Last days of summer

No island in the world elicits a greater sense of golden idleness and a freewheeling love of the pleasures of life than the Italian island of Capri. As far back as 500 BC, the Greeks saw it as a rocky paradise of hedonism and much more recently they were followed by the Marquis de Sade and Oscar Wilde. Even if only half the stories of the debauchery in Capri are true, it has been a good host island to those who believe that life is for living. 

There is a unique beauty to the place and a refined simplicity that seduced Hollywood in the 1950s and Jacqueline Kennedy not long after. I sense that Capri does not have to try too hard, because it doesn’t really need to; everything is there and most of it always will be. There is security in the longevity of tenure. 

The island’s greatest trick is to offer a sense of belonging to visitors.  Our cousins from across the pond, who come every year in their thousands, call it “little America”.  That’s quite a stretch, but no doubt there is a century long love affair between America and Capri. 

The island’s iconic rock formation - The Faraglioni - is the geological pantheon of the island and I knew that at some stage this summer I would use its vertical grandeur as a backdrop in my European storytelling. Of course, these sea stacks are over photographed, and I needed a fresh foreground that played to the lore of the island. It takes time to determine the right location to shoot from as so many angles have become a little generic. 

There is one land location near Marina Piccola where I could take an old Vespa and this was a shot I hadn’t seen before.  Logistically it’s not that easy to get access with a bike.  Just after sunrise, the rocks are kissed from behind by gentle sunlight and I knew that if I shot into the rising sun, I could engineer a rather dreamy canvas. 

The girls played their roles exactly as directed: I wanted both sexual confidence and a sense that their behaviour was not always coming from the highest moral drawer. That would be fitting for an island blessed by an intoxicating sense of fun and freedom. - David