Why you should visit Montenegro - A beautiful Balkan country surrounded by the Adriatic coast

Montenegro, a place of tranquility and indefinite beauty surrounded by the Adriatic coast.

From the vast landscapes with mountainous views to the cobbled old towns and their ruins, this small Balkan country has many things to offer.

The most wonderful aspect of this place for me was the lack of tourists meaning that the trip was far more relaxing for me and enjoyable, as Montenegro lies next to Croatia and opposite from Italy it tends to be less heard of than other destinations within Europe. Montenegro is also a great place to visit as it is beautiful yet still within a reasonable price range for a get away, for somewhere with clear blue seas and stunning scenery it is well worth the visit.

When I often told people that I was going here they often said they had not heard of it or wondered where it was, I was even questioned once by a man at the airport in the UK who said he had never heard of the country before.

Montenegro was somewhere I found myself immersed with instantly, the kindness and gratitude of the people were welcoming. Sveti Stefan, Budva and Kotor all being diverse to one another, making them great places to explore.

Sveti Stefan being a more quiet and reserved area of Montenegro is home to the well known 5-star resort 'Aman Sveti Stefan' that was previously converted from a coastal fort during the provincial war.

‘Aman Sveti Stefan’ Resort, Montenegro 2018

The clear seas and pink sand beaches are an asset to Sveti Stefan and beautifully surround the coastal perimeter of the small peaceful destination.

West of Sveti Stefan lies Budva, a medieval town over 3,000 years old with narrow streets and cobbled paths, contrasting to this, is the vibrant nightlife Budva has to offer, with multiple clubs and bars that lie on the coast.

Budva Old town, Montenegro 2018

The place I found to be the most appealing was in fact, Kotor. Although it was away from the coast and hidden within the mountains. The views from the Old Fortress are breath-taking, especially as the walk up to the Fortress consists of over 1350 steps.

Kotor’s old town is marginally bigger than that of Budva and is said to of been a settlement used by the Ancient Romans.

Another unusual characteristic of the place is their fascination for cats and how they are cared for by the residents, however, some of the stray dogs are not so lucky and are often found sleeping outside shop fronts or roaming the narrow streets of the old towns.

Kotor Old town, Montenegro 2018

Despite Kotor's fascination with cats, the issue is the overpopulation of these animals and how many are left uncared for, meaning that they often get injured and pass away.

The history behind the population of these cats started when the Slav Sailors would dock their boats in the Bay of Kotor. Multiple cats from the boats would leave and remain in Kotor, this happened frequently and eventually, the number of cats increased into an uncontrollable number.

Kotor Old town, Montenegro 2018

More recently, Non-Governmental Organisation 'Kotor Kitties' begun its mission to control the fractious population. It all started when a tourist from America noticed how bad the problem was and how little was being done to prevent it, she then started this organisation to help better the lives of many kittens and cats in Kotor and to put an end to this issue.

Vets have offered their free time to spay and neuter these animals free of charge and residents/ tourists have committed to help by catching these cats and bringing them to the local vets.

Kotor Old town, Montenegro 2018

The organisation can be found on Facebook under @Kotorkitties where you can see their daily updates and donate to their cause.

Kotor by far was the place I felt most drawn to on the trip, despite being allergic to cats I felt truly sad for them and wanted to help by raising awareness of the great organisation.

Besides the busy old towns within Montenegro, there is also an extensive selection of stunning landscapes such as the Lake Skadar and other various National Parks that live within the mountains, home to all kinds of wildlife and nature.

Lake Skadar, Montenegro 2018

Shooting Abandoned buildings: BTS, Dimenticato in Italy project - Day 4

The final morning surprised me, to say the least as we were able to fit in four more locations within 3 hours! The hospital counted as two locations as there was an extensive beautiful church on the site surrounded by the many hospital's buildings. The photo above is a BTS shot of me capturing the hospital church in all its glory, the weather was great too, so the blue skies contrasted the light tones of the church building perfectly. All photos in this blog were taken on mine/ somebody else’s phone and are not from my camera.

