Enduring Beauty
This collection of photographs by Damien Lovegrove was created in historic Italian interiors, mostly abandoned rooms shaped by centuries of human presence and now softened by time. Faded walls, worn stone, and traces of former lives form spaces that feel suspended between past and present, holding memory as much as absence.
Inspired by classical paintings and the use of light found in the work of the Old Masters, these images explore the relationship between the human figure and the rooms it inhabits. Light becomes a storyteller, revealing texture, form, and emotion with restraint and intention. The figures are not posed as subjects, but placed as quiet presences, as if the room has momentarily remembered them.
Italy is not presented as a destination, but as an atmosphere: timeless, layered, and deeply human. Beauty here is imperfect and enduring, shaped by decay rather than diminished by it. What emerges is a dialogue between intimacy and history, stillness and breath.
These photographs invite the viewer to pause, to feel the weight of time, the softness of light, and the way beauty lingers long after a room has been left behind.
“This collection is the result of my personal journey spanning more than a decade. A deepening relationship with abandoned Italy and the quiet beauty of its historic interiors. It grew out of time spent running photography workshops in Tuscany, Umbria, Basilicata and Apulia, shaped by shared conversation with passionate photographers, beautiful models, local cuisine and wine, and memorable days working with lights (and my smoke machine!) in remarkable, historical places.
I employed a lighting approach inspired by classical painting, one that is bold yet seemingly natural, placing the light at a ninety-degree angle to the camera and minimising subject eye contact to preserve stillness and restraint. The colour palette is intentionally narrow, with harmonious tones drawn from the warmth of stone, dust, and fading walls.”
Damien Lovegrove
If you have a spirit of adventure, a kind heart, a creative mind, and wish to make lifelong friendships, join me on one of my Italian workshops. You can find details of my upcoming events here.
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