© Copyright Stephen Wilkes Kira Pollack, director of photography at TIME Magazine declared that "ten percent of all photographs made in the entire history of photography were made last year - an astounding figure. More than ever before, thanks in part to the cell phone technology, the world is engaged with photography and communicating through pictures" [...] So I want to close this 2012 with the Top Ten Photos according...

However you choose to celebrate this time of the year, I wanted to take a moment to wish everyone who views this blog a happy holidays season. So best wishes to you all, hoping that the new year brings growth and happiness...we really need it! Have fun with family and friends and do find some time to play! Take car...

I think the most difficult thing to photograph is the thing that's around us everyday. My new book represents an experiment of visually exploring an urban landscape in constant movement with the simplicity and charm of instant photography. Follow me wandering around my hometown for this urban exploration with instant eyes. At this link you can find a sneak preview and...if you really love it...you can also buy it! :-) http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/3769347 Enjoy!...

Even the photo taken quickly from the car, of course not technically perfect, just because may remind something to us, it's worth to be fixed in our mind. You know my attitude to match songs and photos...this one is the combination of one of 1000 thoughts in my head in that particular moment.... Do you think is matching properly? :-) There's a place out on the edge of town, sir,Risin' above the factories and the fieldsNow,...

The first cold descent of the year coincided with the start of meteorological winter and with the arrival of the first snow here near where I live. With this premise, I think this winter we will reserve many surprises...we have just to wait and...look out of the window! "Winter start" is the new photo of the month on my website. Enjo...

Although I do not have a keen interest into botany and gardening, I have always been fascinated by carnivorous plants. These plants always arouse curiosity among people, bringing to mind depictions of fantastic "man-eating" plants and the environment, in which many of them live, the mysterious tropical forest, has helped to magnify what I've just said. There are many hundred species of plants that attract animals to consume...

Seems so far the times when you spent hours and hours in front of a not-so-intuitive photo editing software, trying to learn how it works, perhaps with a good paper guide at your side. Then first came editing software for mobile devices such as iphone and ipad, and in the end was...Snapseed turn! Snapseed - by Nik Software - makes every photo extraordinary. You can easily enhance your photos, add amazing effects and...

iPhone 4s and Lo.fi Instagram filter Suddenly autumn with its incessant rain washed away memories of a Mediterranean summer that seemed to never end. My hometown awakened drowned by water that continued to fall from a dark sky full of gothic piles clouds. Then, at the end of the day, the clouds drove away and the last remnants of the sun inflamed the world around me, before the darkness come back once again, now in this short...

Take a day outside, wandering in the woods, with your camera and a keen eye. This combination makes me always slow down and look more intently than I normally would; you might be attracted by hidden things, always present for all careful observers. Such as the bark of a tree and its knots, natural and concrete elements, transformed into unexpected looks of a living forest. "Someone's watching you" is the new photo of the month...

Whenever I have new gear, I really like to take some time for myself and wandering around with my camera looking for some opportunities for great shots. But that's not an easy task, of course is more simple to get inspired during a travel or on special occasions. When we are near home everything sems so ordinary compared to the other places we visited around the world. The more I grow up, the more I got myself familiar finding...

Vintage...stuff! Mirrorless cameras are nearly half the market in Asia and I believe they are the future. There's no doubt that in image quality they are catching up to the APS-C sensor-based cameras. They're also catching up on better low-light performance and they are catching up on value as well. After shooting with my brand new OM-D for over a week now, I can sum up my whole experience that this simply the best...

Historic Fiat Topolino car  - iPhone 4s and Lo.fi Instagram filter Photography mainly acts on emotions, causing different sensations and considerably more intense, on the contrary of written words. Is for this reason that, despite being in some way against social networks, or rather their bad use, I decided to get into Instagram and use photos in this simple way to show the various steps of my life. Instagram is an...

I am still fashinated by the prospects of photographing something unusual. I think that anything that is old, abandoned and disused, just like buildings and places, have its own charm. There's something haunting about that stuff, a feeling both creepy, melancholy and deeply intriguing at the same time. I like to think and imagine how many stories, moments of life there may have been behind a building in decay. It's fashinating...

