Over the years, I have increasingly come to appreciate silence, a silence comprised only of images. It’s a silence that doesn’t distract, but ideally allows you to enter more into the image you are observing.
The most difficult challenge
For those not used to being in front of the camera lens, putting oneself on show is always difficult. For this reason, I don’t like traditional presentations. Rather, I prefer to talk about my way of thinking about photography and the experiences I’ve had in a more unconventional and certainly more direct way than you might expect.
In my life, I have had the opportunity to live out my passions, whether is be travelling or through photography. I love to travel. I love to do photography. I love anything that allows me to experience emotion. Yes, I want to experience emotion and photography makes it possible for me to do this, day after day. With a photograph, you can capture magic, unrepeatable moments. You can fix them in your memory. Photos are like a good friend to me, reminding me of the best and the worst moments which I have lived through. This helps me remember who I am and where I come from. And now, after so many years of taking photos around the world, even I need to look back every so often at the old shots I’ve taken.
A passion for travel
My passion for travel is intertwined with my love for photography. Indeed, my trips have perfected my technique and continue doing so day after day. The challenge is to try and convey through my photographs the feelings that I experience looking at a landscape, a person or a particular scene. Through the frame of the camera, I try to convey the image my eyes see and the emotions my heart feels. The eyes observe, isolate the subject and bring them into focus. It is only after this process that I then use the camera to try and reproduce what I saw. Sometimes, however, you capture an image that others don’t see.
First I look, then I shoot.
Some time ago, I tried to express what photography means to me. If it’s true that photography is an art, then it’s also true that it merits accurate description. I came to the conclusion that photography is nothing more than an extension of the human eye. What I do every time I want to take a photo is to fix the image in my mind. I try to modify it with my imagination and then capture this in a photograph. Moreover, the purpose of any photographer is not just to take a beautiful photo, but to capture emotions that become enjoyable to see again. A beautiful photo is not just made by well-adjusted light or colours captured at the right moment. Rather, is comes from being able to bring to mind feelings we never tire of.
Each subject tells its own story
Many believe it’s the photographer who selects the subject. Nothing could be more wrong. The photographer’s only (and not insignificant) ability is to know how to find the right subject to photograph at the right moment. It’s very difficult to try and define my area of specialisation based on my experience to date. There are times when all I want to photograph is wonderful architecture or magnificent landscapes. At other times, I feel there is no better subject than the flora and fauna of a tropical location. For this reason, I have never managed to answer someone who asks me whether colour or black and white photography is better. Technique is like a good side dish accompanying what you discover to be a delicious main plate. I see good framing as the main course in a banquet to which I invite anyone wanting to experience the pure emotion captured in a single photograph.
When a photograph conveys emotions of any nature, to me it’s a good one. If these emotions remain etched in my mind and heart, it’s a perfect one. If a picture doesn’t communicate anything, it might be technically perfect, but it’s not a good photograph.
