In this interview, we learn more about his love for the outdoors, what he wishes to convey through his images, the type of edits he makes and how discovering Affinity helped him reinvent his practice.
When did you first pick up a camera or become interested in photography?
I remember it clearly and as if it were yesterday. I was nine years old and was called upon to fulfil a task of great responsibility: my father asked me to take a picture of him and Mum. Holding that little metal box in my hand ignited a flame about the world of photography and all its secrets, which not only has never been extinguished, but is still alive to this day.
“There is, in my opinion, nothing comparable to the feeling of being alone in the midst of nature, watching it wake up or fall asleep naturally following the cycle of the sun, catching its shades of light. ”
What attracted you to landscape photography?
This has a lot to do with who I am as a person. I have always been a lover of the outdoors: I enjoy skiing, climbing, and walking at altitude. Contact with nature awakens in me something primal and deep that makes me feel alive. Being confined within four walls, even if they were those of my own home, makes me feel trapped, and therefore every opportunity to be able to experience the environment and the outside world is a chance to reconnect with myself.
There is, in my opinion, nothing comparable to the feeling of being alone in the midst of nature, watching it wake up or fall asleep naturally following the cycle of the sun, catching its shades of light. At that point, the step was short: it was simply a matter of capturing with a camera what my eye saw.
What do you try to communicate with your photography and how do you achieve it?
I simply try to honour the magnificence of nature. Our planet is uniquely beautiful and it is so here and now. It has already gone through other eras, it has already been through upheavals, and it is constantly changing, but it is still wonderfully fascinating. What we have lost in our daily living is the awe at this beauty, which for me is unparalleled, and therefore, with my photos, I would just like to raise awareness of how much of a privilege it is for us to witness such majesty. In addition to this, the assiduous search for unseen scenarios is, for me, a way of communicating through images, things that I would otherwise likely not know how to express. Something potentially very intimate but also capable of arousing fascination for others.
“I simply try to honour the magnificence of nature. Our planet is uniquely beautiful and it is so here and now. It has already gone through other eras, it has already been through upheavals, and it is constantly changing, but it is still wonderfully fascinating.”
Do you spend much time planning before you visit a location?
Yes, planning is really a very large part of my work. It is the so-called submerged part of the iceberg. I don’t believe in the motto “being in the right place at the right time”; not that fate doesn’t exist, but the photo, even before it exists in the camera, has a definite shape in my mind, and it is necessary to consciously plan all the elements that make it up: weather, light, hours, location, point of view, focal length, camera setup. For a few weeks, this activity becomes almost a sweet obsession that acts as a background to everything else. Clearly, if it were up to me, I would try to plan even the impossible—I need it so that what I have in mind and the image that I can then achieve in reality parallel as much as possible. However, when I am then on the spot, it is also necessary to adapt to the unexpected, which takes you by surprise but can also turn out to be a great inspiration. As they say, the unexpected is always just around the corner!
What is your favourite time of day to shoot?
My favourite moment is sunrise, without a doubt. The sunrise is not merely the moment with the best light but also that single instant when everything is one step away from awakening. Like the silence just before the start of a concert, that minute second in which you are certain that something you are going to enjoy so much will begin shortly. That is the moment that is most precious to me.
We were delighted to hear you use Affinity Photo for your retouching. How did you first discover the app, and what impressed you about it?
I work also in the graphic design field and around 2018, I remember experiencing a small moment of impasse. Once again, I felt trapped in the graphic standards that the traditional reference panorama offered. For me, my work tools are something which I cannot—and am not willing to compromise, settle or give in to limitations. I needed software that could respond to stimuli, like an extension of myself, to effortlessly achieve the result I have in mind.
“I found Affinity on the web, and in starting to use it, I reinvented my business. Finally, an intuitive, simple, comprehensive software that avoided complicated techniques or workarounds to hit the target.”
I found Affinity on the web, and in starting to use it, I reinvented my business. Finally, an intuitive, simple, comprehensive software that avoided complicated techniques or workarounds to hit the target: Affinity Photo at first and then, as a natural evolution, Designer and Publisher. I am a person who likes to get straight to the point without getting lost, and this software reflects me so much: it fits me like a pair of gloves.
What kind of editing do you do on your images? What is your aim with the final result?
I work more on contrasts and colour but with the sole intent of going to correct what are probably technical limitations of my camera. The goal is to make an image as natural as possible and, above all, true to what my eye caught, not the lens through which it was shot. In my opinion, naturalness and non-artifactuality are everything in a photo, and the idea is really that of an invisible hand correcting imperfections without distorting the overall result.
What features/tools in Affinity Photo do you find most useful?
This is a difficult question to answer precisely because Affinity Photo responds almost in full to what are my professional demands. If I had a magic wand and the chance to improve it further, however, I would probably add the ability to bulk sync RAW files with masks and dust corrections and to expand the abilities of macros, maybe including some special actions like Tone Mapping. This would really speed the workflow up.
How do you feel you’ve grown as a photographer over the last couple of years?
Photography is, for me, like a journey in which you never arrive but through which you can constantly grow. What is certain is that having more awareness of my equipment has allowed me to make better choices of lenses to use in order to reproduce my idea to perfection—always, however, with an eye open to the search for details that were previously beyond my consideration. This is something that comes from experience but, as I said, is not even close to being a point of arrival.
“Photography is, for me, like a journey in which you never arrive but through which you can constantly grow.”
Do you have a favourite photo, and if so, can you share the story behind it?
Yes, I have one, and the story behind it is really funny because it turns out I didn’t even take the picture. I was on a family vacation in Tuscany, the first vacation with our little one, who was eight months old at the time. The plan was to wake up very early to arrive at Podere Belvedere at the crack of dawn, to take what is a classic for anyone visiting the Val D’Orcia. As any parent knows, sleeping past a certain time for many is a luxury, and so finding us all already awake at a really early time, we all decided to go together to take the picture.
Naturally, such a misty and striking sunrise had attracted a large number of photographers, some of them so well equipped that my equipment, in comparison, felt almost like toys.
It looked like a firing squad ready to shoot. In short, we earned the last place in line, and almost instantly, I shot. “Okay, I’m good,” I told my family, triggering the curiosity of all the other photographers, who could not believe I had managed to get my shot in a few seconds. As I was rearranging my tools, however, I heard my camera go off again: my little girl pulled the trigger. And what’s funny is that her photo was, by far, better than mine. Beginner’s luck, I come to say, or it must be that these new generations have truly amazing talent! Here is the picture she took:
What locations are next on your list, and is there a dream location you would like to shoot someday?
In the immediate future, I plan to tour Liguria and return to Mont Blanc, a location I am particularly fond of and has already yielded me more than one photo. I am fortunate to live in a place in the world that offers striking views of rare beauty. I have many dreams in the drawer, though, and all of which are mostly pins on my personal planisphere. My dream location, however, is the extraordinary Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia: it is not only a place that has magic and that I would like to see once in a lifetime, but it is also one of those places where it is not possible to go without a camera.
Finally, what advice would you give a beginner looking to improve their landscape photography?
Be consistent. Every failure is a step forward to reach your goal. It seems almost obvious to reaffirm that it is practice that makes perfect, but without an objective view of our mistakes, in photography as in life, growing and improving will not be possible. You never stop learning throughout the duration of this exciting journey, so to someone who, for the first time, manifests curiosity about landscape photography, I would suggest patiently and stubbornly building up whatever may be useful to them, be this weather, composition, shooting techniques, post-processing and whatever else. “The harder I practice, the luckier I get!” (quoting Jerry Barber, golfer).
You can see more of Gianni’s landscape photography on his Instagram account.