Photography Blog

Cludy Sky --- Cielo Nuvoloso

2010-08-29T20:48:00.002+02:00

Paris by night II --- Parigi di notte II

2010-07-04T12:02:00.002+02:00

Paris by night --- Parigi di notte

2010-06-27T23:48:00.003+02:00

Little girl --- Bambina

2010-06-18T20:04:00.003+02:00

Cannons --- Cannoni

2010-06-13T15:37:00.002+02:00

Le Louvre

2010-06-07T23:02:00.003+02:00

Tree --- Albero

2010-03-01T21:00:00.003+01:00

Inside a hutch --- In gabbia

2010-02-23T22:25:00.002+01:00

Meteor --- Meteora

2010-02-14T16:00:00.002+01:00

Once upon a time... --- C'era una volta...

2010-02-07T23:48:00.002+01:00

Mist --- Nebbiolina

2010-01-26T18:40:00.002+01:00

New year, new blog! --- Nuovo anno, nuovo blog!

2010-01-17T23:40:00.001+01:00

If you have just felt confused and you have noticed something different, then I've reached my target...
I've been thinking about changing the blog layout for some time and finally I made it. Actually I didn't dislike the previous version, but something was not working in my opinion. For sure the most critical point was the slideshow on the right. Since it was animated it could distract the reader. Moreover I know it was not working with some version of IE (whereas it didn't create any troubles with Firefox). Finally, the page header was too abstract and it didn't tell anything about me.
In this new version I've created a header by using a picture I took (perhaps my favorite picture). I liked that the reader could get an overview about what he can find in the blog, so on the right, instead of the slideshow, I've placed a gallery showing ten images randomly chosen among all the images I posted up till now. Every time you load a page of the blog you should get a different set of images on the gallery (try to click F5 if you are in the mood for playing right now...).
If javascript is disabled on your browser settings you might not be able to visualize the gallery though.
Other than this, there are no big changes.
Ok now it's your turn: what do you think? Do you like this new version? Please let me know your impressions about this and if you experience some technical problem while surfing the new blog!

Se vi siete appena sentiti disorientati e avete notato qualche cambiamento allora ho raggiunto il mio scopo...
Già da tempo pensavo di cambiare un po' l'estetica del blog e finalmente ce l'ho fatta. La versione precedente non mi dispiaceva in realtà, ma aveva alcuni aspetti che non andavano, a mio parere. Il più critico era sicuramente la slideshow sulla destra che, essendo animata, distraeva il lettore. Inoltre so che con alcune versioni di IE non funzionava a dovere (mentre non sembrava dare problemi in Firefox). Infine l'intestazione della pagina era troppo astratta e non diceva nulla di me.
In questa nuova versione ho creato un'intestazione usando una mia foto (forse la mia preferita). L'idea che il lettore potesse avere una panoramica di quello che c'è all'interno del blog mi piaceva, quindi al posto della slideshow, sulla destra, ho inserito una galleria che mostra dieci foto casuali scelte tra tutte quelle postate finora. Ogni volta che caricate una pagina del blog dovreste vedere un set di foto diverse nella galleria (provate a cliccare F5 se avete voglia di giocare...). Tuttavia se il vostro browser ha javascript disabilitato potreste non essere in grado di visualizzare la galleria.
Per il resto non ci sono grossi cambiamenti.
Beh, ora tocca a voi: cosa ne pensate? Vi piace la nuova versione? Fatemi sapere se avete opinioni a riguardo e se riscontrate problemi tecnici navigando nel nuovo blog!

Almost night --- Quasi sera

2010-01-13T23:47:00.002+01:00

Snow --- Neve

2009-12-31T00:07:00.003+01:00

Shack --- Baracca

2009-12-26T12:56:00.003+01:00

Below zero --- Sotto zero

2009-12-23T00:12:00.004+01:00

I'm back with some winter pictures!

Sono tornato con qualche foto invernale!

Fight --- Lotta

2009-11-17T22:37:00.003+01:00

Munich.

Surfing

2009-11-04T23:00:00.004+01:00

I've not been in Australia... and this is not the ocean. The guy was surfing on a torrent in Germany.

Non sono stato in Australia... e questo non è l'oceano. Il ragazzo stava facendo surf in un torrente in Germania.

From the window --- Dalla finestra

2009-10-28T00:06:00.003+01:00

Taken while I was waiting for lunch at the restaurant placed over the tower Olympiaturm in Munich.

