Happily Ever After

It began with an online photograph of an abandoned church, with a carriage left inside. It reminded me of a favourite childhood fairy tale. I was instantly drawn to it. It led me to reminisce about my childhood dreams of a ‘Happily Ever After,’ and I wanted to see it and photograph it for myself. The caption placed it in Italy, where coincidentally, my husband and I would be travelling to in just two and a half months. The race was on. I had limited time to locate the church, or we could potentially miss out on it. You see, when a magical spot like this is discovered by the exploring community, it’s not long before people flock there to experience it for themselves. Many photographers have noble intentions and visit abandoned places carefully and respectfully, but if too many people start to visit, especially those that hold little respect for the solemnity of these places, it can lead to a steep decline. This could mean vandalism, spray paint, fires, or the place could be locked up if locals notice too many people coming and going. So, I knew this was our chance - it was now or possibly never. My husband and I tried continuously for two months to locate the church. We tried everything that had previously been successful for us in our research process. This time, however, despite our best efforts, we came up short. So, just a week before we left for our trip, I did something that I really hate doing. I asked the explorer, that captured the original photograph, if he would be willing to share the location with us. Luckily, we had already developed a good rapport with him, and he was more than happy to share it with us. I tried to act cool through DM, but I totally did a little happy dance and an embarrassing amount of fist pumps. I was so excited, and I am beyond grateful that he would trust us with such a jaw-dropping location. It was one of the biggest highlights of our trip - a place that linked my childhood dreams of princesses and fairy tales, with my adult dreams of exploration and photography. It’s a place that couldn’t possibly exist in real life – and yet it does. So, to give credit where credit is due: I would like to dedicate this one to him - an explorer who has always pushed the boundaries and inspired others to do the same. Thank you, dear friend, for your generosity of giving my husband and I the opportunity to see this amazing place untouched, and in its full glory of disrepair.