Behind the Photo: The Val d’Orcia

The Val d’Orcia is an illusion, a mirage.

Miles of winding roads slicing through golden fields and towering cypress trees, each turn of the steering wheel bringing into view another postcard worthy view.

This is the Tuscany you see in calendars and dreams.

It was 2019 and we’d returned to Italy with our then seven year old son. While driving simply to drive, simply to see, and to stop and make photographs, is not the most interesting thing to a seven year old, he was calm and patient and seemed to enjoy it. There were many stops to take in views and get the camera out. I could have spent days in the region given the opportunity. A bag full of cameras and lenses and different film stocks and I’d lose a week of my life before realizing it.

I found no set course to travel the Val d’Orcia. I used maps and search engines to identify landmarks I wished to see. Traveling as a family doesn’t offer the flexibility to ensure you are in the right location at the right time of day, the sun invariably coming from the wrong direction. In 2005 at the Cliffs of Moher we were there at the wrong time of day, the cliffs backlit and not playing nicely with exposures. There were a few examples of that in the Val, but generally the huge sky and plentiful light offered the ability to make some form of image anywhere we stopped.

A drive through the Val is worth it for anyone in love with Italy. It is captivating and demure and has the sense there are secrets here that do not reveal themselves easily.