Scattata mentre aspettavo il panzo al ristorante situato sulla torre Olympiaturm a Monaco.

Late at night -- Tardi la sera

2009-10-21T00:02:00.003+02:00

Leo and Rudy

2009-10-12T23:56:00.003+02:00

Fable --- Fiaba

2009-10-07T22:34:00.004+02:00

I know, if this picture had to be related to a song, perhaps I should think about something like the Cinderella soundtrack, or maybe some love song by Elton John.
The truth of the matter is that on Sunday evening I watched for the umpteenth time "Back to the fututre", and guess what? As soon as I started to work on this picture the song "The power of love" by Huey Lewis and the News came into my mind (just a song belonging to the sondtrack of the movie directed by Spielberg). Ok, it is neither a romantic, nor a very sentimental song, but can't you feel the power of love looking at this picture? Ah, the horse-drawn carriage on the background suggested to me the title for this photo.

Lo so, se questa fotografia dovesse essere associata ad una canzone, forse dovrei pensare a qualcosa tipo la colonna sonora di Cenerentola, o magari qualche canzone d'amore di Elton John.
Il fatto è che domenica sera ho visto per l'ennesima volta "Ritorno al futuro", e indovinate un po'? Appena mi sono messo a preparare questa foto mi è subito venuta in mente la canzone "The power of love" di Huey Lewis and the News (appunto nella colonna sonora del film di Spielberg). Ok, non è una canzone romantica nè sdolcinata, ma volete dirmi che non percepite la forza dell'amore guardando questa immagine? Ah, il cavallo con la carroza nello sfondo mi ha suggerito il titolo di questa foto.

Eyes to the sky --- Occhi al cielo

2009-10-04T23:46:00.002+02:00

Autumn: corn in the sun --- Autunno: granoturco al sole

2009-09-29T00:00:00.002+02:00

Some corn in the sun after harvesting.

Del granoturco al sole dopo la mietitura.

At the park --- Al parco

2009-09-23T23:54:00.003+02:00

"Uh Guido, have you seen that one swimming? He's so uncouth! They should forbid this place to ducks so awkward... Besides what a hurry!"
"You are right Adele, as if we had someone behind us..."

"Insomma Guido, hai visto quello che nuota? E' così grossolano! Dovrebbero vietare questo posto a chi è così sgraziato... e poi cosa sarà mai tutta questa fretta!"
"Hai ragione Adele, neanche avessimo qualcuno alle spalle..."

The big balloon --- Il grande palloncino

2009-09-20T23:36:00.003+02:00

This curious guy was standing on the pavement holding a very big red balloon. On the background you can see a reproduction of the Alps over a big shelf placed in the middle of a little lake... And I never imagined I could write such a description for a picture!

Questo tizio era fermo su un marciapiede e teneva in mano un grande palloncino rosso. Sullo sfondo potete ammirare una riproduzione delle Alpi su un grande scaffale posizionato al centro di un laghetto... E io non avrei mai immaginato di poter scrivere una tale descrizione per una fotografia!

The last one --- L'ultima

2009-09-17T00:29:00.003+02:00

I'm back! --- Sono tornato!

2009-09-13T23:45:00.003+02:00

In the last period I didn't update this blog very often: in August I was out for holidays, at the beginning of September I had a very demanding period at work, and finally the last week I was in Munich for a congress. But now I'm back and it's time to post again! I have a whole bunch of new pictures to public, so keep an eye on this blog!
This picture represents an old juke box and it was taken in a small rock & roll museum. This is placed at a height of 190 m on the tower Olympiaturm in Munich.

Nell'ultimo periodo non ho agiornato questo blog molto spesso: in agosto sono stato via per le vacanze, a inizio settembre ho avuto un periodo molto impegnativo al lavoro, e infine la settimana scorsa sono stato a Monaco per un congresso. Ma finalmente sono tornato e adesso è ora di ricominciare a postare! Ho un sacco di foto nuove da pubblicare quindi tenete d'occhio questo blog!
Questa foto ritrae un vecchio juke box ed è stata scattata in un piccolo museo del rock che si trova a 190 metri di altezza sulla torre Olympiaturm a Monaco.

Lost in thought --- Immersa nei pensieri

2009-08-31T22:44:00.002+02:00

Subway --- Sottopassaggio

2009-08-27T22:40:00.002+02:00

A subway near the train station in Nizza. Actually all the neon lights captured here were not white but blue. Anyway I decided to use this almost desaturated color mapping because it emphasizes the repeating patterns of parallel lines, which makes the picture interesting, in my opinion.

