Introduction

Repeatedly awarded internationally, published and exposed in various national and international newspapers and exposures, I've always been in search of the better photographic experience especially using the right instruments. I'm sure of this: I really don't need the best camera available but really need the best the situation, enjoying the moment free of thoughts, free of complications, leaving away the bad experiences.

Q&A session with Giovanni

What is your favourite location for taking pictures and why?

"I am a fan of little and beautiful corners and I'm absolutely in love with the territory of the Sant' Antioco peninsula of Sardinia: this territory has an incredible variety of rocks shaped in different modes, incredible for my nightscapes. This part of the coast is very ancient and it was supposedly a part of Spain or France (millions of years ago), indeed the Sulcis Iglesiente territory is the most ancient part of the Italian territory, as the Sardinia in full.

So I know which there are incredible places in the world but I'm truly in love with this part of Sardinia, it's magic and incredible, simply beauty... small and so characteristic."

What is your greatest achievement in Photography?

"I have a lot of achievements in photography, I've recently received another, but sincerely the greatest moment is seeing my picture 'WE' used in H&Y graphics and events. When a brand, which you use for making images, recognises your work, well, this feels like the best achievement to me.

The exposure in Somerset House and being selected as 'one of the 40 most inspiring photographers' for the Sony International Photography Day in 2016, could also be considered my greatest achievement.

But.. the greatest one is probably, transmitting my feelings into the pictures I take and seeing the reactions from people when they see them."

What style of Photography do you specialise in most?

"I use many different 'styles' during my walks in photography, but my new favourite is Nightscapes, this is by far the ones I spend most of time with at the moment, I also combine it with lightpainting too. I also like land-seascapes too, the design of a balancer filter is the answer for this particular 'specialisation'."

What is your favourite camera or lens and why?

"Well, as you can tell, I already have some odd preferences and this topic is the same. I usually like to use lenses in a different way compared to others and although I respect the specific application of the lens by the brand I like to mix it up. I like to use, for example, the Lightdow 15mm ƒ/4 1:1 Macro for landscapes in focus stacking mode, and in particular, POV because of the specific characteristics.

It is not the sharpest lens in the world (because it is designed for other applications) but I love the result, the 3D effects with irregular shapes of the landscape and coupled with my 77 screw-in adapter for my H&Y filters, for me, is enough."

What is the best picture you have taken using H&Y Filters?

"It often find it difficult to talk about “best pictures”. To me, especially considering the method which I like to use, in my honest opinion, the most 'impressive' until today is 'Starry Hurricane' which was created by blending the same scenario on the same day in two different times, perhaps one of my best photographic performances ever."

"This was achieved by using the MCOPlus 12mm on my Fuji X-T1 and KH100 using the GND Balancer, this was to control the exposure especially in 'blue hour'. Then I switched to the Astroseeker Sky Watcher Star Adventurer for a 180° degree of the sky, still using the MCOPlus 12mm but this time with a circular H&Y StarKeep filter, playing with the clouds on a windy night. The result was (and to me still is) incredible: a true hurricane which appeared, more or less, above of the main rock in the composition resulting in a complete milky way arch.

Reminds me the of the Paramount logo (hehehe). All in all, a small piece of heaven located in south Sant'Antioco, Sardinia."