SEARCHING IMPRESSIONS OF LIFE: black and white

It's in my blood.
Since I was given my first camera, when I was a little kid, I have always been fascinated by capturing in a shot what my eyes were seeing around me. The beauty of nature or the smile of a friend, an event or an emotion... Precious pearls to be framed in a photo. Whether freezing a movement or moving the stillness, looking at normality through a different angle or portraying the exceptional, I can choose different perspectives, I can catch reality. I think this passion is in my blood, I inherited it from my Grandpa and then from my Dad, and it has always had a great influence in my life. Come and follow me in my journey searching impressions of life.

Showing posts with label black and white. Show all posts

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Brick Lane – Part1

Nature Photography, Food Photography, Landscape, Portraits, Action... I like to span across many genres, and Street Photography is another one I always look at with interest. I haven't developed this area much, so far, but I certainly want to explore it more.

During one of the recent visits to London, I was looking for interesting spots for street photography and I found an area I had never been before. It turned out to be a good opportunity to bring home some street shots – in the real meaning of the word: Photographing the streets and specifically the street art that is present almost everywhere around Brick Lane.

24mm f/5.0 1/2000sec ISO500

17mm f/5.0 1/500sec ISO500 +0.67

17mm f/5.0 1/250sec ISO500 +0.67

27mm f/5.0 1/4000sec ISO500 +0.67

29mm f/5.0 1/5000sec ISO500 +0.67

32mm f/5.0 1/250sec ISO500 +0.67

17mm f/5.0 1/400sec ISO500 +0.67

17mm f/5.0 1/320sec ISO500 +2

28mm f/5.0 1/250sec ISO500

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Love Is in the Air

I know, I am behind with the editing of my photos. That's because when I am out in the field I can't stop shooting, and when I get home I have multiple cards worth of shots to go through... good, but bad at the same time...

So, while the Black-winged Stilts have already laid their eggs, here are, in this third installment on this species, some shots taken a few weeks ago still during the mating season. We have seen the fights in my previous post and here is the mating ritual. Females have a brown back while males are black. The colors of the head are not distinctive of sexes and vary from bird to bird.

When the female is ready she lowers her head, keeping the body in a straight position and waits. Sometimes the male is not interested and doesn't respond, otherwise he goes around her a couple of times before finally getting onto her back. After the mating, male and female exchange a tender caress, beak to beak, one next to the other.

I can't wait to see the cute little stilts which will be born soon!

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III f/6.3 1/2500sec ISO 400

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Knights

That's the Italian name of this elegant bird: Cavaliere d'Italia, the Knight of Italy. I must confess I don't know the origin of this name, but indeed the bird looks like a tall knight with its long legs and black and white colors.

The Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) is the specific subspecies living in Italy and Europe, and also in Asia and Africa, but there are other subspecies living in other continents and in fact I have some shots of the "same" bird taken in California as well (will show in another post later). I even found out there is one living just in Hawaii, the Hawaiian Stilt.

I hadn't taken a photo of this bird yet, so I decided to go to Racconigi right during the mating season. Many couples of birds are coming back from Africa and stop at this wetland to nest, and I was able to take hundreds of shots of the birds feeding in the shallow water, fighting for their territory and mating.

The legs of the Black-winged Stilt are extremely long vs the size of the body and are a distinctive element of this bird. The silhouette of the Cavaliere d'Italia is very elegant and I love to look at them especially when they fly and keep their legs parallel to the body and stretched out.

Here is a first batch of shots, mainly portraits. I'll share more pictures during the upcoming days showing the territorial fights and other behaviors, and I hope to go back when the eggs etch to try and shoot the newly born chickens.

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/5.6 1/4000sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/5.6 1/4000sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/5.6 1/2500sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/5.6 1/2500sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS
USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1250sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/6.3 1/2500sec ISO 400

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 500

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM f/6.3 1/2000sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 640

EOS 5D Mark III – Canon EF 600 mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x III @840 mm f/5.6 1/1600sec ISO 500

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Nature Design 1.0

How can you not admire God's wonderful creation and the extraordinary beauty of nature? A perfection of shapes, patterns and colors creates wonderful designs in all the natural elements, even when the design might look a little rough, like in the case of some of these seeds and fruit. But especially when you take a closer look, even this roughness turns out to be very beautiful. I love to explore even simple things with my camera up close and be surprised at what I see.

I decided to work these shots in black and white, to give importance to shapes and patterns without the distraction of color, and I purposely pushed the contrast, raising the values of whites and blacks to obtain a stronger visual impact.

I chose the title Nature Design 1.0, to leave room for new future posts presenting more exploration in this area I am particularly interested in. Hope you'll enjoy this first group of shots.