Lemons, Bottle and Stromboli is an image I shot when I was just starting as a photographer. I knew that wandering around shooting things by chance was not what a creative artist would do, there must be more to image making than opportunism and luck. So I sought out objects that evoked the colours, textures, contrasts and spirit of the Mediterranean and in particular of the Aeolian Islands. See more of these images in my Aeolian Still Lifes gallery.

This image is all about just these concepts – light, tones, textures and contrasts. I had no idea how much this picture has been appreciated since I took it back in 1995. People still say to me…”are you the person who did that picture of the lemons in a basket?” Of course mainly within the geographical limits of the small island of Panarea…not globally).

I have also sold many many prints of this in all sizes – and they are still available on my website. I still love looking at that rich blue colour – Yves Klein has nothing on the blue of the Aeolian islands!) and those lemons are just scrumptious. The texture of the basket and crisp white wall give interest to the scene but it is still dominated by the looming Stromboli on the horizon, a triangular geometry which gives structure and gravity to the composition.

The original image was shot on Fuji Velvia film with a Hasselblad and 150mm Sonnar lens. I scanned it in some years ago to digitise the image but it took me hours of work on Photoshop to get the exact tones and contrasts of the original transparency – but I am glad I did as the image is now better than before and prints come out just incredibly well and the lemons and bottle assume a wonderful three dimensionality that is so evocative of the timeless space and elemental beauty of the Aeolian Islands. This spirit of the Mediterranean is what I try to evoke in all of my work, and here it is in all of its beautiful glory.

This image of Lemons, Bottle and Stromboli along with its companion “Lemons, Lantern and Stromboli“, is one of my most popular images, a photograph which still makes me dream today despite having done it at the beginning of my career as a photographer, and one which I chose for the cover of my first book of Panarea photographs.