Bohol and Aperture 3

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:20:15 +0700

Just back from two weeks holiday in Bohol (Philippines). I took not so many pictures, but some good ones!
Timing was quite good since Apple just released Aperture 3, the new version of their pro photo management, image editing and RAW photo conversion application.
I received it at my return on Monday and, beside some few bugs, I am positively impressed. With the addition of new features like presets and brushes Aperture is now a so powerful tools that no other photo editing softwares are required.
Some results are shown here!

Tet is here

Sat, 6 Feb 2010 16:51:06 +0700

Tet (Lunar New Year) is almost here. The Year of the Tiger will start on February 14, 2010. As every year traffic in Hanoi is more chaotic than usual and motorbikes carrying the traditional Kumquats trees, pink peach blossoms trees, apricot blossoms trees are everywhere.
This is the most important holiday in Vietnam and the city, after these frenetic days, will “switch off” for a week. It is traditional to spend these days in home with family and close friends.
It is a good occasion also for me (and the blog) to have a break. Leaving to the Philippines tomorrow!

Wandering around

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 20:46:56 +0700

Wonderful weather here in Hanoi in the last days! I took the chance to walk around with my camera. I believe Hanoi is still a “Photographer Paradise”. There is always the right shot waiting for you!
By the way, Tet, the lunar new year, is very close. I will post some pictures soon!

Safety First!

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 20:58:00 +0700

.................or “Safety Fist” as I read in a construction site banner now so far from my home.
Well, it is funny, but give an idea of the “importance” that, unfortunately, the Vietnamese give to this issue. Hanoi, and surrounding is a “huge construction site” and it is practically impossible to find workers equipped with working clothes, safety shoes and any other kind of protection as required.
The law is there, but nobody follows it. People need to work and construction companies do not invest in safety equipment.
Why writing this today? I just learnt that in the neighbor building two worked lost their life while repairing the AC units. The AC exploded, no safety equipment, a fall of almost 50m.

One year....12 Images

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:10:43 +0700

Another year is gone! I selected 12 images from 2009, each taken on each month of the year.
Maybe I could put together a nice calendar!
No more to say....just....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Smile......it’s Christmas!

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:10:39 +0700

It is Christmas again.....but the warm feeling and the excitements typical of the western world are miles away..
Except for the Christmas trees and decorations of five stars hotels and office buildings, everything is like an ordinary day. Christmas is a working day here in Vietnam except for foreign organizations (offices, banks) that more and more every year started to close.
Walking around Hanoi in this days there is no substantial difference except for the Santa Claus hats and dresses sold like carnival costumes, sometimes mixed with local items.
Nevertheless Vietnam remains the second Catholic country in South-East Asia (10% of the population) and mass is celebrated on Christmas Eve in few churches.
Hereafter there are few images taken in the last days depicting what I just described you but.....what give a more warm feeling are these smiling masks above!

Hanoi old quarters on ASIAN Geographic Magazine

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:31:31 +0700

This image taken in the Hanoi old quarters has been included in the latest issue of the ASIAN Geographic Magazine, the Photo Annual 2009, titled “My Asia - Portrait edition”.
For who is not familiar, ASIAN Geographic is a geographic magazine, published in Singapore, that focuses on stories about Asia. It contains articles on geography, culture, heritage, society, environment, exploration, conservation and art.
It is normally available around Asia, but, unfortunately, I was not able to find in Hanoi yet. Luckily they recently introduced the possibility to purchase copy online, even if I would prefer to enjoy reading it on my sofa!!!!

Back in the Cold......

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:35:00 +0700

After a short break in Europe, I am back in Hanoi. In the last week Vietnam has been affected by cold air coming down from China and temperature dropped to generally unusual values in particular for this time of year, similar to those I had in Europe! We had a series of windy days with 10-12C early in the morning!
Of course this creates a big discomfort for the Hanoians, in particular for the elders, considering that the majority does not own any heater.
This morning I had a short walk downtown around Hoan Kiam lake and the old quarters with my camera trying to capture some significant image to show how people is living this situation.