Although these locations were quickly visited as we had to be at the airport by 1 pm for our flight, I made sure I enjoyed what was left of a fantastic trip and took everything in at these last few stunning places.

Teatro Rosa - 8:00am

We missed shooting this wonderful little theatre at the end of yesterdays shoot due to it being too late and dark, everyone was also exhausted as we had been awake since 6 am and shooting for over 12 hours. We were lucky enough to have time to visit this lovely pink/ red theatre in the morning of our final day before going to the airport. The theatre was only 20 minutes away from where we stayed the night before we so did a quick stop here early in the morning, we gave ourselves half an hour to quickly get the shots we wanted and then quickly left to make our way to the hospital which was a much larger location and required more time.

We got here at 8 am so there was not much natural light entering the building, it was very dark and we had to use torches to make our way around. The technique of a long exposure was used at this location to create successful images instead of using the highest ISO and getting an awful amount of noise in the shot and not a considerable amount of light. We used steady tripods to ensure our framing was right and that there would be no movement of the camera during the exposure time.

Ospedale - 9:00am

I loved exploring the hospital because of the scale, there were rooms upon rooms and so many corridors leading to even more rooms. We had a real challenge trying to find the morgue in the basement which was something we wanted to shoot, we spent over half an hour trying to find it but it became like a huge maze and we could not seem to track it until the very last minute.

The morgue was fascinating as it had the beds left inside and straps where bodies were be placed to rest within this room until ready to be taken for burial. The basement was very dark and disturbing, you could almost feel the dark heaviness around you, it was quite far underground and we had to walk through a tunnel to get to it which added to the creepy atmosphere of the location.

The strange thing is that the hospital had not already been demolished because the new live hospital grounds were directly behind this. Possibly in the future, they would eventually knock this down, which makes me feel lucky to of been there while it still stands.

Ospedale Golden Church

This stunning golden church was something we felt lucky to find, the size of it was insane and you could get upstairs and walk the whole perimeter of the building in the beautiful architectural archways looking down towards the pews and alter. We found our timing in this location to be just right as the sunlight was shining through the stain glass windows giving the inside of the building a golden glow which created great shadows and highlights within our shots.

Church Blu - 11:00am

This location was the last of the many churches we got to see on this trip. It was connected to what seemed to be a boarding school and was weirdly unsettling as there were children’s toys scattered around that were decapitated and torn apart.

The church building was formed in a hexagonal shape and we used the veranda at one of the many archways to take our wide angle shots. The inside of the church was very messy and not a lot was left behind regarding objects and furniture, it remained pretty empty with lots of broken pieces.

Something amusing was that I had to stand on three tiles of concrete in order to accurately see my camera on the tripod and what I was shooting, I was shooting from a high level in order to get the peak of the architectural shapes in my shot and as I am quite short I had to improvise to make sure I got the framing correct.

I was sad to be leaving Italy as this was the best photography trip I had experienced so far, I felt overwhelmed and fulfilled with the amount I was able to learn and experience on this trip and will be forever thankful to the guys I traveled with for allowing me to be part of their team. I will use the information and advice they taught me in the future and will always refer to this short trip as a huge learning curve in becoming a photographer and how working as a team is vital in collaboration/ group projects.

I surprised myself on this trip with the crazy early mornings and long days shooting and traveling but I would not have had it any other way and I enjoyed every single second. I found what got me through was the adrenaline and excitement I had every day from each location to the next as well as the curiosity of what the next location would be like, this helped keep my morale and energy levels high throughout the whole 4 days. It was amazing to see Italy in a completely different perspective to what I had seen before on a previous trip to Rome. I was able to see the opposite of tourist attractions and busy spaces and instead the real beauty within decaying Italian buildings that are disappearing over time which made me feel so lucky and privileged to be able to explore these places that many people would never discover.

