Category: Photo essays

  • Abetone, a few pictures from a few steps in the woods

    Abetone, a few pictures from a few steps in the woods

    In July I grabbed a little bit of refreshment on Mt. Abetone, which I love. All the pictures in the following gallery were taken with this combo: Here is the link: https://adobe.ly/3rVc782

  • Crime scene with chalk

    Crime scene with chalk

    It looks like it is a recurring motif. I’ve made three of them, two modified photos and one 3d render :-)

  • Helios-44M-4 lens on Sony camera

    Helios-44M-4 lens on Sony camera

    My first SLR was a soviet Zenit 12XP, that came equipped with its “normal” Helios-44M-4 lens which, despite it weird naming, is a 58mm focal-length lens. I was about 14, when I got it and, after that — but this is another story — I moved on to a Contax 139Q. The Helios lens, and…

  • I fiori di Dogana Nuova (MO)

    I fiori di Dogana Nuova (MO)

    Non viaggio molto; conosco pochissimi posti; il monte Abetone mi piace moltissimo. L’ho visto solo una volta con un pochino di neve; il più delle volte, ci vado d’estate per cercare refrigerio. Forse, se non avessi la mia palla al piede personale (a.k.a. Dafne il bulldog) mi sposterei più facilmente e guarderei di più dei…

  • Sony’s Creative Style

    Sony’s Creative Style

    Seldom I shoot jpg. Normally I shoot RAW and I do at least a basic editing. When I shoot with Fujifilm, I extensively make use of their “film simulations;” I like all of them, either made in-camera or with a RAW developer. However I was wandering on Mt Abetone with my Sony alpha 7 II and two things occurred: I…

  • Sleeping (beauty) bulldog

    Sleeping (beauty) bulldog

    I confess that photographing a sleeping bulldog is not exactly the most difficult task that a photographer may face: a sleeping bulldog is… still, with the only exception of some mild shaking of eyelids or ears. Technically there might be the need of shooting in low light and/or bouncing the flash, but surely no autofocus…

  • Playing with the Bulldog

    Playing with the Bulldog

    If she asks to play… you have to do it. If she doesn’t… you have to ask, because she needs to get tired, or you won’t be able to sleep tonight. At the end of the day — quite literally — you must play with her. She can be devastatingly exuberant. I am sure it…

  • When a Bulldog sits down

    When a Bulldog sits down

    Can looking at somebody sitting be enough to cheer yourself up? If the answer is yes, then this somebody really must be special and worth every second of your attention.Dafne, my English Bulldog, rarely sits. She’s hyper-active and sitting is almost not an option — unless she wants to communicate something, such as “I am…

  • Usigliano

    Usigliano

    I don’t really recall how I ended up in Usigliano (province of Pisa); I only know that it was at the end of a brief car tour across the landscape around Crespina, dotted with elegant villas. Of course a short walk, together with my Sony 7II and an adapted Carl Zeiss Contax Tessar 45mm f/2.8…

  • English Bulldogs in 100mm focal length!

    English Bulldogs in 100mm focal length!

    Perhaps, the Canon 100mm f/2 lens is one of the most underrated/overlooked lenses ever (as of today, I cannot even find it on sale on Amazon!). This is, for me, especially incomprehensible: – if we think of the current fashion/hype around bokeh and fast lenses – given the fact that its weakest technical characteristic is…

  • Sony Alpha 7 II, Nikkor 50 / 1.2 AI-S, some crazy colours in Cenaia, province of Pisa

    Sony Alpha 7 II, Nikkor 50 / 1.2 AI-S, some crazy colours in Cenaia, province of Pisa

    Much to my surprise – I didn’t know the area around Fauglia – Cenaia and its surrounding are a simply beautiful place to live in. The following pictures were all shot during a single short walk with my Sony Alpha 7 II and an adapted Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 shot wide open.

  • the simple beauty of Fauglia, near Pisa

    the simple beauty of Fauglia, near Pisa

    All these pictures derive from a couple of short walks in the simply beautiful town of Fauglia, not distant from Pisa. They were either shot with a Fujifilm X-T1 camera equipped with a Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 XF or a Sony alpha 7 II with a Carl Zeiss Contax Tessar 45mm f/2.8.