 1/4 of a second and my longest 30 minutes.  However, I decided to throw a wrench into the whole process and wanted to get some 4×5 nocturnal images.  Again, you’re looking through a 4×5 inch piece of glass with a loupe under a dark cloth to focus.  This is not the most conducive way to focus at night and required me using lots of high powered flash lights or simply not shooting certain subjects because I couldn’t see or focus on them.

The first shot of the White Satin Sugar Factory is the simple story of passing by a subject several times and saying to yourself, “I’m going to shoot that.”  I knew it would make a great night image, my only concerns were the trains that were frequently running or parked in front of the factory; plus every other time I drove down this street, several cops were pulling over “perps”. Lo and behold, when I arrived at 12:30am to shoot,  3 cop cars were across the street and a train was parked in front.  Not wanting to be mistaken for a perp, I parked about 50 feet from the cops and as I got the gear ready the train started to pull away.  I dashed across the street, crossed two sets of train tracks and went down a small incline to take the first test shot which was a 7 minute exposure.  Right at the end of the exposure, another train pulled up and parked, completely blocking me from the street and cops.  I moved the camera to a better position right between the two sets of tracks and started my 14 minute exposure.  I had to stop the exposure 11 minutes through because the train next to me started to chug and take off.  It was obviously shaking the ground and I did not want it to affect my picture.  Luckily you can easily do multiple exposures with LF cameras so 2 minutes later I finished off the exposure and left the scene.  When I got home from this trip I developed my test shots first and then fine tuned my developing for the final negatives.  The correct exposure was 7 minutes at f16 and this image was 14 minutes, so I underdeveloped this negative by one stop and saved those precious highlights on the right from getting blown out.

The other two images were taken at the ever popular Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.  The whole coast is pretty amazing with massive rocks, ancient trees and cliffs all coming together to form something very primordial.  Haystack Rock has probably been captured millions of times and as Angus and I strolled down the beach I wondered when the last time it may have been captured with a LF camera.  As I was setting up a shot under the dark cloth, I peered out to find about 8 people gathered around me wondering what the hell I was doing.  I let everyone take a peak at the image’s reflection on the glass under the cloth and gave a brief history of photography.  One guy thought he was going old school by bringing his 10 year old Sony Mavica digital camera that writes directly on CD.  He quickly conceded to me.

Enjoy, and more stories and images to follow!

It is always a constant battle with me because if I truly stopped and took all the pictures I wanted while driving I think I’d still be on my honeymoon!

On a recent trip to Portland, Oregon, I found myself in this very predicament as we approached the Willamette River on our way to Voodoo Donuts. It was night time as we slowly passed over this very unique looking bridge and I uttered those magic words: “That would be cool to shoot”. Everyone was game, so we parked the car and walked back over the bridge. The Steel Bridge is named after the original double deck swing Steel Draw Bridge that was built in 1888 and was one of the first bridges to use steel instead of wrought iron. The current Steel Bridge is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. Over 9,000,000 lbs of concrete counterweights help raise the lower section up to 216ft. to let large boats pass. The real ingenuity, however, shows itself when the lower section is raised 72ft. and telescopes into the upper section without disturbing it, thus letting traffic continue over the bridge. Pedestrians, Cars, Amtrak, MAX Light Rail and bicycles all use the Steel Bridge to cross over the Willamette River to get into downtown Portland.

This shot was taken on my point and shoot digi camera on the best travel tripod in the world, the Gitzo 1550. The light streaks are from the MAX Light rail and cars that passed through my photo during the 30 second exposure.

And always remember the next time you see something, don’t just say something, click something!

“You who wander around the world, eager to see imposing and amazing marvels, come here…”

I apologize for the delay in blogging, but with my computer’s hard drive crashing and the Red Sox winning the World Series my life has been a little topsy-turvy lately!

Click on any of the pictures above to make it bigger and let’s continue our journey through a guided tour of the Monster Gardens.