Ålesund scenic view - Norway The Coast Road is a stretch of road that hugs the shore along the entire coast of Western Norway. En route, every bend opens up  countless gems – small towns and villages, spectacular bridges, new vistas of sea, fjord and mountains that will take your breath away. There is no better way to get a taste of Norway than to travel the outer coast, exploring cultural attractions as well as the...

Tempura is a typical dish of Japan cuisine and has the peculiarity, unlike our fries, of being light, delicate and digestible, thanks to the particular method by which it is prepared. Another traditional dish are the uramaki, which differ from classical maki because the rice, usually inside, is outside and the nori, the alga which is usually wrapped outside, is in this case inside. Now think of the delight of a dish made of...

The Space Needle, the major landmark of the Pacific Northwest and the symbol of Seattle There are days when surely many of you would like to be somewhere else, maybe in somebody else shoes, try other lives, situations, emotions. In those days it's nice to play with our minds nad leave it free to think...it's funny to daydream sometimes! Today is one of those days, when I find myself surfing the web without a specific purpose...

I'm starting off the weekend with something fun. Over the week I was playing around with a newely discovered iPhone app, cinemagram, with lots of potential for interesting image animations. You just have to start creating video clips while out, shooting specifically for cinemagrams or, if you have an iPhone, is also pretty fun to use on its own. Just try! Have a great week-end everyon...

There was a place that I have visited during my last holidays that remains clearly impressed in my mind. It was the Bonifacio Marine Cemetery, at the extreme south of Corsica. The Cimetière Marin, the city of the dead that lives in harmony with the city of the living, is a place of great charm. Maybe because is a windswept place, overlooking the sea; maybe because, although it is a cemetery, is strangely pleasant, with funerary...

Tech data: Canon EOS 5D, Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4 L Location: Palombaggia beach - Corsica I'm back from my summer holidays. In ten days we wandered around the south of Corsica in search of secluded beaches, some famous some less. Every day there were no clouds in the sky and temperature of the sea was really comfy. The village of Bonifacio really impress me with its white limestone walls, the rest of the holiday was a full...

The Corsica flag, with its traditional Moor's Head in black, wearing a white bandana above his eyes. This Sunday I'll leave for my summer holidays with my love and a couple of friends. Destination: Corsica. Approximately ten days looking for sun, sea and wandering around the various villages of the Île de Beauté. We hope to relax, have fun, eat some good food and make lots of photos. Happy Holidays to you all...if you are...

Tech data: Olympus E-PL2 - Olympus Zuiko ED 14-150 mm f/4-5.6 Location: Casies Valley, South Tyrol - Italy Although the mountain trip lasted only a weekend, my dog Jasper did not lose the opportunity to roam free on the trails, enjoy some fresh weather and...dive into the first pool of water he has found...You could read the smile in his eyes! :...

[...] He walked in with a salty sway Lookin' like Blackbeard in his day A brother in arms just like me I was born a son of the sea I can't be still, I can't be tied The only time I feel alive is When the wind fills my sail Riding on a lifelong swell Let my heart take me where it wants to go That's the soul of a sailor, the soul of a sailor [...] Words and music by Kenny Chesney. While dreaming about the sound of the sea...

Summer is definitely the season for open-air concerts, I really enjoy to attend many of them, especially because of their many photographic opportunities. This evening....hats off to the unique, inimitable, original Emilian Rocker, Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. LITTLE TAVER, the most crazy criss-cross between Elvis, John Belushi and Little Tony, never appeared on the planet earth! ...

When I was little child I remember I had an illustrated book depicting the four very different seasons; on that book there was a picture for summer section that reminds me very much this photo I took few weeks ago during the harvest near my home. I think that this picture represents also very well this hot summer season. I would really like to find that book .... but, unfortunately, you are child only once....