Presentation at FUORIROTTA 2009

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 12:34:23 +0700

Fuorirotta (in English sounds like "off the beaten track") is a three-day travel event hold every year in Udine, my hometown, featuring exhibitions, lectures, film screenings and cultural initiatives dedicated to travel.
The initiative, organized by the cultural association VicinoLontano, encourages cross-cultural travel and provides an opportunity to exchange experiences with travel enthusiasts and professionals. This year boasts also the presence of Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet.
I will give (or try to) give my contribution to the event with a photographic presentation and discussion about Hanoi. Details are shown in the flyer above.
Well, it is in italian...anyway I believe only my italian friends are, hopefully, able to attend!
I will take this occasion to fly to Europe and stay there for some days!

Something different...Butterflies

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:22:40 +0700

Yes, something different this week...Not my usual photography...
Well, during my recent trip to Myanmar I visited the hill-town of Pying U Lwin, 70 km from Mandalay, a British colonial era resort. The town boasts a beautiful botanical garden, originally built by British botanists in 1915, that features 500 species of trees and flowers.
What really excited me was the countless butterflies.....I love these images and I hope you do also!

New Website Look

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:09:10 +0700

It was about time to refresh the look of the website and the logo.
I feel it looks more neat and elegant and better integrated with my Photoshelter Archive. Like the old one, it has been created using the super user friendly iWeb from Apple.
Maybe for many people,it is too basic, but, in my opinion, with some little works and some add-ons/widgets you can get good results.
For the image shows, I embedded the the Photoshelter Flash galleries. In this way images are directly linked to my Photoshelter Archive.
The blog pages have been slightly revamped with the new logo. RSS feed, should, hopefully still work.
So click on the following link (or the logo on the top of the page)

ENTER SITE

Monks

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 21:51:56 +0700

I am still working in editing the images from last trip to Myanmar. Too many images and too busy!
Meanwhile I would like (once again) to anticipate some of them. In all my trips in S-E Asia subjects that I always love to shoot are the monks.
Maybe because I find them quite exotic and usually quite easy to approach. Very often I leave them offers for their monastery and students.
In this page I want to share some portraits, and an image from the evening prayer taken in monastery in Mandalay.
I go back to editing now......

Hanoi....a book

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:13:01 +0700

Some of you already noticed it on my Facebook profile.... I recently prepared a book containing what I believe my best and most representatives images of Hanoi.
It is all black and white except for the red Vietnamese flag on the cover page.
Prepared using Apple Aperture + Adobe Photoshop and Indesign, the book can be previewed and also ordered on the well known Print of Demand services provided by Blurb.

Mandalay and around....

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:54:59 +0700

Mandalay is definitely my favorite destination in Myanmar....Quite different from Yangon: no traffic, no pollution.
The city was country's last royal capital, but unfortunately the royal compound was destroyed during WWII. The military government rebuilt the palace, but, unfortunately, the site is not fascinating!
Only a small part of the palace complex was saved, the so-called Golden Palace Monastery where the last king lived just before is death.
The real “gems” of Mandalay are actually outside the city doors:
• Amarapura with the world’s longest teak bridge
• The ancient city of Inwa, capital of the Burmese kingdom for 400 years
• Sagaing, home of hundreds stupas and monasteries
• The ancient city of Mingun
• Paleik archeological site with more than 300 stupas

Inle Lake

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:51:59 +0700

The second stop in my recent trip to Myanmar was Inle Lake.
It is definitely one of most common touristic destination in Myanmar. The area is inhabited by the Intha people. One of the peculiarity of the Intha people is the unusual way of rowing their flat-bottomed boats. They stand at the stern on one leg while they use the other one for rowing.
The Intha are really hard workers. They grow vegetables and fruit on floating islands supported by bamboo poles fixed on the bottom of the lake!
The religion is, of course, Buddhism. More than 1,000 stupas can be counted around Inle lake.
It seems like a paradise but downside is that, being a very touristic destination, you are obsessed by insisting vendors approaching the boat!
Anyway this is something you have to accept. Everybody has to find their way for living....

