A list of blog posts about photography

There is an idea that is floating in my mind since a while. I managed to somewhat express it with a tweet a couple days ago, and I think it could be the topic for a nice photography discussion. As you may have guessed, it’s about AI cameras. Here it is: The matter of this … Read more

One of the common observations regarding the Ricoh GR is that the whole concept of a compact camera seems obsolete — or at least redundant — in an era where we already carry a camera phone in our pockets. The dubt grows as we consider modern smartphones feature good quality cameras, thanks mostly to their … Read more

We are constantly proposed ways for becoming successful. YouTube videos, courses, books. The aggressive marketing of these products is a reflection of a great interest into this topic –– becoming successful –– but what is success? And how does it relate to photography? When we think of success, we usuall picture money, luxury, nice clothing, … Read more

Lately we saw a proliferation of YouTube videos about VERO social network and its role after the decline of Instagram. This happened because Peter McKinnon did a video about it, and many photography channels just copy what the popular ones do — a rushed repetition of each other’s content, editing and aesthetic. The rise of … Read more

My Ricoh GR II got dust on the sensor and for this reason I have been using it less and less. I guess this is quite a common event in the life of a Ricoh GR lover. If we shoot it a lot, sooner or later dust will come. This made me sort of sad, … Read more

How much time do we spend trying to emulate film aesthetic? Or trying to copy the style of a photo we saw on social media? How much time do we waste reading reviews for equipment we don’t need and we will surely never buy? How much time watching informative videos that give us no actual … Read more

This lens kept me company for the last 20 years or so: I bought it for my Yashica FX3 Super 2000 and I then adapted it to pretty much all of my digital systems, starting with the Canon EOS 300D, using that combination for shooting — among the other projects — most of the light … Read more

We are living in terrible times, dear friends. Not much is left but doing what we can for helping each other –– and hoping for reason to win over madness –– empathy over hatred. I am trying to be useful and so I am hosting a Ukrainian refugee family with a 1 year old baby. … Read more

Ansel Adams apparently once noted: “the single most important component to a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” I say apparently because I don’t know where he wrote it or if there is any proof that he said it, so let’s take that with a grain of salt. It is quite a popular quote … Read more

I sometimes caressed the idea of opening my own channel on YouTube — intrigued by communication through an experience of time that is so different from the written word. In the end though I never do that, mostly because I like the written word so much. I like to read — and I like it … Read more

What a title. A better one would have probably been “Comparing the Ricoh GR II and the Pen-F mounting a Panasonic 14mm f2.5”, because that’s what this little post will be about — but that would have definitely been too long. The idea for this post came to me when I remembered the Pen-F has … Read more

Instagram is transitioning from being a photo based community to being a global marketing platform. They always shifted their focus in a way or another: it started with snapshots taken with the phone and it then embraced photos taken with other cameras: I remember the drama –– purists wanted Instagram to be used only for … Read more

A couple of weeks ago I was shooting some editorial for a brand. The owners became fans of the Ricoh GR after I used it for some of their photos, so they let me know they would enjoy for it to be used whenever possible. That would have been a pleasure as usual, if I … Read more

Note: I wrote this article in Junuary 2021 but I didn’t publish it until now. It is virtually unchanged apart from some minor edits reflecting recent events. It started as an opinion piece about Olympus and in the end it touched the whole m43 system. I removed a very long analysis of sensors tech, which … Read more

In this post I will talk of my experience shooting for a client using only the Ricoh GR II camera. This article covers the first shooting session and why I decided to shoot with the Ricoh GR II. Crime London is a succesfull contemporary Italian fashion brand focused on sneakers design. Their shoes and accessories … Read more

As you may know from my previous post, I didn’t exactly enjoy the GR III, and I ended up sending it back — all this while being enamoured with the GR II and using it for pleasure and for job since many years, as narrated in this other post. In last months I kept noticing … Read more

I started shooting photos long ago — my first camera was a Rolleiflex SL35 ME my parents had collecting dust in a closet. I have few memories of it, and no photos to prove my messing around with it. As a teenager I moved to a compact film Olympus mju2, and from there to a … Read more

The last post dates back to March 2020 — what happened since then apart from the obvious? Well no, let’s not ignore the obvious. A global pandemic happened and it made us change the way we live and work. I’m lucky enough to say the virus didn’t impact much on my profession. From my point … Read more

I started creating graphics and editing photos long ago, on DOS operating system — using software like Deluxe Paint II, Neopaint and others — moving then to Windows 3.1 quite soon. In these years I could definitely not afford Apple computers — although dreaming of them — I could barely afford a very slow IBM … Read more

Being original in photography became almost impossible — that “almost” leaves the door open for the dream, but I confess I don’t believe in it. I think we can’t create anything radically new in photography. This brings at least two questions: why is it pointless to pursue originality, and what’s the point of taking photographs … Read more

The camera I am going to write about is out of production and will very unlikely get an improved model, as Olympus declared a while ago — and yet I think it is worth writing about it, because this is a good camera — dare I say, a unique one — and because talking about … Read more

This post had to be called “Ricoh GR III review” but I had to change the title, because this won’t be a review after all. I received my Ricoh GR III some days ago and I started playing with it, doing tests and trying to understand what had been improved and what not. My goal … Read more

What a title. This won’t be a post that will try to declare which camera brand or model is the best, of course. There is not such a thing to begin with. The post will be about what in my opinion defines the best camera. I don’t especially think this definition is needed but it … Read more

This post won’t be about photography but it does fit in the general scheme of things and it does touch the photography profession. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Medium.. what do they have in common? They have users providing free content for these platforms. I say free because I believe what these platforms give back to the … Read more

The Ricoh GR II –– I’ve been using and loving this camera for years and it’s about time I write about it. I’ll try to avoid the usual review format –– the specifications are everywhere in the web anyway, this is a 3 years old camera after all. I’ll be focusing instead on my direct … Read more

With digital photography we got used to the fact that we can shoot and then change the picture in all kinds of ways.  We can make it black and white with endless variations or try to simulate a film look and so on. This created a sort of fetish for having the best RAW possible … Read more

Instagram started as a simple mobile app for sharing photographs, optionally applying them some filters inspired by slightly older Hipstamatic app and by Lomography. Once a couple of celebrities started using the app, its huge marketing potential became evident. Facebook bought it and started changing the platform, making it more efficient in terms of advertising. … Read more

Yes I tend to talk a lot about smartphone cameras, and for good reasons. First, we always have them with us and they got to a point when they provide decent quality even if you print the photo with a 18×15 cm or kinda A4 size. Which is more than enough for most of us. … Read more

I sometimes forget the marvel of having a great quality camera always with me — even better, a camera that features my favorite focal length nonetheless. I’ve always been a fan of 28mm and even if modern iPhones moved closer to a 31mm equivalent I still find them a joy to use. I work as … Read more

Did you ever fall for that mellow feeling and ended up saying to yourself  “I guess I just wasn’t made for these times” like in that beautiful song by The Beach Boys? I did, but I ultimately realised that’s just not the case. I was born in 1980. This allowed me to live the actual 80s, … Read more