Un sottopassaggio vicino alla stazione ferroviaria di Nizza. In realtà le luci al neon qui rappresentate non erano bianche ma blu. Tuttavia ho deciso di usare questa mappatura di colore quasi del tutto desaturata perchè enfatizza i pattern di linee parallele che si ripetono, che secondo me rendono interessante la foto.

Fireworks (II) --- Fuochi d'artificio (II)

2009-08-24T21:46:00.002+02:00

Another shoot taken in Venice.

Ancora uno scatto realizzato a Venezia.

Ironic photography --- Fotografia ironica

2009-08-19T23:44:00.004+02:00

If I had to assign every picture of this blog to a category, I would probably put this one into the "ironic photography" folder.
Ah, just after I took this picture I heard someone saying that I probably had to like that car very much since I stopped on the sidewalk to photograph it...

Se dovessi assegnare ogni foto di questo blog ad una categoria probabilmente metterei questa nella cartella "fotografia ironica".
Ah, subito dopo che ho scattato questa foto, ho sentito qualcuno bisbigliare che probabilmente quell'auto mi doveva piacere davvero molto, visto che mi sono fermato sul marciapiede per fotografarla...

The boys --- I ragazzi

2009-08-17T12:52:00.003+02:00

I have been four days in Nizza (France) for a short holiday. What I liked most of that place is that you have both an incredibly blue sea and a lot of touist attractions in the midtown. Walking along the major streets it was easy to find interesting subjects to photograph. Here just some guys waiting for the bus...

Sono stato quattro giorni a Nizza (Francia) per una breve vacanza. La cosa che mi è piaciuta di più di questo posto è il fatto che c'è un mare incredibilmente azzurro, ma anche un sacco di attrazioni turistiche nel centro città. Passeggiando per le vie principali è stato facile trovare qualche soggetto interessante da fotografare. Qui alcuni ragazzi che aspettano l'autobus...

Fireworks (I) --- Fuochi d'artificio (I)

2009-08-10T00:09:00.003+02:00

... and finally the fireworks!

... e finalmente i fuochi d'artificio!

Venice from the Giudecca Canal --- Venezia dal Canale della Giudecca

2009-07-30T23:41:00.005+02:00

This picture was taken after the sunset. The reflections on the lagoon were very charming and I tried to capture them in this picture...

Questa foto è stata scattata dopo il tramonto. I riflessi sulla laguna erano davvero magici e ho provato a catturarli in questa immagine...

A ringside seat --- Un posto in prima fila

2009-07-29T00:45:00.002+02:00

Waiting for the fireworks...

Aspettando i fuochi artificiali...

Sunset --- Tramonto

2009-07-27T23:44:00.003+02:00

Docking --- Ormeggio

2009-07-23T00:27:00.002+02:00

Taken a few minutes before the sunset from Giudecca.

Scattata qualche minuto prima del tramonto dalla Giudecca.

Festa del Redentore

2009-07-21T00:39:00.003+02:00

Last saturday I went to Venice with some friends to see the fireworks on the occasion of the Festa del Redentore.
The Festa del Redentore is an event held in Venice on the third Saturday and Sunday in July. The Redentore began as a feast to give thanks for the end of the terrible plague of 1576, which killed 50,000 people. The Doge Alvise Mocenigo II promised to build a magnificent church if the plague ended. The church known as Il Redentore is represented on the background in this picture and all the people are here crossing the temporary bridge of barges built every year on the occasion of this event to connect Giudecca to the rest of Venice.
I guess I was astonished at least as much as this child for the increbible atmosphere...
This is the first picture of a series I took for this occasion. More coming soon!

Sabato scorso sono stato a Venezia con alcuni amici per vedere i fuochi artificiali in occasione della Festa del Redentore.
La Festa del Redentore è un evento tradizionale Veneziano, celebrato il terzo fine settimana di luglio. La festa è stata in origine un'occasione per rendere grazie per la liberazione della città da una terribile peste che, nel 1576, uccise 50000 persone. Il Doge Alvise Mocenigo II promise, mediante un voto, che avrebbe fatto costruire una magnifica basilica se la peste fosse cessata. La basilica, conosciuta come Il Redentore, è raffigurata sullo sfondo in questa foto e tutta la gente sta attraversando il ponte di chiatte costruito ogni anno in questa occasione per unire la Giudecca al resto di Venezia.
Credo di essere stato stupito almeno quanto questo bambino per l'incredibile atmosfera...
Questa è la prima di una serie di immagini che ho scattato a questo evento. Altre in arrivo!

