Next Sunday I'll leave for my winter holidays to Austria, in particular Carinthia region, with a couple of friends. Our base will be the town of Villach and from there we'll wander around the region probably up to Slovenia. Hope to have fun, make lots of shots and see so much snow. See you in 2011!

Every year my dog Jasper is the most popular on the greetings cards and so is this current year!... I want to wish everyone a peaceful Christmas and a very Happy Holiday Season enjoying the company of family and friends!

Tech data: Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4 L, f/7.1, 1/400, ISO 100 - Processed with Alien Skin Exposure 2.

After many years as an amateur photographer, I am increasingly convinced that “our work” is not simply to take pictures but most of all to pick and choose, eventually a matter of choices.
The photographer choose what, when and where to photograph: from our world (potentially infinite) you select a rectangle, a square, a portion of the field and cut it with the viewfinder, you freeze time in a specific moment, "the decisive moment" and you take back all on a two-dimensional paper surface or light (the screen). But also from a technical point of view (the choice of camera, lens focal length, since the aperture, from color to b/w, from analogue to digital, from white balance, to jpg or raw) all photography is an exercise in selection and choice of options. All of this just to say that photography exercise our right to freedom, increase our ability of selection and, most important, allow to make our choices visibile to the world.

This is not a mathematical formula, this is essentially a dog...formula! In the end first snow of the year has come and Jasper, my lab, is really starting to have a good time. Especially during these occasions and if the light is just right, you can get nice coat details and appreciate his continue developing into a nice hunter.

In photography, high dynamic range (HDR) is a technique that lets capture more tones and colors that we can see but our camera cannot. When the dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and the darkest area of an image are exaggerated can lead to a very unrealistic shot. I have to admit that I never liked that much to create HDR images but I must confess that in some snaps may be quite appropriate. Right now I'm testing Nik Software's HDR Efex Pro, a powerful tool that offers a whole range of options and previews. The new photo of the month on my website is one of the possible results that can be obtained.