David, Nancy, and I had hoped to shoot the Monster Gardens with an 8×10 cameras and 4×5 Pinholes. Unfortunately, no amount of Euros were able to get our tripods passed the entrance. We quickly adapted, David ironically went from his signature 8×10 to one of the smallest camera formats, the half frame. He also had a Nikon EM camera with only a Lensbaby 3G attached to it. Security, or “Senor Scowl” as we called him, was never more than 20 feet away from us just to make sure our tripods never came out.
As we walked through the portal to the Monster Gardens we were immediately greeted by two sphinxes, each sitting on platforms with a well worn out welcome:

“You, who enters here, be very attentive and tell me if theses marvels have been realized due to a mistake or if it is a form of art”

Was that supposed to be a riddle? Were we going to be thrown off the cliff as in the story of Oedipus?
We passed by unscathed and looked below us to a lower level were a stream ran and a huge colossal sculpture of Hercules tearing apart Cacus stood. Dubbed the “Struggle between Giants”, and shot with David’s lensbaby, Cacus’ mouth is wide open in grotesque pain, a silent scream that echoed throughout the gardens. Turning away, we saw ancient moss covering a gigantic turtle bearing the winged victory, Nike, on it’s shell. This could only be seen in the distance since the area was under renovation, unapproachable, and unfortunately unable to be photographed without a telephoto lens. You can, however, find a drawing of it by Bartholomeus Breenberg in the Louvre, where it’s regarded as one of its masterpieces.
There was definitely more people there than when Nancy and I visited in 1997, but it was still easy to take our time and get lost in the gardens. We approached the beautiful fountain of the 3 Graces where David took this amazing half frame panoramic of a very Etruscan looking Venus. We continued on, passing by a small theater and several ancient fountain bathtubs, walking directly to the Leaning House basking in the sunlight breaking through the sacred forest. This ancient fun house was probably one of the first of its kind to be purposely built at a 30 degree angle. Its foundation and floors rose up and literally pushed us out the door. I guess the Prince didn’t want anyone overstaying their visit! We now stood at the main courtyard. Rows of 4 foot tall giant vases rose from each side and led us toward an ancient fountain featuring the king of the sea, Neptune. Behind the Giant vases lurks one of Rome’s fiercest enemies, Hannibal, atop his famous war elephant crushing a Roman legionary. Next we see David’s lensbaby Dragon. The dragon, who represents time, is being attacked by a dog, lion, and wolf; symbols of spring, summer, and winter. Turning away from the courtyard I came across the most beautiful sculpture in the gardens, Ceres, the nurse of Rome. Ceres is of the older sect, the precurser to Diana, and was goddess of agriculture, grain, and the love a mother bears for her child. Experts consider this sculpture one of the most beautiful in the world for its perfect proportions…especially in a garden so out of proportion. Leaving her gaze I turned around to see the steps that lead up the Ogre’s mouth. We stopped and did a photoshoot there for a while. I sat inside the monster’s mouth with about 7 other people, the sacrificial tounge table sat empty between us. I felt that place could truly be a gateway to the Underworld.
The dreamworld continued as Nancy laid down on the Etruscan bench whose Latin scripture read:

“You, who wanders the world,
Anxious to see huge and magnificent marvels ,
Come here where you will find hideous faces
Of elephants, lions, bears, ogres, and dragons”

