Tell me abit about yourself?
I’m 30 years old, I work as a QA engineer, when I’m not holding a camera I’m spending quite a lot of time at the gym or doing some physical activity (I really like to be fit), love cooking, spending time with friends and from time to time I play my electric guitar so I won’t forget how to do it!
Where are you from and whats it like?
I’m from Italy, I grew up in a small village located in the north east of the country, in a really amazing region where you can drive from the seaside to the alps in an hour and a half, where the landscape is really diverse and the food and wine are something absolutely amazing. Almost 3 years ago I moved to Poland, in a city named Wroclaw, to start a new job. I was immediately charmed by the city and I fell in love with it, so I decided to settle down. The city is beautiful, with an incredible history and distinctive architecture. I love the fact that is really alive and constantly evolving. I sense a positive vibe here all the time, this of course is giving me fuel to go out with my camera to capture this nice atmosphere.
Do you consider yourself an amateur or professional photographer?
I just started so I totally consider myself an amateur.
Is there issues in your city that you try and highlight through your photography?
Sometimes I like to highlight the fact that there’s too much concrete around us. The city is growing and developing at a really fast rate, and all the available land is used to build apartments, offices or shopping centres. So in some of my pictures I’m trying to show that the nature has been confined in the building’s courtyard and there’s not much space left for it. From the other perspective I like to to show the resilience and power of nature that pops out from the concrete.
Whats the best or your favourite location to shoot in your city?
I don’t have a favourite spot so far. I guess any place is potentially good for me, the important thing is being out taking pictures no matter where because anything can happen and you should be ready to capture it.
Who’s your favourite photographer from your area?
There are a couple of them, I follow them on Instagram so I don’t know them in person, but I think they won’t mind being mentioned. I really love the work of “anuladobro” (www.instagram.com/anuladobro/) and alina.iosfvn (www.instagram.com/alina.iosfvn/) . Check them out!
Do you shoot alone or with someone?
I usually shoot alone, In that way I’m not distracted by anyone and I can focus more on what I’m doing. Anyway I also like going for a photowalk with some friends, that like me, do enjoy taking pictures. We usually have a lot of fun and we exchange a lot of information about our own tricks and techniques, so it’s a win win situation for me.
Where did your interest in photography come from?
I can’t really tell you with precision where it comes from. I’ve been always attracted by photography and probably this latent passion has blossomed only now.
How would you describe your photographic style?
This is a really hard question because I think I’m still in the process of defining my style. Being a newbie in this field I’m trying to experiment as much as possible with different styles and different techniques, maybe in the future I’ll be able to give you a better answer.
Is there a photographer that your work is inspired from?
I rather say that there’s a multitude of photographers out there, famous or not, that are inspiring me.
You do a lot of black and white street photography, is there a reason behind this?
Basically because I love black and white and I like the mood that is able to set and because for me, at the moment, black and white translates perfectly what I want to show.
On the other hand I do like colour a lot, and I think that soon I will start experimenting also with that.
In terms of street photography, do you ever get nervous about photographing people you don’t know, if so how do you overcome this?
When I started going out on the streets holding my camera I was a bit nervous, but I have to say that this feeling disappeared pretty quickly. In my opinion there’s no secret recipe to overcome this. Acting as candidly as possible makes me feel more relaxed when I’m out shooting and it happens that I take a picture of someone. When I’m doing that I don’t want to look like a creep that is hiding in a shady corner and I also don’t like to flash my camera in people’s faces. I try to have some people in my pictures to get some “human” feeling, but usually they are showing their back or their side, so also this makes me feel less nervous, because people probably don’t even notice that I’m including them in my frame. If they notice, I'll simply smile and act confident because I know I’m not doing anything wrong. Lately I also started to ask people if I can take a picture of them. Again, the first time I asked I was pretty nervous, but then when I saw I got a great picture and that also the other person was happy about it, my initial fear disappeared. Now I’m definitely more confident, and if I see someone interesting I put a big smile in my face and ask to take a portrait. 90% of the time they say yes.
What one tip would you give to someone picking up a camera for the first time?
Just have fun with it, go out and take photos of what you like and what makes you feel good.
What equipment do you use [Camera, Tripod, lens etc]?
Since I Just started my setup is really basic. I have a Nikon D3400 where I mainly mount Nikon DX 35mm 1:1.8 lens. I’m really happy about the 35mm lens, it’s really light and compact and the large aperture allows me to take good pictures even in really low light condition. I’m also planing to buy an analog camera, I’m really fascinated about the idea of shooting on film.
Can you talk us through what you look for in your photos [ in terms of composition, colours, tone, shadows, highlights]?
I like either static scenes, for example a nice building facade, as well as more dynamic ones, for example with people walking, running, biking or doing daily activities in general, I really like to capture these moments. When I’m out shooting I’m thinking in “black and white” so I look for a nice contrast between various elements, shadows and sunny areas that may create nice shapes and reflections. When I’m taking the shot I usually have a composition idea in mind but usually I find myself correcting and cropping the image in post to achieve the composition and perspective I really want.
Can you talk us through your editing style [What applications do you use, do you use in built filters or edit each individual image differently]?
I started editing my pictures with Darktable, I really liked that software because it’s super powerful and gave me a lot of control over the images helping me achieve what I had in mind, quickly and easily. I recently switched to Lightroom and I’m also really happy with it. In terms of editing, I’m cropping a lot my pictures to get the result and composition I want. I’m also moving the sliders a lot, especially the contrast one. I do a lot of dodging and burning to create more dynamics in certain areas of the pictures. I’m editing all the images from scratch and I’m not using any preset because I think that every image is unique and should have it’s own personal edit.
What is your greatest photography achievement?
So far, every day I achieve something greater that the day before
What do you hope to accomplish with your photography?
For now I just want to have fun, collect nice memories and maybe being able to translate some emotions to the viewers.
How do you educate yourself to take better pictures?
Mostly by taking a lot of pictures, comparing them with my previous pictures so let’s say I can learn from my mistakes. I’m also talking a lot with other photo enthusiast or professionals, there are always tons of information and ideas that can be shared. Additionally I spend a lot of time online looking for tutorials and tip and tricks videos.
What motivates you to keep taking taking photos?
This is the usual question which I don’t really know how to answer :) I think the excitement that I feel when I’m out shooting, and then home developing the pictures, pushes me to keep taking photos.
Thanks to Alex for talking with me you can check out more of his work at https://www.instagram.com/teste_____/. All Images are, unless stated, the property of Alex.