It’s a small world
22/04/2026
After decades of natural light macro photography, I struggle on my first in-the-field venture with flash and diffuser. A lot of failures, but enough successes to persevere.
Through other eyes
Through other eyes... recent posts
A funny thing happened to me…
30/03/2026
Stepping out of one comfort zone is hard, but stepping out of two both on the same morning is really challenging. But it somehow worked in capturing the less romantic side of my nearby village. And I can’t wait to have another go.
It’s almond blossom time again
12/03/2026
With the mountains still firmly in the grip of winter, every year I eagerly await the blossoming of the almond trees on the stony plateau near my home. A fragrant demonstration of resilience and vitality bringing with it a breath of Spring.
Spring has sprung… or has it?
01/03/2026
Today is the first of March. I’m not sorry to leave February behind for another year, but even in the midst of winter, nature manages to surprise and amaze, with the first flowers and a smattering of courageous arthropods to delight my spirit and my eyes.
Cold winds and a breath of hope
17/02/2026
Despite last night’s snow and an icy wind, Spring is in the air. A blackbird sings and the first almond blossom is backlit by the sun.
A walk in the woods
12/02/2026
Come with me on a simple walk in the oak woods near my home on an undistinguished February day while I and the woodland wait for Spring to bring new sap and new energy.
Previous posts
22/04/2026
It's a small world
Browsing through my website, it’s pretty obvious that macro photography of both flora and fauna makes up about 90% of the images I take, at least when conditions are right. Actually, this has much more to do with my love and fascination for the natural world than it does for my passion for photography, but that’s a story for another time. What does, however, make me just a little bit different from the vast majority of macro photographers is that I usually work exclusively with natural light. This has its benefits, but I admit it also its disadvantages, so last year I made up my mind to finally get to grips with using a flash. I took the plunge and bought a flash and diffuser right at the end of last arthropod season with the idea of getting some practice in before the return of my beloved critters, but after enthusiastically charging the flash battery, it remained on the shelf until… yesterday.
Of course the wisdom of advancing (advanced?) years should have suggested that I studied manuals and settings before going out, but I am still young in my ability to err, so I inevitably found myself caught up in heated disputes between my camera and my flash, while the few arthropod subjects I came across laughed so much they fell off their respective petals and leaves. It’s clear I still have a great deal to learn, but that doesn’t trouble me unduly, a little bit of study should sort things out. No, it’s not the technical side that bothers me.
My problem comes with the sheer “ingombro” of the thing. Now in Italian, “ingrombro” means more or less the space something takes up, and that diffuser… well, I just don’t seem to be able to cope with the sheer size of the thing! I’m used to being able to slip in and out of bramble and hawthorn patches more or less unscathed, or slide my lens easily through a jungle of stalks and leaves. But heaven help me if try the same thing with the diffuser mounted! The disturbance I create must be the equivalent of a hurricane and earthquake combined for all the small inhabitants of the undergrowth who rightly flee or drop to the ground and disappear.
So after I finish disentangling bits of plastic and cord from miscellaneous thorns and other protuberances, all I’m left with is an arthropod desert. And if I do manage to get near enough, the sight of all that towering shiny whiteness is enough to send any remaining arthropods into a blind panic. You can just see the terror in their little eyes… and who can blame them! In short, yesterday the addition of flash and diffuser undoubtedly made me lose more shots then it helped me take. On the other hand, a couple of the images I did manage to get were only possible thanks to the flash, and that’s enough to convince me to persevere.
My initial conclusion is that it’s a completely different ball game and precisely because of that, with practice, I can imagine it becoming complementary to, rather than a substitute for, the natural light macro photography I will probably always prefer. I will stick at it and endure the derision of my arthropod subjects, until the use of flash or natural light becomes a conscious decision, rather than the inevitable consequence of my lack of technical expertise. Will I succeed? Only time will tell.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
30/03/2026
A funny thing happened to me...
