I went to the desert with a foolish idea―to look for a ghost. One that smells of celluloid, gunpowder, and frozen time.
Since I was a child, Sergio Leone’s cinema taught me how to look. His wide shots, his tense silences, his characters made of dust and scars. Especially “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, with its stylized violence, its dry humor—almost castellano, like myself—and that final duel as a liturgy of the frame.
I returned to the place where that film—and many others—were shot : Tabernas, Almería. To see if anything still lingered. Even just the echo. In the middle of July, in the desert, with no concessions. I brought only the new FUJIFILM X-E5 and the FUJINON XF23mmF2.8 R WR. A light, discreet, straightforward combo—like a well-oiled Colt Peacemaker.
The entire work is done SOOC (straight out of the camera), with no editing or cropping afterwards—almost as an act of rebellion: a defense of mistakes, poorly measured color, and crooked framing. A way of reclaiming the human in a world of artificial intelligence that smooths and perfects everything. Because beauty also lies in what doesn’t quite fit.
I shot like you would in a duel: without thinking too much, just feeling. As if the camera were an extension of the body. I used Velvia like someone playing an old song to remember.
Saturated colors, harsh contrasts, unapologetic intensity. With Velvia, I’m not seeking truth, but its most exaggerated, wounded version. The world in Velvia looks like a movie set… but one that still breathes.
I walked the badlands and the false towns. The theme parks and the remnants of legendary shoots. And there it all was: the dust, the heat, the wind, the silence with a knife in it. The sets, half-defeated by the sun, still standing like old actors waiting for one last take. And me, behind the camera, I could almost see Leone crouched behind a corner, composing his final frame.
This is a story told with light, sweat, dust, and color. It doesn’t aim to be truth. Nor does it need to.
I didn’t photograph the desert: I daydreamed it with my eyes open.
Because there are places that only exist when someone remembers them.
And if you look closely, you might still see, in the distance, Sergio Leone riding toward the last shot.
Thank you, maestro, for teaching us that silence can be framed, that epic fits in a glance, and that sometimes all you need is dust, light, and patience to tell a story that won’t be forgotten.
This work, though imperfect, is for you.
“When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
—Tuco (Eli Wallach), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Sergio Leone, 1966.
©Rodrigo Roher, 2025
*Ackknowledgements to MiniHollywood Oasys, Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood, Western Leone and the City of Tabernas (Almería, Spain)
FS RECIPE
FILM SIMULATION : Velvia
MONOCHROMATIC COLOR :N/A
GRAIN EFFECT : WEAK, SMALL
COLOR CHROME EFFECT: WEAK
COLOR CHROME FX BLUE: WEAK
SMOOTH SKIN EFFECT : OFF
WHITE BALANCE: DAYLIGHT/ R +2, B -5
DYNAMIC RANGE: DR100
D RANGE PRIORITY: OFF
TONE CURVE: H -2, S +3
COLOR: +3
SHARPNESS: 0
HIGH ISO NR: -3
CLARITY: -4