Walking in Yangon

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:21:26 +0700

With a population of 5 million people Yangon is a very exotic and multiethnic city. The first thing you notice is that there is no architectural style. It is a series of decrepit buildings mixed with old British colonial buildings, recently restored., and golden stupas.
Despite this wandering in the markets and small alleys to explore the street life it is a great experience! Streets are packed of street vendors, smiling children, safron-robed monks and longyi (traditional dress) clothed men and women. There are chinese, indian and burmese ethnics! Buddhist, muslims and hindus! I really enjoyed to walk with my favorite street lens (50 mm)!!
At late afternoon it is a must to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Myanmar national monument, wait for the sunset and the lights to be switched on.
This is the best moment to enjoy, in my opinion, the 100m tall golden dome with its 20 carat diamonds on the top! If you are lucky you can see it shining!

Myanmar

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 21:14:13 +0700

I am just back from a ten days trip in Myanmar. I visited the country for the first time in September 2007 just few days before the well known demonstrations in Yangon. I did not notice any significant change except but I can feel the big hope the people is having for the “promised” democratic election that should take place sometime in 2010.
This time I visited Yangon, Inle Lake, and Mandalay and returned back home with 1,500 images. I just picked up some of them here.
Much more coming soon!!

Tainan

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:26:05 +0700

I would like to share some more images from my recent trip to Taiwan, this time from the city of Tainan.
Tainan is the oldest city of the country and it is considered the starting point of Taiwan modern history. The city boasts traditional temples, relics, rituals and ceremonies unmatched by any other city in Taiwan.
Image above and first image down are from the Confucius temple, the first of the country. The second image down is taken at the Matsu temple and the last one from the “official” god of war temple.
Other images from Taiwan are available here.

I Feel Black and White

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:07:08 +0700

I recently started to prepare a Keynote presentation with a series of images in black and white that I will present (hopefully) in my hometown in Italy (I will keep you updated when better defined). I used both fresh and old images.
Well, the result is really outstanding and I decided that my Hanoi gallery shall be only in black and white!!!
Have a look by yourself: CLICK HERE!!!!!!!
Comments are very welcome!

MASERATI

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:12:11 +0700

As mentioned in a previous blog I am going to post some images of a different Hanoi.
As you may imagine there a lot of wealthy Vietnamese and nowadays it is normal to see expensive cars finding their ways in the Hanoi traffic. Definitely their numbers increased a lot since my arrival here more than four years ago.
Recently I saw for a first time a wonderful Maserati parked outside the most prestigious hotel of the city. The same area is now occupied by several boutique.
You just move some meters away and you are back to the real Hanoi !!

B-52

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:42:39 +0700

This is not a very well known site in Hanoi and very few tourists are informed about it. I visited this place only few times and I was the only one with few vietnamese around me manly interested to see what I was doing!
I am talking about the remains of "Rose 1", a B-52D shot down over Hanoi on December 19, 1972. The aircraft landed in Huu Tiep lake in the Ba Dinh district, now also called "B-52 Lake". Of the crew of six, four bailed out and became PoWs and the other two were unfortunately killed in the crash.
Well, why keeping this scrap there? Ok, just propaganda, but here it was the American War not the Vietnam War.

The New Hanoi

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:13:28 +0700

I always publish images from downtown Hanoi or the country side.
Actually there is also a modern Hanoi that started to develop in the last five years with the construction of new office buildings, apartments buildings and few living compounds just few kilometers outside the old quarters.
Luckily most of these buildings occupy originally empty areas, but we have some examples where new buildings and new access roads have been built after demolishing old houses and relocating the occupants. I will try to take some images in the next days/weeks.
The images in this page are taken in a newly built living compound called “The Manor”, series of luxury villas and apartment buildings, not yet fully completed, on the west border of the city.

Kaohsiung

Sun, 5 Jul 2009 22:06:12 +0700

There are some images of Kaohsiung (Taiwan) that I would like to share with you. A very interesting place I visited is the Lotus Lake, famous for the 20 temples that surrounding and popular destination since the Qing dynasty.
The most interesting is the Dragon and Tiger Pagoda (pictures above). You must enter from the dragon mouth and exit via the Tiger mouth for good luck!
Next are the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, dedicated to the god of war, and the impressive statue of Xuan Tian Shag-di, the supreme emperor of the dark heaven!!!!
Last image is a nice view of Kaohsiung harbor at dusk.