Also this year, even if only for one night, I did not want to miss a good concert, that can ideally carry me on the banks of the Mississippi River. Of course I'm talking about Roots n' Blues Festival, good food combined with great music. Here are some shots from that night. Enjoy! Latvian Blues Band Roberto Luti Latvian Blues Band Latvian Blues Ban...

Close your eyes and breathe deep: here, senses and sensibilities converge in a way only Provence reveals. The fine stalks wave in the wind, blue prairies stretched as far as the eye can see.  Is this all a dream? An extravagantly beautiful dream, for sure, and so, in celebration, I invite you to walk with me along these intoxicating rows of lavender fields..."In full bloom" is the new photo pf the month on my website:...

This picture has nothing special, probably not even worth publishing. But I love this particular wood, these textures, these old doors, these vivid contrasts; I think they are fashinating. I have many images of these kind, but perhaps it's time to clear my setting: be patient, it's only the externalization of an evening photo. Then pas...

I'm back from a wonderful long weekend in Provence. As usual, this region never disappoint me, great food and wine, delicious farmer's markets and dramatic drives that leads you along narrow, corkscrew mountain roads, past the valleys and bluffs of the Alpes de Haute-Provence region. Moreover, if your hotel with swimming pool awaits for you with the sound of cicadas in the background, nobody can ask for more. Here some...

...I really like to escape for some days to France with my love. And so is this year...I'm leaving for a long weekend to Provence in search of some good food, relax while wandering around beautiful perched villages with the sounds of cicadas in my hears and...hopefully a little bit of lavender. See you at the beginning of next wee...

Tech data: Canon EOS 5D, Tamron AF 90 mm f/2.8 Di MACRO, tripod Location: My house I do not have a very large garden, but every time I venture there with my macro lens, I find details and nuances that might not otherwise be noticed. Macro world is fascinating and mysterious at the same time...such as these "treasures in the garden", the new photo of the month on my website. Enjo...

As a BBQ fan I really like to try new recipes with friends. Last weekend I had the opportunity to use for the first time a Weber BBQ, an experience somewhat different from the usual open BBQ in my garden. For the occasion, I wanted to experience Kansas City Style Sweet & Smoky Ribs, the obsession of the novice griller. The preparation is quite complex and delicate and becomes impossible without a suitable cooking device....

There is something magical at the seaside during the shoulder season. Breathing deeply the salty air as the sun is warming up is a priceless feeling and also the signal that winter is nearly over. With crisp air and beaches almost deserted, on the waterfront you do not meet freaks tan but people who choose the sea as the background of their favorite activities. There are those who can not wait to walk barefoot on the beach,...

...that challenges the harshness of the mountains and its slopes, and that connects Italy and Switzerland, which has become the highest alpine transversal in Europe and one of the steepest railway in the world. This extraordinary route begins in Tirano with the famous "Bernina Red Train", and sitting comfortably in panoramic carriages with 360° view, you can climb up the 2253 meters of the Bernina Pass and descend towards St....

When I have some free time, I really enjoy wandering around my hometown, even without a precise destination, perhaps with some friends, just to relax and try to get some good shooting. In the past days I waited for a spring storm to end and then I went out in search of the right light. "Urban frame" is the new photo of the month on my website. Enjo...

Tech data: Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3 - Olympus Zuiko ED 14-150 mm f/4-5.6 Location: Parma !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Times; panose-1:2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; ...

Spring equinox passed away not so long ago and after a quick taste of summer, the weather has taken definitely an ugly turn and, never mind the calendar, has returned us into a depressing fall panorama: lead-coloured sky heavy with rain, 12 degrees temperature and the Apennines range on the horizon unusually snow-capped. Looking forward for blue skies and temperatures more appropriate to the period, in the meantime I enjoy...

Duesseldorf - Milan. An hour and a half flight. Just enough time to read reluctantly a newspaper, to consume fat snacks offered by flight attendants and browse the in-flight magazine before landing. But every time I can not avoid taking a snap of the Alps in all their glory on a cold February morning. The amazing white range helps me to get absorbed in my thoughts…until a dull sound brings me back down on Mother Eart...