Shooting Abandoned buildings: BTS, Dimenticato in Italy project - Day 3

There were 11 locations planned for today but to due being pushed for time and spending a little longer than expected in some places, this meant we missed out on four locations. Two villas and an orphanage were too far to travel compared to how much time we had left in the day we as a team we had to decide what locations were the most important and what ones we could drop. We were happy with the 7 we managed to do and worked hard as a team all day getting in and out of these locations. We had to make decisions based on what locations were more important to shoot as we were leaving Italy the following day. All photos in this blog were taken on mine/ somebody else’s phone and are not from my camera.

Terror Teatro - 8:30am

This location was one of my personal favourites from the whole trip, the eeriness inside and absence of people was was so strong and the scale of the theatre was beautiful. This was a theatre that would of been used for plays and pantomimes. Getting into this location was tricky as it was very hidden and we did not find the entrance for quite a while. Getting inside consisted of climbing some wire with gloves and when we were inside we had to tread carefully across the wooden floor beams because the wooden flooring around that was at high risk of collapsing in.

The theatre had a strong red tone to it and as we had got there very early there was little sunlight coming in meaning we had to do longer exposures to light up our images. It was real team work getting inside and getting across the wooden beams inside and up to the level where we wanted to photograph, so we all really helped in each other and advised each other how to carefully move about the building.

The empty chairs had a creepy look upon them, rows and rows of dusty, lifeless chairs which had been left unused for years. The way they were all facing the stage, you could just picture what it was like to have so many people sitting there back when the theatre was in use and how loud and cheerful it would of been inside, the silence that was there when I visited was the reason it was in a way unsettling because in a place like that it would never usually be silent.

Green Scuola of Travel - 11:30

This school only had a few classrooms and a teachers bed room on one of the lower floors insinuating that it was a small school with not many pupils. The rooms were left with objects that related to studies like Geography and Travel. The school was thought to of only been abandoned for a few years and many books and handwritten work still remained inside the building.

There was also a library with tons of books, piled up on one another. I loved looking through the books and seeing the diversity between Italian learning and the books they used and had within their library compared to British books we would usually see in a library in the UK.

Monastery Pastel - 14:00

This location was quick but cheerful, it was a narrow pink-pastel monastery in a rural area, we had to climb through the tiniest gap to get inside which was quite amusing. There was really only one room to photograph in this location as the upstairs had not much to offer with empty small rooms and not much to photograph inside.

Yellow Church - 16:00

This location was more out of the way and was my preferred one to the location before. This beautiful larger yellow Church was lovely inside, with a huge decorative alter that stood out from the yellow glow inside the building was amazing. I really enjoyed this location and the murals and art work it had inside.

Beautiful Stairs Villa - 18:00

Beautiful Stairs Chapel

This huge Villa was fun to explore, it was long pure white corridors and a great set of stairs to photograph. Some of the rooms were too dark to photograph as little light was entering the room and they did not have much inside the rooms either. A lot of the furniture in this Villa had been removed and not much was left besides the architectural shapes and patterns that made it a great place to visit.

After exploring the whole property we found this tiny chapel inside the huge Villa that was hidden away through many rooms and small corridors, it also had a tiny tower you could go up inside up many stairs to see the bell tower and the nice views surrounding. The ceiling in this chapel was incredible and the details were so precise, much like many of the other Italian ceilings I got to see on this trip.

Cinema Teatro - 19:00

The second to last location of the day was a Cinema Theatre, it was more like an entertainment centre we noticed. It had a club, bar room, music room and a theatre, when we arrived there was also a mans walking shoes left by the front door which we later found out belonged to the homeless man living inside the nightclub. Although this location did not have many huge photo opportunities the music room had great colours and a piano which I did get an amazing shot of.

