When I travel around Umbria, I always carry my camera with me to recount what I see; I capture the moment to appreciate it whenever I want. In Umbria every season deserves to be told, with its colours and shades. After so many years behind the lens, I feel I have gained the ability to make images speak for me.
For me, nature photography is an individual and intimate experience: when photographing, you have to be at one with the camera. It is also a meditative activity, to be carried out following your own rhythm, your own times and the deepest emotions. With discretion, respecting the spaces of others.
Knowing how to grasp what others miss is an art; being able to tell something with that image is an even more difficult goal to achieve. To take a beautiful photo, the heart is not enough, you must also use your head. You must be able to predict the final result of the shot. Patience is as important as technique: it can take hours before you are able to seize the moment. A good photographer must know how to wait. Photography is curiosity, the ability to grasp the details, attention. Photography is experimentation, research and study. Qualities that are acquired only with time and experience.
Courses on the farmhouse: basic and post-production photography
In recent years I have managed to organize several meetings on the farmhouse with photography lovers from all over Italy. Together with other photographers and technical assistants, I held two-day intensive workshops on photography and post production right here in Ampugnano. The visits to the villages nearby have become an opportunity to field test the techniques learned. The photography courses are organized periodically and vary depending on the skills level of the participants.
Basic photography course
A course to learn how to photograph well even without a smartphone. Suitable for beginners, enthusiasts, bloggers and social media managers.
The course in brief: a journey into the world of photography, from its origins to today. Because to be able to capture correctly you need eye and technique, but it is culture that makes the difference between a photo and a shot.
Course times: six meetings of two and a half hours with practical outings each lesson.
Program:
- the camera and sensor
- image and resolution
- colour and black / white
- the memory archives
- the file formats
Recommended materials: pen and paper for taking notes, camera
Lightroom and Photoshop workshop: after photography
A medium difficulty course to learn or improve the use of Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop, two indispensable tools for photographic post production. Suitable for amateurs and professionals.
The course in brief: an overview of the main photo editing and selection tools, with examples of image correction.
Course times: two days full immersion in the farmhouse. There are no exercises.
Program:
- Organize the workflow
- The import phase
- Enter keywords
- The importance of metadata
- Organize the photo project
- Folders and collections
- Best image selection
- Use of the filter in the Library
- Organize and search the archive
- Export files: file types, resolution and colour profiles
- Publishing services
- What a raw file is and how it is built
- Develop a post production idea
- Perfect white balance does not exist
- The global tools: exposure, contrast, clarity
- The selective correction tools: gradients and brush
- Use of selective tools with automatic mask
- The new colour profiles: how to create and apply them
- The pre-set creative: how to create them with personal colour maps
- Get different versions with virtual copies and snapshots
- Switch to black and white
Recommended materials: pen and paper for taking notes, laptop (optional).
Other photographic projects
In 2016 the Umbria una foto al giorno project was born, a space created to make known the most hidden and unexpected corners of Umbria. Everyone can contribute; just use your own creativity and inventiveness. If you want to participate, search our Facebook page or our Instagram profile.
Write to me if you have any questions about the programs or want information on upcoming photography courses and workshops [link a contatti]
