How a wildfire in Palermo led photographer Jim Fenwick to create award-winning images
In 2023, London-based photographer Jim Fenwick arrived in Sicily for a routine commercial shoot, unaware that a wildfire would turn his trip into an extraordinary photographic opportunity.
As flames ravaged the hills surrounding the city of Palermo, Fenwick instinctively shifted his focus from people to the striking landscape - the trees and the surreal, fiery sky.
“I believe you can make photographs about people without actually photographing people,” Fenwick shared with Euronews Culture. “All of my photographs, even if the subject isn’t a person, are about people in some way.”
The powerful series went on to win 2nd place in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards Landscape category and was exhibited at Fotofestival Lenzburg. Beyond this project, Fenwick’s work explores the complexities of people and communities, often uncovering hope and resilience in the most challenging circumstances.
We sat down with him to explore his photography career, the wildfires in Palermo, and the philosophy behind his images.
Euronews Culture: Could you tell us a bit about your upbringing? You spent a lot of your childhood travelling around the world?
Jim Fenwick: I was born in 1972, so it was a completely different time. My family travelled all over the world because of my father’s work. So when I was just a baby, we lived in Lagos, Nigeria, which was our base. From there, we moved to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and did lots of moving around Asia, while also returning to Africa during that time. Later, we moved to Milan, Italy. When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I came to England for school, and settled in Basingstoke.
I have really strong memories of my childhood. Each place I lived in felt like its own chapter, and I can distinctly remember the tastes, sounds, and imagery from each location.
But when I was away at school in England, it was hard to focus on the present without looking back. It was a really strange feeling - those memories from my formative years were so vivid that being in England, especially in Basingstoke, felt difficult in comparison. I was always thinking about the earlier times I had, and that definitely influenced my image making and my photography.
So how did you get into photography and art?
Oh, well, a lot of it came from growing up in those countries. I grew up without a television, and my parents were very hands-off. My father was always at work, and my mother was usually busy with other things. So, I entertained myself by drawing and painting, and I always loved it.
It was a way to escape and enter different worlds. From quite a young age, I thought I’d go to art school - it was something I always wanted to do. It felt like the kind of path that could lead to adventure, especially as a kid imagining the future. I kept at it, drawing and painting over and over.
When I eventually went off to art school, my focus shifted to photography. I realised I could bring my ideas to life much more quickly through photography, and it just clicked for me.
How did the project 'Wildfires of Palermo' come about?
Well, I’m really sensitive to the world - I’m a bit of an empath. I love traveling, meeting new people, and immersing myself in other communities. There’s a real challenge in being accepted in a new place, and I enjoy that.
I was in Palermo for a completely different project when I saw the wildfires. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had to shoot them. It all happened so quickly. I mean, I don’t think you can really plan a wildfire photo shoot. I was heading out to work, and the guy who was supposed to pick me up was late. And he called me saying “Oh Jim, there’s wildfires, I’m going to be late" and I thought, “Okay, fine.” But as soon as I stepped out of the hotel and saw what he was talking about, I was blown away.
On the drive to our location, the traffic was chaos, and there were fires on the side of the road. The hill was on fire - it was quite incredible. We finally arrived late in the afternoon for a night shoot, and as the sun set, the sky became darker and redder. A low cloud base had formed, and the red from the flames reflected off the underside of the clouds. And I just thought that it was beautiful, but also horrific all at the same time.
What was your thought process and technical approach when capturing these images?
Because I was working on a commercial job, I had access to equipment - a van with lights and all that. So we ran around lighting the trees, using colour theory to complement the sky. I’m very interested in how colours interact, so I instinctively lit the trees in a way that worked with the fiery sky.
The entire shoot was incredibly fast and instinctive - about an hour and a half. When you’ve been doing photography for as long as I have, you rely on instinct. Having a network of lighting people helps too - it makes life much easier. But I tend to work quickly, even if the idea itself takes weeks or months to develop.
For me it was a really bittersweet experience, though. No one around seemed to care about the fires - it was just so strange. Everyone seemed to carry on with their evening, as if it were normal. It’s all about context, isn’t it? If a fire like that happened in the UK, the entire country would be talking about it. But in Sicily, it’s just part of life. I looked into it afterward, and while global warming is, of course, a huge factor, I found out that a high proportion of these fires are deliberately set, which is horrific in its own way.
Why did you shoot the photos in portrait?
It wasn’t about capturing the whole landscape, really - it was about the fire itself and the individuals. That’s why, instead of shooting in a landscape format, I used portrait orientation. I focused on one or two specific trees that I felt symbolised people.
You see, I believe you can make photographs about people without actually photographing people. All of my photographs, even if the subject isn’t a person, are about people in some way.
As you've mentioned, your work often focuses on human beings in the shadows or those potentially overlooked by society. One standout project is 'Ride Out', where you documented London’s youth bike culture. Can you share more about this series?
The 'Ride Out' project came about a few years ago when I was on High Street Kensington, which is quite a wealthy area. It's full of Range Rovers, Porsches, and the usual traffic jams. I was there and noticed this strange energy in the air - everyone was beeping their horns, the traffic had come to a complete standstill, and then suddenly, en masse were all these teenagers coming through doing wheelies.
Now, these are the kids who have no voice. A lot of them, I don’t want to generalise, but a lot of them come from families and backgrounds where they have no voice. But when they come together in these large groups, they can’t be ignored. People were outraged by their riding style - the way they weave through traffic and swerve at the last second. They take risks and they are huge groups of kids coexisting, having a purpose where they travel, a lot of them from Southeast London and they cycle all through London.
It’s like this single spirit of all these youth that actually are quite something. As someone who's about 30 years older than most of them, I grabbed my little Brompton bike and joined them. And they were completely and utterly, welcoming to me. They understood I wasn’t there to look down on them, but to celebrate what it is to be human being. So, yeah, the reason I did that piece of work is because I'm sick to death of people having no voice.
How do you go about building trust with strangers?
Well it's an interesting question. I think we live in a time where access is easier, but the reality is, when you're working on a project, you don’t always know exactly what you’re going to do. You have a rough idea in your head of how you'd like it to go, but photography is unpredictable.
When you're working with real people, you have to adapt to what they do. What I’ve found works best to connect with someone is eye contact, being honest about why you want to photograph them, and asking a few questions. Cynically the best thing to do is drop a compliment, ask a couple of questions, show interest, and then you're off.
It gets easier the older you get and the more experience you gain. Don’t be afraid to ask, especially these days when everyone is so image-oriented - people love having photographs of themselves. If you take great photos, they might want to share them and they can have a couple for their Instagram. You get to be part of their network, and before you know it, they might reach out, saying, “We’re doing this, come along!” You can choose to join or not, but it opens up a big network.
So, don’t be afraid to ask people, but remember, your motives is everything. The reasons I ask people to take their photographs is because there's something that I want to celebrate, something I'm interested in, something that I want to tell. I’m not coming from a place where I want to exploit anybody; that's not my thing. So, it’s really about your intentions - make sure the people you're photographing understand what you want to do and why.