Villa Veranda - 19:30

The final location of our last full day was a good one for symmetry, which the guys I was with were looking for in order to complete their Youtube tutorial video for photography tips. The room with the veranda and the arm chairs was the most interesting room in this Villa to photograph with the old chests and arm chairs, however I actually found a personal favourite room in one of the bedrooms where there were two huge mirrors opposite one another and two huge beds, the whole room was styled with wooden furniture and the golden hour light coming through the windows brought this amazing glow inside the room so I decided to take a Villa Selfie in the biggest mirror I had seen yet.

Shooting Abandoned buildings: BTS, Dimenticato in Italy project - Day 2

After a successful first day shooting in Italy we were ready for our second day filled with many more beautiful Italian buildings to shoot. This day was packed with stunning Villa's, five all together. All photos in this blog were taken on mine/ somebody else’s phone and are not from my camera.

The Villa's were located in rural areas of Italy some up in the mountains surrounded by mesmerising views and others on ground level enclosed with nature and spacious gardens.

I felt as though I had more energy to strive on the second day of shooting as shooting eight locations on the first full day was very exhausting. The views were so rewarding when finding these locations that were up in the mountains this one in particular overlooking Florence. I was so lucky to see Italy in a different way and through a more explorative approach, photographing forgotten buildings out of the UK really opened my eyes to the abandoned beauty there is around the world and that going outside of your comfort zone and travelling to new places is ok.

Location 1 - Villa Volpi - 7:30am

The first Villa we visited was located within a part of Italy surrounded by country roads and vast amounts of farmland. We had to get through a fair amount of greenery and trees to get to the building which added to the adventure of shooting the first location of the day. Being early it was still quite chilly in the mornings as there was a cold breeze and air which was strange because by the end of the day it would reach to at least 26 degrees.

The Villa taken over by nature appeared like an architectural garden within this abandoned location and made it appear far more beautiful as the relationship between nature and architecture soon became evident to me. The greens created a vibrant contrast from the decay and artistic murals within the building which was something I had not seen so far on the trip in any of the locations visited.

Location 2 - Villa Blue Web - 10:30

Getting to this location was quite a drive up into the higher grounds of Italy, surrounded by mountains and scenic views.

This Villa was one of my favourites of the day and by far had some of the most impressive murals I had seen on the trip. Finding the main room with the beautiful murals and art work was challenging as there were no stairs meaning we had to use a ladder we had found to climb up onto the second floor through a room that had collapsed previously. Team effort and being steady and careful was how we safely helped one another onto the second floor.

The room full of fascinating murals, including parrots and scenery of a town. The other rooms were very dark due to the lack of natural light however the main rooms were filled with light due to the collapsed roof that was struck by an earthquake which allowed us to shoot great images.

Location 3 - Villa Pink Beauty - 12:30

This Villa had many religious murals inside and a stunning window shot overlooking a river with views of nature at the top of the building. The murals were pink toned and had wonderful patterns and showed people of religion such as Jesus. The pastel colours were complimentary to the decay surrounding. The lighting in this Villa appeared very yellow, creating a glow in the room.

Location 4 - Villa Purple Piano - 14:30

This Villa I found to be in an unusual location, placed on the side of a busy road and not hidden away like many of the other locations we had shot. The Villa was spacious and had many rooms, half of it had been sealed meaning we were unable to get around the whole building but what we had found inside was truly exciting.

Some of my favourite shots from the trip were taken at this location where we had found an old piano in a room where we were able to capture a light beam and also in a separate room an eerie and very old pram that really added to the unsettling and disturbing atmosphere. 

The garden of this Villa was luxurious and was full of fruit trees and nature with a small but beautiful chapel at the end of the garden, that we unfortunately did not have time to go inside to check it out however I am regretful of not making time to quickly have a look. 

I found this Villa to have great patterns and colours within the wall paper which was very useful for my project I was shooting exploring the relationship between textiles, architecture and landscape. The final product of this project can be found in the 'Projects' tab at the top of my Website page named 'Architecture, Fashion, Landscape'. The project was started before my trip to Italy and progressed and developed during my trip in order to create my final outcome, a mock up editorial.