Taiwan / PX3 Prix de la Photographie 2009

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:57:41 +0700

I just returned from a three days visit to Taiwan. It is a country that I visited several time in the past for working reason, but I have never had the real chances to explore it deeply and to enjoy photography.
I spent my time between the cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan, the oldest city in the country. Even if Taiwan is a modern and progressive country they still preserve their traditions and original culture.
The image above is taken in the Dragon and Tiger Pagoda in Kaohsiung and the following one in the commercial district in the city. I will post further images soon.

With great surprise I have been recently listed in the honorable mentions of the Px3-PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS 2009 with the following submission:

Feet Rowing

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 20:16:30 +0700

One of the things about Vietnam that I will never forget are those trips in Tam Coc (Ninh Binh Province) and Perfume Pagoda (Ha Tay Province) on tiny and very uncomfortable welded steel boats!!
The most impressive thing is to see how this small local women (no men!!) can row also using their feet these overloaded boats!
Some notes about the two above mentioned sites.
Tam Coc is an awesome site of limestone karst formations jutting out of the rice fields that surround the Ngo Dong River. It is often referred as "The Halong Bay of the rice paddies”.
Perfume Pagoda is a complex of pagodas and Buddhist shrines built into the limestone cliffs of Perfume Mount (Huong Son), scattering alongside the mountain up to the peak.
Similar scenes can also be seen in Halong Bay (last image).

Look3 Festival of the Photograph

Sun, 7 Jun 2009 16:02:43 +0700

On June 11-13 in Charlottesville, VA the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph will take place.
Everybody can be part of this celebration!
With the help of Photoshelter, beginning June 3, 2009, photographers from around the world can submit up to 3 digital images to participate in the YourSpace exhibit. These images will be viewable online as well as during the event. A select number of images will be chosen by the guest curators (like David Griffin of National Geographic and Melissa Harris of Aperture Magazine) to be projected onto a large screen right in the middle of all the Festival action.
My image above has been selected yesterday! I will be somehow there from Hanoi, Vietnam!
The following images you see here will be projected live during the festival. Submit your photos today!

More Halong - Photoshelter

Sun, 31 May 2009 16:37:05 +0700

Following my recent trip to Halong Bay I created a small dedicated gallery on my PhotoShelter Archive with new and old images.
Recently PhotoShelter realized a new promotional video and with big surprise I noticed they included also my page!!
Thank you guys!!!

Bohol, The Tarsier

Wed, 20 May 2009 20:05:57 +0700

It is said that with its huge eyes, long tail and hands and feet, the tarsier surely must have been what inspired Steven Spielberg when he created E.T.!
The tarsier, considered the smallest primate in the world, measures 10 to 12 cm and weights from 110 to 140 grams only.
Tarsiers are nocturnal creatures hunting for insects such as cockroaches, crickets, and sometimes small lizards
They are only found on few Southeast Asian islands including Bohol, Sulawesi, Borneo, and Sumatra.
In Bohol you can see the Tarsier at the “Tarsier Sanctuary” in the town of Corella.
These three images have been taken using the Canon 1D Mark III, EF50mm f/1.4 USM lens.

Photoshelter Featured Photographer / Back from Bohol

Thu, 7 May 2009 20:16:10 +0700

With great surprise I have been selected as one of the twenty Photoshelter Featured Photographer for the month of May 2009.
The above image is the selected one. I shot it in September 2008 in Calape, Bohol (Philippines). Here is a slideshow of all the selected 20 images.

I am just back from my trip from Bohol and I am working on the some new cool images. I just post two as preview!

Some More Night Shots

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:19:45 +0700

I am still here in Hanoi after a short break in Europe!
As promised in my previous blog I post some recent night shots (except for the Tortoise Tower) of Hanoi.
In the last months I collected so many new pictures of Hanoi that it about time to update the gallery!!