The Passion of Remigio

“The Passion of Friar Remigio” The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:18 During the Venice Carnival, I tried to represent a Christian who was persecuted and captured by the Janissaries (an elite Byzantine military corps) while he was carrying out his missionary work. The reading of the Gospel represented the strength of faith despite persecution. The costume, on the other hand, is a study that is evolving into the figure of 'Friar Remigio', a pupil of St Thomas Aquinas, in the Order of Disciplined Friars, a friar from a monastery near Perugia (central Italy), inspired in his features by Umberto Eco's novel 'The Name of the Rose'.” - Luca Germondari The Venice Carnevale is not all about masks. Many local Italians prefer painted faces, historical costumes and recently even cosplay. Often, these costumes look much better than full masks and I do enjoy photographing them very much. My Italian friend Luca Germondari is part of a group that frequently dress up as medieval knights, but this year, he decided to come as Friar Remigio while the rest of his group keep their medieval knight costumes. The original photos were done on the busy streets of Venice against a dark grey wall. The backgrounds were subsequently generated post production to make it look like a movie set.