Compagnia di Farabutti
In the first half of may, I had a great opportunity to shoot pictures over the span of three days at the teambuilding event of the Compagnia di Farabutti, a Polish battle larping team. While the weather itself was not the warmest for the first two days, on the final day, the day of the main photoshoot, the sun graced us with its full glory, when we set off to the nearby Kabacki Forest, a truly lovely forest reservation to the south from Warsaw.
You don’t know who are the condottieri from the famous Compagnia di Farbutti? Let me tell you then! This rowdy company are the best soldiers of fortune Tilea has to offer. They fight like a well-oiled war machine. Their prowess and discipline in battle are unparalleled. If you’ve ever heard about the unsurpassed Tilean heavy infantry wreaking havoc amongst the enemy units on the field, it must have been Compagnia di Farabutti.
There are many stories about those brave sons and daughters of Tilea. That in the encampments you can spot them from afar by just heading in the direction where one can see a large fire around which people are enjoying themselves with their numerous guests who are drawn to their merriment, loud singing, excellent southern food and flowing wine. They say, that they love nothing more than living their lives to the fullest. They also say, that no pretty woman and no handsome man is safe when Compagnia di Farabutti is in town. All shall fall for their Tilean charm and sweet words rolling from their tongues like the most beautiful pearls.
Though some say that they are quarrelsome, they do not dare to oppose three women in their life – the most illustrious goddess, Myrmidia (ave Regina Æterna, Myrmidia Dea!), whose blessing leads them to every battle, their Capo di Campo, or quartermistress, if you prefer, and their Donna. Her command over the Compagnia is fierce, her word final, although she usually designates a field commander to do the actual fighting and yelling orders for her. It is no surprise that many adventurous women join the ranks of the Farabutti, their radiant beauty only matched by their fiery temperament. It’s such a shame they lose their husbands so fast, though. Poor sods, they have a strange tendency to die not long after the wedding…
What? You’re saying that I have made up all of it? Are you calling me a liar? No one tarnishes the honour of a Tilean by accusing him of being a liar and lives to tell the tale! Stand up, tu ratto di fogna, I challenge you to a duel!
But I must say that it was quite some time since I was taking pictures of some larp-related stuff and after the Covid year… any pictures at all. It didn’t feel right, something about photographing it felt weird. Even more with the post processing – I knew all the icons in the software, and knew what they should do, but the outcome was something totally different. Obviously Covid took it’s tool on many skills, even those I’ve took for granted.
