About

I met photography when I was in high school, thanks to Marco Costa, the photography teacher who introduced me first to the Rayograms technique and then to the true game. After that, I experienced some years of dark room and black&white films, shooting mainly some kind of home-made still-life, portraits and macro. I used to shoot with old and second hand film cameras witheven older lenses and no automatisms at all, so, when I approached a digital SLR, everything, from AF to zoom lenses, has been a new discover. Actually, I realized that none of the “new” features of digital cameras is truly necessary, they are only tools. Even in the digital era, photography is still “just” light and composition and other negligible details.
Thus, I’m not particularly interested in showing my equipment list or shooting settings, for example. If you think that it matters I can say that now I use Nikon and third parts stuff, that’s all. Otherwise you can write me and I will give you the details you need.

In 2006 I decided to take some pics of my study subjects (I have a PhD  in evolutionary biology in Pavia, Italy, and I’m involved in researches about reptiles and amphians). I abandoned my self-made still-life shots, attempting to show how herps can be fascinating and how they are beautiful, despite their ugly reputation. As I spend most of my time in the field for my studies, I have lots of opportunities to take pictures of my favourite subjects. Moreover, Italy, most of Europe and the whole Mediterranean basin are wonderful places for photographers and herpetologists as there are many species and many different habitats and landscapes to go around. So far I’ve focused mainly on European herps but recently I’ve also opened my eyes on other subjects and also to  more exotic places. Thus, I’m also starting to take pictures of dragonflies, some spider species, other arthropods and also people at work in the field…

Part of my archive is managed by FLPA (United Kingdom), VISUALS UNLIMITED (US) and OKAPIA (Germany).

Acknowledgments

(strictly in entropic order)

Elisa Riservato, Marco Costa, Greta & Sauro Sorana, Edoardo Razzetti Emanuele Biggi, Francesco Tomasinelli, Paolo Mazzei, Simone Tossani, Ernesto Torti, Giacomo Radi, Marco Porciani, Roberto Sindaco, Cristina Grieco, Badr Awadh Al-Aseily, Ahmed Adeeb Abdullah, Stefano Faggioli, Marco Balzarini, Fabio Sacchi, Massimo Campora, Emanuele Affaticati, Sara Fornasiero, Marco Zuffi, Claudio “Cloude”  Pia, Luigi Piccirillo, everyone at Cascina Bellezza, Stefano Unterthiner, Frank Deschandol, Nicola Di Sario, Vitantonio Dell’Orto, Michele Menegon,  Ale & Rocco, Flavio Lo Scalzo, Salvo Orlando, Giovanni “Nanni”  Bencio, Thomas Doherty-Bone, Daniel Nyonsaba, Martin Sindikubwabo, Jeremy Nzarora and Mika Nsanzimana.

Thanks for your teachings,  inspiring works and/or friendly company in the field.