Abandon --- Abbandono

2009-07-15T23:26:00.002+02:00

An old disused church. Somehow the clock is still working... Or maybe I took the picture exactly at 16:50 pm by coincidence.

Una vecchia chiesa in disuso. Per qualche motivo l'orologio è ancora funzionante... O forse per pura coincidenza ho scattato la foto alle 16:50.

Looking up to the sky --- Guardando verso il cielo

2009-07-14T00:41:00.004+02:00

Since I have been taking pictures, I had to lie down on the ground more frequently than I could imagine :-) Here I just followed with my eyes (and the lens of my camera) the direction suggested by the corn plants...

Da quando scatto fotografie, mi sono dovuto sdraiare a terra più spesso di quanto avrei potuto immaginare :-) Qui ho semplicemente seguito con lo sguardo (e con l'obiettivo della mia fotocamera) la direzione indicata dalle piante di granoturco...

Streetlamp --- Lampione

2009-07-10T00:03:00.004+02:00

Taken in Padova from Piazza delle Erbe.

Scattata a Padova da Piazza delle Erbe.

Outside the tunnel --- Fuori dal tunnel

2009-07-07T22:54:00.003+02:00

A little sleep --- Un po' di riposo

2009-07-02T00:02:00.002+02:00

This is the result of a challenging hike and of a large lunch among the mountains: finally a little sleep! Who knows what the two protagonists are thinking about... Maybe "we feel so good that we could lay down here forever", or maybe "the sky is covering us and we lose ourself in its blue", or maybe simply "we wish we had another sandwich!" :-)
What do you think?

Questo è il risultato di un'impegnativa camminata e un abbondante pranzo tra i monti: finalmente un po' di riposo! Chissà a cosa stanno pensando i protagonisti... Forse "si sta così bene che potremmo restare qui sdraiati per sempre" o forse "il cielo ci avvolge e ci perdiamo nel suo blu", o forse più semplicemente "magari avessimo un altro panino!" :-)
Voi che dite?

On the road to the Rifugio Coldai --- In viaggio verso il Rifugio Coldai

2009-06-30T00:06:00.003+02:00

Will our heroes make the grade?

Ce la faranno i nostri eroi?

Take the sky highway to Pecol --- Per Pecol prendere l'autostrada del cielo

2009-06-26T00:42:00.006+02:00

From this point of view the road signs we found near the Rifugio Coldai seem to point at the sky over the mountains...

Da questo punto di vista le indicazioni che abbiamo trovato presso il Rifugio Coldai sembrano puntare verso il cielo che sovrasta le montagne...

To feel little --- Sentirsi piccoli

2009-06-23T23:45:00.004+02:00

While I was taking this picture at the frozen lake near the Rifugio Coldai I just felt very little. I usually feel like that when I stand in front of an amazing sight. Sometimes I think some places keep coming back to our mind forever just because our mind stops over those places forever...

Finchè scattavo questa foto al lago ghiacciato nei pressi del Rifugio Coldai mi sono semplicemente sentito molto piccolo. Mi capita spesso quando mi trovo di fronte ad una vista mozzafiato. A volte penso che alcuni luoghi restino per sempre nella nostra mente proprio perchè la nostra mente si ferma in quei posti per sempre...

Italian version of this blog! --- Versione italiana di questo blog!

2009-06-22T00:00:00.005+02:00

I have been thinking for long time about adding an Italian version of this blog. There are different possibilities to do that, but none of them is really optimal to me... The first possibility is to add the automatic translation widget for blogger, but like all the automatic translators, its performance is usually quite bad. Another possibility is to create the Italian version of this blog in a new blog to be updated in parallel with this one. Finally, the easiest solution, is to publish every post from now on both in English and in Italian... Let's try with this latter solution and see what happens. Are you wandering waht I expect? Nothing special, maybe a some more visibility for Italian users. Ah, let me know what you think about this topic... and obviously you can leave comments in the language you like the best!

