Great opportunities to shoot interesting pictures, despite the season…

Even in the summer, when the weather is hot and dry it is possible to find fascinating things to photograph if you take a look around. The main thing is to be creative in the way you approach your subject. Try different shots, get a different perspective, and background while you take photographs. Sometimes a different colour in the background can make a huge difference in the final composition. You can try and shoot from above or from below. You can get closer to the subject using a different lens. Think about the way you crop your subject….do you leave too much space around it? Or perhaps too little space?

Find your unique way to depict the season you love the most using creativity and emotions….and you’ll be surprised by the results!

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Where to start to work on a photographic project?

In order to build up a good photography project and be consistent in the outcomes, we might want to keep a journal where we can write down all the stages of the project, starting from good research, which will help us to support our idea. Keeping track of the improvements will guide us to reach our goals and it’s a useful strategy to gain confidence. The best way to be conscious of our achievements is to take a look at the first pages of a journal and then compare them to the final pages. This is also a useful strategy when we want to build a good photographic portfolio. This was one of the most useful things I’ve learnt in college and helped me to really improve my editing skills.

Now I want to know more about you…

Would you consider using a journal to work on a new project? Why/why not?

Is it just me or…

Having a camera can make you notice things that often would go unnoticed (I know, I often say this). Then looking at your photographs you realize you have a tendency to photograph a certain colour and a certain subject. Nature has always fascinated me and blue flowers attracted me the most. I’m not quite sure why, but when I go out as soon as I see a blue flower I feel the urge to photograph it. Does it happen to you? 🙂

This is probably the right season to take pictures of blue flowers here, as they are pretty much everywhere at the moment in Italy. What I find interesting is the fact that there are a few flowers that have a similar shade of light purplish-blue, and yet they are all so different in shape from one another.

Here I used different points of view to get various perspectives to make the photographic compositions a bit more interesting. In the first picture, I shot through a leaf (which was out of focus) to add a soft green shade to the image. I often use a soft focus to convey emotions. Back in the days, one of my photography tutors often pointed out the importance of a picture in focus… This, of course, depends on the message you are trying to give with your photography… I think soft focus and sometimes movement can be used to make images more effective and emotionally charged. What do you think about it?

Does an image need to be in focus to work?

An unexpected guest paid a visit this morning! :-)

Look what I found this morning! A wild mushroom in a pot on my balcony…I love it when this happens!! Simple things make me happy!! 🙂

I decided to experiment a little with colours, composition, and a shallow depth of field to make an interesting series of photographs this morning, just for fun! By using a shallow depth of field, or a wide aperture, the subject in focus is one object (or part of the object) in the frame, while the background is out of focus. This allows you to create a hierarchy of elements within the photographic composition, so choosing the right depth of field for the picture is very important. The viewer’s attention can be directed towards a particular direction, detail, or colour in the picture. A shallow depth of field is also a very effective way to convey emotions.

Are you aware of the way you use depth of field when you photograph?

Do you use a shallow or wide depth of field?

Why spontaneity is a gift.

Despite what some people might think, spontaneity doesn’t always come naturally to us….as we tend to adopt different strategies to interact with other people or avoid confrontations. We might also do this with ourselves, as a sabotaging strategy, without realizing it, to escape certain realities that make us feel uncomfortable. But pushing the boundaries often requires us to come out from our comfort zone, in order to grow.

As a dyslexic individual, I’ve always had a tendency to hide my weaknesses, as I grew up in an educational environment where I couldn’t be myself. Since then things have changed and I’m so happy about it because dyslexic individuals nowadays can talk more openly about their weaknesses and celebrate their unique strengths. This is why I believe becoming more aware and proud of our true nature is so important. Photography can be a great way to improve self-awareness and spontaneity.

What’s your point of view on this? What are the pros and cons of spontaneity?

Can mistakes sometimes be beneficial?

Often what we consider mistakes can bring some kind of benefit to our lives. In photography, for example, there are plenty of rules that we can decide to follow if we want to, but shooting with an open mind can give us surprising results. Always leave a margin for mistakes, as this can lead to a more personal and unique interpretation of the world around us. Photographs can convey deep feelings and emotions, as long as we are able to freely express ourselves through the lens. The same thing happens when we learn any new skill…We have to experiment and make mistakes to learn something and if someone tells us what to do, is usually not enough, as we have to find our way around it.