Outside of this Villa was a sign in Italian which I have translated in order to gain a better understanding of the past and history behind this location. 

"On 8 July in the garden of Villa Rubeschi, occupied by a German unit, three peasants captured in Bucine in the anti-aircraft shelter, were forced to dig two holes to bury the bodies of two German soldiers killed in Podere Vignali the day before. Their death had already started the reprisal that would have cost the lives of so many innocents in the area around San Leolino. Late in the afternoon, in the field adjacent to the villa, they were ordered to dig another grave, were lined up against a Moor that surrounds these lands and killed by a burst of submachine gun, among them a boy, Silvan, 16 years old."

Location 5 - Villa Sofa - 18:00

Ending the day just before sunset at around 19:30 was a smart decision made as we were exhausted from the second full day of shooting but the last location was one I enjoyed because it was up in the mountains and had a huge balcony with amazing views where the golden hour was present.

The walk up the hill to this Villa was quite tiring but we had made the decision that this would be the last location of the day so that we could eat and sleep at a more reasonable time than the night before. We decided to name this Villa as 'Villa Sofa' because once entering into the building the main room had two elegant looking sofa's directly opposite one another in what looked like a foyer. We named the locations we visited after words that we thought best represented the locations we went to and made them memorable to us which helped when referring back to these locations in conversation.

I was really pleased with this day, it was refreshing waking up so early and shooting straight away, I was motivated by the concept of shooting more buildings and the curiosity of not knowing what they would entail, this always kept me excited and enthusiastic throughout the day. 

Shooting Abandoned buildings: BTS, Dimenticato in Italy project - Day 1

In April 2018 I had the opportunity to join a trip with three others, shooting forgotten buildings in rural and urban areas of Italy.

The trip lasted 5 days and although we were due to shoot two locations on the first day we had to abort these plans due to the flight being delayed, meaning we arrived in Italy no earlier than when the sun was setting.

We visited 23 locations throughout the three and a half days of shooting, meaning we shot around 5-8 places each day. This was an experience I found exhausting but extremely rewarding and I was soon to forgot the lack of sleep and early mornings because it meant we were able to fit as many stunning locations in as possible.

On the first day we wasted no time and were up and ready to leave at 6:30am we arrived at the first location at 7:30am.

Location 1  - Villa Puch- 7:30am

 A Villa surrounded by farmland appeared nostalgic when I discovered the amount of photographs and sentimental objects left behind creating an eerie absence within the home this once was.

A photograph of a family member was found in the kitchen taken from a similar spot to where I was standing, it amazed me that this home had been abandoned for over 20 years but the objects within the house remain the same as if no one had ever left.

Location 2  - Vegetation Church- 9am

A small church found hidden in between a tight door way appeared overgrown and broken.

The ceiling had collapsed due to earthquake damage and nature was soon overgrowing inside the small narrow church.

Location 3 - Villa Knight - 11am

Shooting in this location was one of my favourites, the lighting was beautiful coming in from the stairway with a golden light and the statues were just fascinating to look at.

The impressive statues and spacious balcony featuring many artistic murals and architecture was fascinating to look at.

It appeared that the Villa was under construction and would soon be occupied by someone else as the property was found to be on the market for 2.7m.

Location 4 - Villa Farmhouse - 14:30

The next location we arrived at was a mistake as the sat nav had taken us to the wrong location, we still went inside this old farmhouse to check it out however the rooms and inside of the building were far too dark to shoot in as they had little natural light coming through. 

There were some nice ceilings and murals however it was too dark to shoot so we left before long.

I remember there being a pair of the oldest roller skates I had ever seen and a blue bathroom covered in decay. There were also some men working in the empty building next door.