Sto pensando da tempo di aggiungere una versione in italiano per questo blog. Ci sono diverse possibilità per fare questo, ma in realtà nessuna mi soddisfa completamente. La prima possibilità è quella di aggiungere il widget di traduzione automatica per blogger, ma come tutti i traduttori automatici, le sue prestazioni sono di solito piuttosto scarse. Un'altra possibilità è quella di creare la versione italiana in un nuovo blog, da tenere aggiornato in parallelo a questo. Infine, la soluzione più semplice è pubblicare d'ora in poi ogni post sia in inglese che in italiano... Proviamo quest' ultima soluzione e vediamo cosa succede. Cosa mi aspetto? Nulla di speciale, forse un po' di visibilità in più per gli utenti italiani. Ah, fatemi sapere cosa ne pensate... e ovviamente potete lasciare commenti nella lingua che preferite!

Take a seat

2009-06-19T01:09:00.003+02:00

A very nice place to take a seat and rest in the middle of a mountain hike...

Hikers

2009-06-17T00:39:00.004+02:00

What an adventure...

Mountain pictures coming soon!

2009-06-16T00:52:00.002+02:00

If you are following this blog with some regularity, you might have noticed that I'm posting less frequently in the last period: this is because I'm lately quite busy with work and extra work activities. I often really feel disappointed in the evening when I take a look at the clock and I realize it's just too late to do anything except going to sleep. And I can tell you I usually go to sleep quite late, when, even if the last energies are giving up, my plans for the ending day are rarely completely achieved.
Anyway, I just would like to inform you that some new pictures are coming soon on this blog. Since yesterday I went with some friends for a challenging mountain hike, a series of landscape pictures will be posted in the next days! So stay tuned and keep following my blog!

Rose garden

2009-06-11T00:12:00.003+02:00

Dandelion

2009-06-08T23:48:00.004+02:00

I took this picture some weeks ago. Actually I wasn't that happy about it, because I was not able to keep both the dandelion and the flying seeds perfectly in focus. Other than that, after the shot I realized that the sky on the background was a bit too bright and there was poor contrast between it and the flying seeds. Of course when I looked for other dandelions to try again I wasn't able to find one of them anymore... Anyway after palying with photoshop I ended up with this picture, which is actually obtained by the combination of two different shots.

Rocking horse

2009-06-05T00:48:00.003+02:00

Nightmare

2009-06-02T01:01:00.004+02:00

I took this picture with my old compact camera during a night walk. I used a free-hand (no tripod) long exposure time (15 seconds) to immortalize some people standing in front of me, and I probably didn't delete the bad-looking result just after the shot because of laziness. After downloading it to my laptop I decided to give this picture a try: I played with color adjustments and I finally ended up with this creepy image. Will you be able to sleep tonight?

All alone

2009-05-28T00:18:00.003+02:00

Prato della Valle

2009-05-25T23:23:00.002+02:00

Here is a view of the beautiful Prato della Valle in Padova. Every year when the weather becomes good this place gets crowded with hundreds of students. Here they study, play guitar and sing with friends, run after a frisbee, play with their dogs or just read a book... It's always like a big party, you can find a lot of them any hour in the afternoon or in the night... but not in the morning I guess: that's not the right time to run into party students! Some years ago, when I was a student, I spent in this place memorable nights with friends, talking and laughing all the night after some hard academic examination. Those were the days!

At the butcher's

2009-05-22T00:22:00.003+02:00

Taken in Padova. Processed merging with HDR technique three different expositions obtained from the same picture.

Looking far

2009-05-20T00:21:00.003+02:00

Taken in Prato della Valle (Padova).

Pigeons

2009-05-17T22:48:00.003+02:00

When I was a child I used to watch a funny cartoon. Its title was "Stop that pigeon!" and the plot was about a crew of aviators (whose leader was Dick Dastardly supported by the dog Muttley) on a mission to stop a homing pigeon named Yankee Doodle Pigeon from delivering messages to the other side. What I liked best of the cartoon was the initial signature tune... you can have an example of it here. Have fun!
Oh, about the picture: shot on S. Antonio square (Padova).

Coming & going

2009-05-14T23:46:00.003+02:00

In Padova there is a very nice square where the market of vegetables usually takes place. Very near to this place, (and conflicting with it because of the different kind of merchandise), there is a gallery, where most of the butcher shops and food shops of the city centre are concentrated.
I took this picture just in a part of that gallery. The low light and the neon tubes of the shops (other than the good smell of food) make the place very interesting, people coming and going do the rest...

