Capturing a unique shot of a landmark that is photographed several hundred thousand times per day isn't the easiest of tasks. You have to work through a mental checklist - a shopping list, if you like - of elements you want come away having shot. The Colosseum is THE Rome landmark, the symbol of Italy when you think about it, so showing off its grandeur has to be the name of the game. As predicted, when I arrived the place was swarming with snap-happy tourists (not to sound pretentious). I've been several times to this exact spot, so I had my own images to improve upon, as well as everyone else's.

I decided the colour contrast of the warm stone, glowing in the late November light, was the biggest feature of the scene as it was in the moment. This structure has been here for thousands of years, so I decide to make the immovable nature of the building the focus of the photo. I got down low, with a wide lens to stretch perspective, and used an exposure of more than 20 secs to capture movement in the sky. This contrasted beautifully with the enduring ancient brickwork. It was several moments amongst the millions that have passed since the Colosseum was finished.