Views on Venice

So here are some more images from last week's shoot in Venice. This first one is a beautiful property on the Grand Canal, available for short-term renting through the Views on Venice website.

. . . plus a smaller apartment in the same area . . .

. . and a house near the Peggy Guggenheim museum . . .

More Venice Apartments

I've just spent a few days photographing three beautiful apartments in Venice. I'l post more from the series here next week.

Classic Range Rover

Last week I was asked to photograph this restored 1974 Range Rover by British Garage, a company based in Italy which deals with classic British cars. This Range Rover has been stripped down completely, reconditioned and rebuilt with many new parts. What you get for your money is essentially a brand new classic car which will probably increase in value as it gets older. Not a bad idea.

Palazzo Giovanelli

Here's a hotel in Venice which I recently photographed. Palazzo Giovanelli is on the Grand Canal near San Stae, a lovely, quiet corner of the city and just a short walk from Rialto.

Hidden

There are some images which seem to hide a meaning within them. Here are three which I've always enjoyed and understood, but which I could never explain in words.

Accademy of Fine Arts, Venice

I've been invited to give a talk at the Academy of Fine Arts (Accademia di Belle Arti) in Venice this week. Organised by Guido Cecere, the talk will look at my background in Documentary Photography, some of the practitioners that have influenced me, and how this is applied to my current commercial work and research projects.

It's on wednesday at 2pm if you want to come along!

Il Relais dell'Abbazia, Verona

Earlier this week I was photographing a new Bed & Breakfast in Verona. The Relais dell'Abbazia  will open next month. It's a 17th century house which has been nicely restored and the owners are a lovely couple that made us very welcome during the shoot. Cristiano Rastelli at Area Web will be producing the Relais' new website. I'll post a link once is ready.

Tech: a busy day with lots of details to shoot as well as the main room sets. It was also raining all day which made the exteriors a little tricky and left us with very little natural light for the interiors. For some shots I placed a Quadra outside the window with an umbrella mounted to through some extra light into the rooms.

El Molin Restaurant

I'm working on a new food book this year in Trentino, Italy. Here are a few images from the El Molin restaurant which I shot last week. The chef is Alessandro Gilmozzi. The food is wonderful, as is the setting.

Oliviero Toscani

Yesterday I had lunch with Oliviero Toscani, the Italian photographer famous (and sometimes infamous) for his work with Benetton, amongst other things. Well, to be more honest, he had lunch while I photographed. I was commissioned to take some portraits of Toscani for a client. I'll post the results once the article is published.

Naples - Saisonkeuche Magazine

I was commissioned to photograph in Naples a couple of months ago for the Swiss magazine, Saisonkeuche. It's been published now so here are a few images from the story. This was fun city to photograph.

Workshop: Fotografia a Chilometro Zero

On the 9th and 10th of June I'll be running a photography workshop here in Italy alongside my colleague Arcangelo Piai.

The workshop will take place on the estate of Borgoluce, a wine producer in the Prosecco DOCG region north of Venice, and some great food and wine and a night in their villa is included in the package.
More details here (in Italian):
http://piu2.wordpress.com/workshop/

 Photo: Arcangelo Piai

VPSolar

My friends at Delineo Design recently asked me to make some new images for VPSolar, a young, dynamic company that manages and distributes solar panel installations from their base in the north of Italy. 

Lazzarini Cave Shoot

This was a job for Lazzarini, a company producing designer radiators for the home. Working with the graphic studio Treid and stylist Laura Pozzi, we created a series of room sets in a prehistoric cave in the north of Italy. 

Tech: working in a dark, damp cave with no power and having to light these sets was a fun challenge. I used a total of four Elinchrom Quadra heads and power units which stood up to a full day shooting without needing to recharge. We obviously couldn't mount the radiators on the walls so they were either suspended or propped up in place. I then made two shots - with and without the radiator - and then combined layers in Photoshop to remove the supports. The lighting was created mostly using 2-meter Photoflex panels each with two 400-watt Quadra heads, then a couple of Nikon speedlights to add detail in some of the darker corners.

Valore Alimentare - Cooking School

At the end of last year I spent a couple of days in Milan with the chef, Giovanni Allegro, producing 12 vegetarian recipes for Valore Alimentare magazine here in Italy as part of their cooking school series. Here's the first part which has just been published. There are three more issues due over the coming year.

Tech: with this kind of shoot the challenge is to work quickly, following the action and getting light in the right place at the right time. I shot with a Nikon D3s setting a basic exposure for the available light and then adding flash with the Quadra to highlight or freeze action when necessary. As the light faded towards the end of the day I shot just with flash using two softboxes to give a more natural feel, ensuring the images would work alongside the daylight shots.

More Venice Interiors

Here's another pretty amazing property I've just finished photographing for Views on Venice.

Tech: this was quite a challenge. I wanted to get across something of the atmosphere in this place but the available light was really difficult to work with. So again a mixture of HDR and flash then blending layers in Photoshop.

Venice Interiors

Here I am on a very cold morning in Venice heading to an apartment on the Grand Canal. I've been asked to produce new images for Views On Venice which represent a number of exclusive properties for short-term rental around the city. Here's a small sample from a beautiful palace on Dorsoduro. I'll post some more from other locations as I shoot them. Thanks to Alessandro for this shot on the boat and for doing a great job assisting.