Thinking and resting

2009-05-13T00:01:00.007+02:00

Last week I went with a friend for a photographic walk in Padova. Here I am posting the first picture of that series, but more are coming soon... This one was shot in Prato della Valle.

Rose (light painting)

2009-05-11T23:29:00.002+02:00

This is my first experiment with light painting technique. This is a very intriguing method, consisting in taking pictures to subjects in a dark environment, using a very long exposition time. During the exposition you light the subject with a common torch. In this way only the parts you light up will become visible, just as if you painted them with a torch as a brush. More experiments coming soon...

Footprints

2009-05-08T00:26:00.004+02:00

Waiting for the summer

2009-05-05T23:57:00.002+02:00

Shoe on the sand

2009-05-03T23:47:00.004+02:00

What I like about photography is that it can dignify very simple and insignificant subjects and make them protagonist of the scene.
When I shot to this shoe on the sand I didn't imagine I could really obtain a decent picture to post here, but after very few postprocessing I got this result. Ok, it's not a masterpiece, but since it was intriguing me I decided to put a frame around it and share it with you...

Spring!

2009-04-29T00:50:00.002+02:00

Spring has arrived! .. even if the ugly weather of the last days might say something different...

Some tools

2009-04-27T23:41:00.003+02:00

I took this picture at dusk and then played with colours to emphasize the old atmosphere of the scene. In the original image also an electric switch and a calendar were visible on the wall, but since I didn't like them in this context I decided to hide them with Photoshow.
The clone stamp and the spot healing brush tools of PS can really work magic!

Fight between light and darkness

2009-04-24T00:12:00.005+02:00

We are only spectators...

Wheelchair

2009-04-22T00:30:00.004+02:00

This reminds me the scenography of a horror movie. And the place where I took the picture actually was a bit scary...
I shot this in the attic of a very old building that many years ago used to be a reception shelter for abandoned children.
The place now is very ramshackle, with unstable wooden floor, spider webs everywhere and this abandoned wheelchair in the middle of a long corridor...
Isn't it a disquieting atmosphere?

Countryside

2009-04-20T23:45:00.002+02:00

Last saturday the sky was very cloudy and dramatic, so I decided to take some pictures in the open country.
I was just walking around when I saw this scene in front of me. I think sometimes nature offers us incredible sights and most of times an image can barely describe the breathtaking sensation you feel just before holding your camera to shoot...

Old house

2009-04-16T23:47:00.002+02:00

Back to a rustic subject...

White

2009-04-15T00:21:00.004+02:00

Probably the last Photoshow model...

Elegance 3

2009-04-11T17:46:00.004+02:00

Elegance 2

2009-04-09T23:23:00.003+02:00

Elegance

2009-04-09T00:04:00.003+02:00

The first of a short series of pictures I took to this model (next coming soon).

Model pictures disclaimer

2009-04-08T00:13:00.003+02:00

As I said some days ago, I was looking for rules about publishing pictures showing people.
I was told that for the specific case of models at a public photographic fair (such as Photoshow) they were implicitly giving their acceptance, since they were there just to be photographed and no releasing was provided. In confirmation I found a lot of pictures showing models from Photoshow in different public forums and communities over the web.
So in the next days I am finally going to post my pictures!

DISCLAIMER: In the event of any protest I'll promptly remove mentioned pictures from my blog.

All eyes on me, please

2009-04-08T00:01:00.003+02:00

This was one of my first tries with models. And it was a big disappointment. My position was not so good: too far from the girl and a lot of other photographers between us... Other than this the light was quite low, so my final picture was blurred. Anyway I didn't want to discard the only picture where the model was just looking at me while I was shooting, so I decided to try this experiment. I blurred all the picture with a riadial filter to obtain two effects: first the high periferal blur level should make the model's face at the center to appear a bit sharper (ok I know she doesn't look sharp at all here). Second her stare seems to attract everything: both other photographers' attention... and maybe yours too!