A funny thing happened to me on the way to the shops today. As I walked out the door, I made the rash decision to take my camera with me and try and get some images of my nearby village. There was a brisk north-easterly blowing down from the mountains and the light was grim and flat, nothing to attract my photographic attention, so why not, I thought. Of course, the reason why not is obvious to anyone who knows me… because the last location I feel comfortable photographing in is our village, where I always feel that every eye is on me if I so much as walk down the street with a camera. But undeterred, I bravely shouldered my gear and off I went.
I did manage to get a few shots, even though they were pretty much grabbed in passing, any thought on technicalities and composition pushed well to the back of my mind by my anxiety at being spotted… an absurdity, I know, but there it is!
Then when I started processing them, I had another radical (for me) idea. I’d stepped out of one comfort zone that morning, so why not step out of another. You see I tend to be a perfectionist. I’m compelled to get every line straight, every tone just right, everything neat and tidy. But those aren’t necessarily the images I feel most drawn to when I look through the work of other photographers… so I stopped tidying up.
Here goes then, here are some II (Intentionally Imperfect), rough round the edges, images of my nearby village, not the romantic picturesque side of the tourist brochures, that does exist, but it doesn’t really interest me that much. I’m drawn to the other side, the one that’s usually missing to tell the whole story. Because as we all know, maybe the camera doesn’t actually lie, but it can be amazingly selective in telling the truth.
Now that I’ve broken the ice as it were, I’m sort of thinking this might become a passion project and maybe if I brave my anxiety often enough, who knows, it may start to feel, well, normal. Here’s hoping!
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
12/03/2026
It's almond blossom time again
Near where I live, there is a high stony plateau, whipped with icy winds in the winter, parched by a pitiless Mediterranean sun in the summer, overshadowed by one of the central Apennine’s most extreme mountain ranges, the Velino massif. In the past, when men struggled and scraped at the stony ground to grow food for a subsistence lifestyle, they planted almond trees here. Now mostly abandoned, twisted by decades of hardship, every Spring they still give a demonstration of resilience and vitality, bringing colour and hope to a landscape still wrapped in its winter garb.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
01/03/2026
Spring has sprung... or has it?
Today is the first of March and in my mind that makes it the first day of Spring, although some might accuse me of unwarranted optimism… and indeed, this morning is decidedly and predictably unspring like. February is not my favourite month by a long chalk and I’m not sad to see it go, but it does have its positive side. On one hand, I’m ever more disgruntled by the dark dinginess of winter, on the other, I’ve already started that hectic scurrying from place to place, seeking out the first signs of the changing season. This year, the exceptionally warm weather has brought the phenology on apace and the almond trees in our village in the central Italian Apennines are now in full flower, to the shared delight of bees, butterflies, a smattering of blue tits and myself. In our local woodland, the cornel trees (Cornus mas) are bursting with vivid yellow flowers and the first courageous violets (Viola suavis) are starting to push up through the deep leaf litter.
Even on cold days, you can sense Spring in the air. I can feel it and so do the birds. Every step I take generates a chorus of scolding blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), great tits (Parus major) and long tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus), while green woodpeckers (Picus viridis) yaffle their territorial claims at each other from one side of the valley to the other. Go up another hundred metres or so and take a wander through the stony, arid slopes of the foothills and if you’re lucky, you’ll encounter our very own early-flowering endemic crocus, Crocus variegatus, a sure sign we’ve turned the corner.
I’ve kept the best to last though, something that will really make the eyes dance and the heart sing, or should it be the other way round? Not, of course, a crocus (but then you knew that already, didn’t you), but the spring meadow saffron (Colchicum bulbocodium) flowering flamboyantly on the upland plains of central Abruzzo where the woodlarks and stonechats chirp happily in the unseasonally warm sun.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
17/02/2026
Cold winds and a breath of hope
It snowed last night, up there in the mountains. And this morning the powdery new snow is being lifted into swirls and whirls by an icy relentless wind.
But here in the foothills, in the village where I live, there is a blackbird singing and the season’s first almond blossom stands out backlit by a sun that can’t quite manage to impose its warmth on the chill of the bitter wind.
