Falling in love with photography

Since I had held my old PETRI FT camera on my hand I was loving “to tell stories by images”. I usually imitated my parents, Pietro and Angela, both in love with taking photos of their two children (Bianca, my little sister, and me!).

I practically grew up with photos! So I was shooting for fun during all my youth, always using a SLR (sometimes my dad’s TLR), trying to immortalize “forever” what my eyes were watching.

I came to photography more seriously thanks to my wonderful and beloved wife Silvia who gave me an extraordinary gift, a Canon DSLR, my real starting point on photography “in the age of internet”.

What did I do before?

I took a MS in Electronic Engineering at the University of Catania, Italy and I'd been working as Project Manager and Market Analyst on ICT businesses for almost a decade: this probably gave me the chance to see how powerful was the actual technology to share knowledge, to open new markets and to face new professional challenges.

Digital Photography: a new opportunity in the Digital Age

I began to study more accurately Photography, Digital Imaging and Web Design, spending all my spare time and holidays on books, on my computer and obviously with my camera!

First of all I studied the National Geographic photographers’ works: an incredible adventure inside photography techniques and charm, and an extraordinary opportunity to learn from some of the best photographers of the world, dreaming the chance to work - one day - for the NGS!

I red many handbooks about photography and Digital Imaging but there are three photographers that I really have “to thank” for their books: Dan Heller (author of “Profitable Photography in the Digital Age”, “How to Make Money with Digital Photography” and “Digital Travel Photography”) for his very effective help on managing a photography business on the Digital Era; Michael Freeman (author of “The Digital SLR Handbook”), for his extraordinary simplicity explaining difficult concepts about Digital Editing and Image Optimization; Bryan Peterson, for his three wonderful books (“Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera” , “Learning to See Creatively” and “Beyond Portraiture”) that have really been a revolutionary change on my photography concept and style.

What am I going to do?

Dan Heller says that being a photographer concerns more with a lifestyle than with a labor.

So I am working and studying to find my lifestyle, trying to realize my dreams. We don’t know if a dream turns real or not: it doesn’t matter! The importance is “to live the dream” and to work to make it real, without any regrets. Like most professions being a photographer is hard work. But as Bryan Peterson says, “why not work at something you love to do?”. I particularly love travel and socio-cultural reportage photography in which you can receive the “gift” to learn from the spirit of the people and place and to share that to the world by images.

This site contains several photos, mainly shot digitally: actually I have a large film database that I am going to digitise as soon as I can.

I know I am not alone in this adventure: I have the privilege to share this project with my incredible wife who is supporting and believing in me, day-by-day.