Observing art

2009-04-05T23:57:00.002+02:00

Three guys looking at a picture exhibition at Photoshow. I wish that pictures were mine... ;-)

Photography magazine

2009-04-03T00:27:00.003+02:00

Photoshow 2009

2009-04-01T01:29:00.002+02:00

Last Sunday I have been to Photoshow 2009, the biggest annual photographic fair in Italy, this year in Milan.
It was a great experience! All the most important companies were presenting their news: compact cameras, digital slrs, lenses, tripods, thousands of accessories... I also had the opportunity to try some great lenses, from the Canon stand, on my 40D.
But the surprises I liked the best were some photographic studios they arranged, where you could take pictures to dancing models, flowers, cars and lots of other interesting subjects.
Result? I came back home with around 250 new pictures... Actually most of them are not as good as I wished, most of times because of the low light while shooting, anyway I hope I'll be able to post some nice shots in the nex days.
I only have some concern about publishing the pictures I took to the models: yes, they were there just to be photographed, but I'm wondering if I probably would need a releasing to show their picture on the web (in this case it is likely those pictures will be trapped on my hard disk forever).
Anyway I am going to inquire into rules about picture publishing (by the way, if you know something about this matter please let me know!), so let see...
Ok, I'm going to close now ... don't forget to chek the blog in the next days for some Photoshow pictures!

Vineyard

2009-03-31T00:06:00.002+02:00

I' ve just read a book: Learning to see creatively by Bryan Peterson (a famous American photographer). An important lesson I found is about lines in pictures: it seems that lines are very important to capture and drive attention. In this picture the perspective offers a lot of parallel lines: try you follow them... where do they take you?

Old place

2009-03-27T00:00:00.002+01:00

Just an old room...

Before the wind

2009-03-26T00:08:00.003+01:00

This blade was installed by my grandfather on the top of a pole, to measure intensity and direction of winds. In this picture the blade direction seems to drive the plane flight.

Carlotta flying

2009-03-22T01:24:00.002+01:00

This is the last (for now...) picture of the Carlotta series. Here Carlotta became Superdog and was flying to save me from the terrible Cat-erpillar!

Carlotta smiling

2009-03-19T22:57:00.002+01:00

Another picture I took to Carlotta at her eyes level. Don't you think she is smiling? I think so, even if I didn't hear "cheese" while shooting :-)

Carlotta!

2009-03-17T23:16:00.002+01:00

Hello! My name is Carlotta. Nice to meet you! Don't lose sight of your slippers...

The strange case of Mr. Charlie and Mrs. Carlotta

2009-03-16T22:28:00.002+01:00

His name was Charlie, and he was a male, of course. Now things have changed and it happens to be a female, whose name is Carlotta. A bit confused? Me too... but let's start from the beginning.
About two weeks ago the number of components in our family increased: a two months old puppy joined us! At the beginning he was supposed to be a male dog and we chose for him the name "Charlie". He was Charlie up till last saturday, when we took him to the veterinarian for a vaccine. Other than vaccinating him, the veterinarian gave us some unexpected news: the puppy is not a male! This is how "he" became "she" and her name became Carlotta. The only thing I can say in our defense is that anatomy of a two months old puppy is not always so helpful to avoid this kind of misunderstanding...
That is so, but let me introduce you Carlotta! She is a really cute puppy, with white and brown coat, and with two-colored ears. Her principal interests are eating and playing and her favourite toys are our slippers... Ok, no more chatting! In the next days I am going to post a little series of pictures I took to Carlotta, so you can take a look to our new friend!

Dribbling

2009-03-12T00:08:00.003+01:00

Nothing but biting the ball could make him happy in this moment!

Me and my new toy

2009-03-09T23:49:00.001+01:00

The eos 40D arrived! Actually it has been on my desk for ten days, but in the last period I was very busy at work and I couldn’t find one hour to play with it. Of course I tried it almost every night indoor, but last Saturday I finally had time to go out and shoot outside, with natural light! The very first impression was that I could easily get lost with all that new functions, but finally I started pointing and shooting (both in time and aperture priority) and things were quickly getting more natural and easy. One thing I noticed is that your hands need to get used to the weight of technology: shooting with 1 Kg equipment can be quite different from taking photos with a very light compact. Anyway my new pictures are arriving, so keep visiting the blog!

Primitive clothes

2009-03-08T23:10:00.003+01:00

I took this picture the day after a Carnival party.
When the weather is sunny it is very common to see clothes hanged out to dry, but this unusual scene was quite curious to me. While shooting I could imagine people resting after fighting with tigers and bears. Their cave is now safe, the mammoth roast is browning on the crackling fire and they are going to dress their glad rags for the sunday lunch.

They are among us!

2009-03-05T00:21:00.003+01:00

When I saw this little friend walking outside of my window I decided to take this curious picture. The scene reminds me an alien invasion... Unfortunately if you look carefully you can see my camera lens reflected on the glass. I didn't want to crop the picture, but I was not able to find an effective solution to mask the problem with Photoshop (a blur filter was not satisfying me). Would anybody like to share some PS skills and suggest me something?

