TITLE: Into a Forest's Breath

For almost three years, I kept revisiting the Portofino promontory, in Liguria, every time fog and mist were to be seen shrouding the headland, not far from where I live. Such peculiar transpiration phenomenon – which is rather frequent in the area and essential to the local microclimate – completely transformed before my eyes an otherwise familiar forest, stripping it of its geographical connotations in order to accommodate an ethereal and non-existent place which was being distilled upon Earth. I almost felt as if I had been given the opportunity to witness a prodigious spell whilst it was being cast, as the air – now instilled with suspended icy and watery drops for my lungs – would turn the surrounding landscape into a translucent appearance, constantly emerging and disappearing, as I penetrated and breathed the fabric of a lucid dream.

AUTHOR: Pio De Rose (Italy)

Pio De Rose (b. 1987) is an Italian photographer currently based in Genoa. In 2011 he graduated in Photography and Visual Arts from the Libera Accademia di Belle Arti L.A.B.A. of Florence with the reportage Saints and Miracles. In 2012 he received his MA in Photojournalism from the University of Westminster with the project Aquaria, The Blue Glass Landscape.

Recent publications and collaborations include Vanity Fair Italy; Io Donna; la Repubblica; mare – Die Zeitschrift der Meere; Neighbor Magazine; Black+White Photography; Æ Another Escape; on landscape; Don’t Take Pictures; Historic Gardens Review; F-Stop Magazine; International PhotogrAphy Magazine; Adnkronos; WAZA Magazine; The Work Style Magazine; Clic.he Webmagazine; SciFondo; Mondo Sommerso – International Ocean Magazine; ASSAI; L’Universo (IGM); dAD – dipartimento di Architettura e Design – University of Genoa; Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti of Genoa; Municipality of Ravenna and others.


Fine Art Photography Awards 2021 nominee | night photography | professionals | Out of the Blue

International Photography Grant 2019 2nd place | landscape | Out of the Blue

Camera Work 2018 2nd place | Dei Paesi

International Photography Grant 2017 nominee | nature | Parchi di Nervi

Black+White Photographer of the Year 2015 shortlisted | Off on a Crisis