Tech: as with all my interiors I'm using a mixture of natural light, flash and HDR. My aim is to create an interesting light while keeping the effect as natural as possible. I'm using Elinchrom RX600s and Quadras plus a range of panels, light boxes and reflectors.

New Vineyard, La Berta

La Berta, a wine producer in the Emila Romagna region of Italy, asked me to come and photograph a new vineyard being planted. La Berta is one of those small, quality producers that prefer to do everything in the traditional way. So the new vines are planted meticulously by hand, one by one.

Naples

Last week I was shooting a story in Naples for a Swiss magazine. Great city, total chaos, but a lot of fun. I'll show some images once the story has been published. Meanwhile, here's a shrine to Diego Maradona found outside a bar in Spaccanapoli.

Cookbook - Tuscany

I've just come back from a week in Tuscany shooting for a book on local cuisine. The images were made at two fantastic locations, Casa Ombuto and Torre del Tartufo, which offer one-week cookery classes through Tuscookany. I was working with three chefs, Paola Baccetti, Franco Palandra and Laura Giusti, each with their own style and personality which came through in nearly 80 traditional, and not-so-traditional, Tuscan recipies.

The book will be published by Simebooks early next year.

Tech: All these images were shot with natural light but controlled with a range of diffusers and reflectors to give the shape and quality of light I wanted. I only used two lenses during the shoot, a 60mm macro and an 80mm Zork with movements to shift the plane of focus.

Fèlsina - Grape Harvest

It's been almost a year since I started photographing the Felsina vineyards in Tuscany, so I've seen it in all four seasons, and it's always a stunning location. Here's a selection from my latest visit during the grape harvest. I'll be returning in November for the olives.

Best Western Villa Pace Website

The images I shot for Villa Pace Hotel Bolognese are now up on their website.

Look@me

A couple of images from a recent campaign I shot for Look@me, a manufacturer of trendy eyewear in the north of Italy. Styling and production by Laura Pozzi. Art Direction by Pubblimarket.

Exhibition - Treviso

Thanks to everyone who came along to the opening of my chairs exhibition in Treviso. It will remain open until the end of october.

Technogym

The brochure I shot for Technogym last year has now been published. Technogym is the world leader in sports training equipment and this brochure marks their entry into providing solutions for medical practitioners.

Tech: we shot this over six days in two studios,  building the set in one studio while shooting in the other. That meant that each day started with a whole new set of challenges in terms of lighting and models. Everything was shot hand-held with a Nikon D3x and up to ten Broncolor strobes. The daylight studio created the biggest challenge as the weather, and therefore the light, was changing continuously. My trusty Quadra saved the day more than once with its speed and portability.

Laura Pozzi did a great job with the styling and Arcangelo Piai worked as my assistant throughout the shoot. Art direction and graphic design by Faberi Associati.

The Chairs Project.. contd

I've pretty much finished shooting for the chairs exhibition and I'm mounting the prints right now. The project will continue after the exhibition and I'll put a book together once I feel it's ready. Meanwhile, here are a few more shots from the series, including two I recently made at the H-Farm headquarters.

Unusual Hotels of the World

I was recently invited to become a contributor for Unusual Hotels of the World - a website where you'll find the world's most original places to sleep. I'll be blogging for them about some of the places and experiences I've come across on my travels. Should be fun.

Best Western Villa Pace Hotel Bolognese

Spent a couple of days last week shooting this hotel near Treviso that needed to update the images on their website. Thanks to Alessandro for doing a great job assisting. I'll be back to finish shooting there next month. 

Tech: I'm using a mixture of natural light and flash in these shots. The interiors are made with multiple exposures and layered in Photoshop to create the final effect. I like to try and keep things as natural as possible to maintain the atmosphere of the room, adding a touch of light when necessary to highlight a particular area. Using Elinchrom 600 watt and Quadra heads.

Montelvini

It's that time of year when wine producers are wanting new images. I've just shot a series for Montelvini, a large producer and exporter of wines based near Treviso in the north of Italy.

Progeo - More from Berlin

The Progeo brochure I shot in Berlin during the Spring has just been published. As always the company wanted a different take on wheelchair users, this time opting for an urban feel. Art direction by Delineo Design. The photographs will also be used by Potsdamer Platz for their marketing.

Tech: really simple, fast shooting in bad weather. Just hand-held and a small Nikon flash off-camera.

Fèlsina - Grapes

I had a call from Fèlsina, a quality wine producer in Tuscany, last week asking if I could come and photograph their grapes. I had to break into my holiday to go down there but it was a case of now or never.

Tech: According to the position of the sun I either used a large Lastolite  or a little flash from the Quadra to get the grapes lit nicely. It was nearly 100°F out in the vineyards so we had to work quickly.

The Chairs Project

I'm still shooting for this project which is going to be exhibited in Treviso in the middle of October. The series aims to describe a community through the chairs found in its public spaces. The exhibition is being organised by Spazio Paraggi Gallery in Treviso. Here are two shots I made yesterday.

 

Front Cover - Geo (France)

One of my images from Brittany has made the front cover of Geo magazine in France. It's always a nice feeling to see your work on a cover, especially for a magazine like Geo. The shot is of Les Aiguilles de Port Coton  on the coast of Belle-Ile. Another of those shots you have to get up painfully early for, but it was worth it in this case.

Interview - Progresso Fotografico

An interview with me together with a some of my images is featured in the current issue of Progresso Fotografico magazine here in Italy. The article focuses on the travel side of my work.