Fifty meters to the finishing line

2009-03-02T23:37:00.002+01:00

His name is Omar, he is a friend of mine. I took this picture just fifty meters before the finishing line, after he run a ten kilometers foot race. I can see strength and determination in his face. I wish I had his perseverance in making sport... But in that case my sofa would feel alone :-)
About the picture, I played with the colors and I finally ended up with this version that reminds me the tonality of some pictures published on a famous italian sport magazine: La Gazzetta dello Sport. I was also thinking about cropping the scene, but I like the opposition between Omar's strain and the spectators' quietness. What do you think?

Bark

2009-02-25T00:09:00.002+01:00

Medieval reflections

2009-02-21T00:51:00.003+01:00

This one was taken in Ferrara.

The wharf phantom

2009-02-17T00:17:00.002+01:00

This picture was taken the New Year's Eve at the beach while snowing. The atmosphere was quite incredible: snow covering the sand and the wharf with the soft sound of waves in the background. I set the exposure time to 30 seconds and let the camera shooting on the tripod. My cousin was just standing in front of it by chance for a while and then he moved, causing the phantom effect. I didn't expect to get something other than shadows, but when I looked at the result I was quite impressed. I'm only a bit disappointed because of the quantity of noise, but I think I couldn't ask more from my compact camera while shooting at night at 800 ISO.
Ah, thanks to Devis for posing! ;-)

About joining the DSLR world

2009-02-16T00:13:00.002+01:00

I think it’s time for a great change. I have been thinking about improving my photographic equipment for some months. The choice was not easy, since I even started from the primordial doubt: Nikon or Canon? In my opinion there is not a correct answer to this question, because it is evident that both the companies are developing top products, with almost equal performances from a technical point of view. So the mentioned doubt assumes a philosophical connotation, something comparable to the existential question: “Do you like brunettes or blondes more?” (please don’t misinterpret this as a sexist wisecrack). In my opinion the answer to this kind of questions is just inside everyone of us and it is related to very personal considerations. So, after listening to my heart (and since I have been using for years a Canon compact that never betrayed me) I can say my personal answer is Canon (and yes, brunettes too, no offense for blond haired girls) ;-)

After choosing the make, the economic aspect should be taken into consideration (DSLR world can be very attractive but also expensive, especially if you get easily excited), along with the product range...

Ok I don’t want to bother you with all the doubts and considerations I had to tackle while taking my decision, but I finally ended up to the Canon EOS 40D, which, as I read, seems to be the semi-pro model with best price/quality ratio at the moment (EOS 40D has just been replaced by the new EOS 50D in its product range).

To conclude, I ordered my 40D almost two weeks ago, and I am waiting for the seller to call me, to get my new camera. It seems the model is now out of production and hardly available because of its convenient price. I’m just looking forward to keep the 40D in my hands, and actually a bit concerned since I wonder if I will keep up with all those functionalities and potentialities… I hope I’ll learn soon to manage such a camera and have some decent pictures to post here in future… Ah, for now (and sometimes in future too) I’ll keep shooting with my trustworthy compact of course!

Sky geometries

2009-02-12T23:55:00.002+01:00

This is what they call minimalistic or minimal picture. Very simple geometric shapes and almost homogeneous colours. It was just a try, since I noticed this scene while looking outside a window. I would probably have achieved a better result by using a longer zoom lens (not available on my compact camera) to enlarge a bit the plane trail...

Close to the flame

2009-02-10T23:47:00.002+01:00

I like shooting at fire and water (maybe I'll post some water picture too in future) because of their particular light and transparency effects. In this case I deliberately underexposed the picture, to make only the flame visible and hide everything elese on the background. Can you feel the warmth?

Sunset

2009-02-07T11:57:00.002+01:00

I shot this sunset scene in Assisi. In my opinion, the colour of the sky at sunrise and sunset is always very attractive for people aiming at taking some good picture. Actually, in that particular moments, there is more than just the wonderful colour of the sky: the particular light conditions and reflections seem to make everything photogenic. I think even the most appearently insignificant scene can become a very interesting composition at sunset or sunrise.
Unfortunately, because of my life style, I am not often ready to take pictures early in the morning; we could say I am still dreaming about the perfect picture, when the sun is rising, so I necessarily have to practise at sunset... ;-)