We walked past the goddess of the garden and of the hearth, Proserpine, and took the lensbaby stairway past Cerberus, the 3 headed dog, who guards the gates of hell.
“Senor Scowl” watched us as we watched the Lions and furies battle it out. On the highest level of this ancient mound lies the Temple that was not part of the original Villa of Wonders. It was built 20 years later in 1572 and dedicated to Prince Orsini’s recently deceased second wife, Giulia Farnese.
We had been wondering around these wonders for over 2 1/2 hours when we finally found ourselves in front of the sphinxes again. This time we went to the left and passed by short columns along the side of the road. On each column lay a sculpted head of a god of Antiquity: Saturn, Janus, Evander, the Faun, and the Triple Hecate. We were along the stream again and the final sculpture loomed in the distance. Slightly smaller than Giant Ogre and off limits to the tourist, the colossal head of Proteus-Glauco bore a huge decorative globe which in turn held the castle of Orsini. This symbolized the power the Orsini family wielded in this world. The name Proteus-Glaucos is interesting because it represents two different gods from Greek and Roman mythology. Proteus was an early sea god, originally called “Old Man of the Sea” by Homer, and was also the son of Poseidon. Glaucus, according to the Roman Ovid began life as a mortal fisherman before eating an herb that turned him immortal but also changed his arms and legs into fins and tails and forced him to live his life in the sea. Both gods, if captured could foretell the future.

Well, this ends the tour of the Monster Gardens. It was Nancy and my second trip to the forest of Marvels and we could definitely find ourselves there again. Next time, however, we’re contacting them prior to make sure those tripods come in…Monsters at night anyone?

*Most of this info was found in the barely English Monster Gardens Guidebook, 5 euros, and countless hours on the world wide web.

In 1998, when I first visited the Monster Gardens with Nancy we pretty much had the place to ourselves; to explore and photograph. I made a mural (40″ x 66″) silver print of Nancy standing inside this Ogre’s mouth that now hangs in our living room and can also be seen in one of my recent posts.

When planning our recent Tuscan trip with David and Barbara, revisiting and sharing the Monster Gardens was a must. So, let’s start again with this Monster’s Mouth, which symbolizes the entrance to the Underworld. Dante’s words are inscribed on the Ogre’s lips: “All reason departs”
This time more people were visiting the Sacred Wood. This time Nancy wore a white dress as she entered the mouth.
Here are 4 new interpretations taken with 3 different cameras; and the story of how the Bosco Sacro came to be known as the Monster Gardens.

The Bosco Sacro, or Sacred Wood, was originally realized in 1552 by the hunchback Prince, Pier Francesco Orsini. Vicino, as he was also known, desired this fantastical project “only to relive his heart and soul” as his wife, Giulia Farnese, had recently died at a very young age. So he hired Pirro Ligorio, a famous architect who worked on the Vatican after Michelangelo’s death, to design a garden that would inspire and astonish. 33 years later the Marvel of marvels was complete. Vicino dedicated the Bosco Sacro to the memory of his wife and for 100 years thousands of artists, poets, and men of papers from all over the world came to be inspired by this “Villa of the Wonders”. You must understand, this was not a serene garden with beautiful fountains that was typical of the region during the beginning of the Renaissance. Instead, it was surreal Mannerist style sculptures and fountains, having no symmetry whatsoever, filled with arcane symbolism. It was compared to the ancient capital of Egypt: “Memphis as well as all the other Marvels in the world gives precedence to the Sacred Wood that resembles only itself and nothing else”

Sometime after 1645, a curious thing happened… A continual lack of heirs led to the Orsini family’s demise. Somehow the gardens were forgotten by the people of Bormazo and by the people of the world. Nature itself reclaimed these monstrous sculptures. Abandoned and forgotten for over hundreds of years. Slowly, whispers became stories of haunted woods and the land itself became known as the Bosco dei Mostri. In 1938, Salvador Dali made his way through the tangle of trees and was awestruck by the grotesque surreal figures. He shot a short film in the park and his 1946 painting; The Temptation of Saint Anthony is rumored to have been inspired by his visit.

400 years later, artists were inspired again by the newly dubbed Monster Gardens. However, the monsters still lay in ruins and it wasn’t until 1953, when Giovanni Bettini purchased the Sacred Grove, that the careful restoration process began. Slowly, something ancient, something sacred, something timeless began to reveal itself to the world again.