Location 5 - Villa Manor - 16:30

This was one of my favourite locations of the day, it had a wide spacious room that appeared to be a foyer with a round green sofa in the centre. What was strange was that peacocks surrounded this huge Villa and although we did not see them we did find one of their feathers outside close to the entrance we entered through. It was reckoned that this Villa had been abandoned over 40 years ago. We got some amazing light beam shots in this location where sunlight coming through the window and dust caused straight rays into the room.

The Villa was filled with sentimental objects such as documents, photographs, books, magazines and furniture that looked like it had not moved since abandonment. A thought that moved me was the fact there were clothes still hung up in the wardrobes and pots and pans on the stove in the kitchen as well as packets of food on the table, it was as though everything in the Villa had been frozen in time since the last people who lived here were there. In the dining room were glasses and alcohol placed on the table and a record on the music player as if they had one last supper and drink before leaving to wherever it was. This was uncanny and made me feel as though I was exploring somewhere within a different time period.

Next to the old retro television were piles of what I guessed to be magazine guides as the 'OGGI' magazine reads 'Today, What will give us in 1962 Tv Mother' this was among many other piles of newspapers and magazines surrounding the old TV. 

Location 6 - Broken Down Hotel - 19:00

The second to last location of the day was a broken down hotel damaged by earthquakes. When entering we found piles of chairs and tables and when going up what was a twin set of stairs we found what looked like a door bell on the wall as if it was a front door going through to a dining room/ meeting room. It was beginning to get closer to dusk at this point as the sun had started setting meaning we just about had time for one more location to finish off the first day.

Location 7 - Sunset Church - 20:00

This was the last location of the day and was another victimised building of an earthquake as the churches ceiling had collapsed and was soiled in rubble it was difficult to set up the equipment and to get around the inside of the building. 

As the sun was setting it created a beautiful golden light inside the church that beamed off of the walls, it was a nice location to end the first day with as the sunset made something destructed by natural disaster appear so beautiful.

The first day was tiring and we were shooting from 7:30am - 8:30pm which was exhausting but so worthy of the amazing shots and experiences. My favourite locations from the day were Villa Knight, Villa Puch and Villa Manor. Even though all locations I thoroughly enjoyed as I now have a range of shots and experiences from each location.

We finished Day 1 eating incredible Italian pizza on the side of the road at 11pm and it was the best ending to a tiring but exciting day.

Exploring the Therapeutic Value of Nature in Wales

In August 2017 a trip to Abergavenny, Wales, with my family was something I expected to be no more than average. I surprised myself when I found the trip opened my eyes to more than I could of visualised beforehand. 

The week long trip consisted of plenty of exploring, climbing mountains, and adventuring around waterfalls, I documented this through my camera and learnt a lot about myself from this week I had away from home in Kent.

I found that walking and being out in the open and a natural environment was really good for my anxiety and mindset. It was something I have previously experienced enjoying when photographing landscapes as it leads me to feel calm and relaxed. I learnt on this trip how it could be good in other ways to, such as making me feel less anxious. I found exploring and climbing the mountains was so rewarding and kept me feeling motivated even when I thought I could walk no further but I knew the outcome of my images at the top of the mountains would result in being able to discover the most amazing and beautiful views.

When on this trip I soon came to realise that I wanted to shoot a series exploring the therapeutic value of nature and how this benefits people mentally as well as physically. I knew how important it was to to end the stigma around mental health and wanted to help people who suffer be introduced to new ways of escaping their feelings and problems and reaching that calmer piece of mind and that is it okay to discuss these feelings and problems with other people. I found when exploring these mountains and waterfalls that I felt different and almost relieved that I was away from everything going on back home and although I was only 4 hours away from Kent it felt so much further. The long walks and climbs were exactly what I needed for piece of mind and allowed me to be alone with my thoughts and to be within a calm and pleasant environment was more than beneficial.

I learnt what motivates me on this trip and it was being active and finding the energy to carry on when you feel as though you can go no further. It was like I was convincing myself I could not do it but then doing it at the same time and proving myself wrong and that was what felt so rewarding at the end when I got that shot at the top of the mountain.