A collection of landscape photographs, picturing in the minimalistic way possible, our short trip to Sicily.
Sunset between Stromboli tiny houses.
Etna.
Hikers looking over the edge.
You can basically drive up the lowest craters and start your hike, but we decided to book a short sunset tour, so we had a Volcano expert guiding us through the whole hike. I highly recommend it, for me was the first time on volcanic soil and it blew my mind.
Etna’s soil.
Etna’s camomile.
It feels like you just landed on another planet, everything is out of the ordinary, it was like living in a science-fiction movie. I recently watched the latest Alien franchise Ridley Scott films and I must say that I was quite inspired by that cinematography for this series.
The view from above Silvestri’s craters on Etna.
The balanced, partially diffused soft light illuminated the craters in the most beautiful way possible. I just had to be patient and wait for the perfect moment.
Etna’s flora.
Defender on Etna.
Old lava stones.
Vegetation close up.
Laura taking light.
Etna’s minimal landscape.
Local dog.
Catching the last light.
Few technical words: I always try to compose a photograph in the most accurate way possible, in a very short moment there are so many things that have to match. Specially if I am shooting with the Leica M. I start with the basics: shutter speed and aperture plus focus adjustment, I usually tend to use a wide aperture, even when it's not needed; A: I love the softness around the sharp focus point that some Leica M lenses will give you, and B: I love the three-dimensionality of a shallow dept of field, mostly using bright wide angles, very cinematic. That’s why I named one of my long term project "frames from a foreign film". Too bad there's basically an instagram filter for it now (I'll tell you all about that some other time). I will usually over or under expose the photo to saturate or desaturate color, one more thing to keep in mind will be the white balance. I usually keep the WB in total control, never in auto, I need to be constant if I want to keep a solid color output for my editing. Once all of the above is settle then I will concentrate on composition, I tend to start from an anchor point. That could be a strong vertical or horizontal line for instance, so I will use that to build my composition around, it's like a pillar supporting all the clues that I want to be seen, and that will guide my viewers in the best way possible. I try to balance my photographs in the best way possible, in both shapes, lines and colours. When colours are way too much out of control from the main palette I will already process it as a black and white project. Don’t forget that I normally adjust my way of shooting in anticipation of my editing, meaning I try to help my post production process right on camera.
Stromboli.
Laura looking at sunset.
Stromboli tiny houses.
Minimal Stromboli view.
Bathers in spiaggia lunga.
If you ever feel like you need a break from the world, maybe concentrate on your next project, reconnect with nature, write your next novel, well Stromboli is definitely the place for you. Mobile phones won’t work and wifi is very limited, no cars, no traffic, the only vehicles you’ll see on the island are: golf cars ( local taxi ), electric scooters and few Ape ( Piaggio ). At night no lights to bright the narrow streets, this to avoid light pollution so that you can enjoy the starry sky.
Black rocks.
Black sand.
Spotting Strombolicchio through Stomboli’s landscape.
Another stop, another active Volcano.
Stromboli’s flora.
La sciara del fuoco.
Sunburnt grass.
This Volcano is definitely active, we were lucky enough to have a local friend that showed us around. Eva was super kind and took us for a hike to reach “la sciara del fuoco”, a scree that runs along the island's northern flank. When the volcano is in full activity you can witness lava strain down to reach the sea, we weren’t able to see that but we were lucky enough to witness several eruptions, an unforgettable sight for sure ( sorry no photos about that, only had wide angles, not a fan of long lenses for my travel photography ).
View below the cliff.
High grass growing on volcanic soil.
Snapshot of feet in black sand.
Matching lights intensity #1
Matching lights intensity #2
Well I guess that’s all folks. I know that many of you are fan of my automotive photography, but I truly hope you’ll enjoy these kind of images as much as I enjoy taking them. This lot of photos together with many more is part of bigger projects and will be available on sale soon. Of course I will have a “car portraits” section ( for the many of you asking ).
Plus I have still so much to show you: last Maserati work, Valentino Rossi reportage winning the 12 hours at Abu Dhabi with kessel racing, special portrait section with Alena Seredova, and many more!
Be humble,
love and respect,
Def.