Not the most beautiful of images perhaps, but an image of something infinitely beautiful. Could it be we’ve survived winter for another year? It’s early days, but despite the cold, I think that blackbird knows a thing or two, I might just sing along.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
12/02/2026
A walk in the woods
In my youth, I never really appreciated woodland. I suppose youth needs long horizons, intriguing vistas, room to move. To comprehend woods, you need time. It’s all about detail, looking closely, and that’s something which perhaps comes easier as the years go by. There is nothing really special about the woods near where I live. Quite the opposite. Only a few decades ago there wouldn’t have been woodland here at all, just an expanse of small fields, lined by dry stone walls with just a few surviving oak trees spared to provide shade and fodder for the livestock. Then came the great exodus from the land after the Second World War. Many people migrated from the countryside to the cities, or even further afield, hoping for an easier life. So nature did what nature does and flowed back, filling in the spaces abandoned by man.
This is young undisciplined woodland, the trees vying for space to grow, thrusting their branches towards the sky, jostling for light. It’s a far cry from those upland forests where ancient trees nurture with the wisdom of a timeless narrative. But it is my woodland, at least for now, and I’m endeavouring to understand its heartbeat, its breath, its soul. I’d like to take you with me on this undistinguished February day with nothing really special to offer, no dramatic light, no moody mist, just stillness, the alarm call of a blackbird, the distant rippling dialogue of two green woodpeckers, a dog barks down in the valley and the wind whispers in the ever more flimsy downy oak leaves left clinging to the trees. There is a sense of shared anticipation in the air, waiting together for Spring to bring new sap, new energy.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
08/02/2026
When a little is enough
The fog comes and goes, and when it goes, along come the clouds, bringing the drizzle with them. A landscape photographer would be revelling in the moody conditions, but it’s not the best of times for a macro photographer with a passion for flowers and critters, the stranger the better. But all is not lost and today while walking in the mist, a couple of rays of sun managed to break through, just time to get the macro lens out and dive (literally) into an area of scrub laden with lichen. Perhaps it was the mist which fogged my mind, but my aim today was more abstract that documentary. This was the result.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
21/01/2026
A day in the life...
The weather hasn’t been great recently, at least, not by my sun-loving, grey-detesting standards. To pass the time, I’ve been going back through my abundant archives, sorting, deleting (rarely), reminiscing. And in doing so, I noticed an interesting phenomenon. By craft or good fortune, I have accumulated a fair number of more than decent images over the years, but these weren’t the ones that grabbed my attention. Those that made me pause, reflect, remember for better or for worse, were the everyday images, the view from a half forgotten window, the desk where I spent so many hours processing other people’s words, the pot where I kept my pens. So I’m writing this post mainly for a future me. To say… hello, hope you’re well. Do you remember that this was once your day?
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
17/01/2026
The first is always special
Here in the foothills of the central Italian Apennines, spring is still a very long way away. But every year this species of endemic crocus (Crocus variegatus) is always the first to break the spell of winter, defying the frost and icy wind to push its delicate way through the tangle of dead and dormant vegetation. So each year from early January onwards, I go on regular pilgrimages to a nearby site where experience tells me I’m most likely to find the first flowers… and today I struck lucky. There were very few and most of these were the worse for wear after the snow of just a few days ago, but merely finding them is enough to put a smile on my face. Let the new season commence! Impossible to get a decent clean image without literally mowing the meadow to get rid of all the tangled unsightly vegetation, but for me the important was to document this turning point in the seasons.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.
11/01/2026
Thank goodness for pigeons!
I had been planning to get out and about in my local woodland. It was not to be. The temperature dropped by a degree or so below the expected and what should have been rain came down as snow. To go slithering and sliding down our steep hill in the car didn’t seem such a great idea, so there I was, camera in hand and nose metaphorically pressed against the window, hoping something would come along. And it did. Yes, I know, it’s “just” a pigeon, but you’ve got to work with what you’ve got and… well, I’ve got pigeons.
I’m not complaining. Look at it, I mean really look at it. Those amazing shades of grey, the beautiful muted greens and purples around the neck. Just think… if pigeons were few and far between, a rare exotic visitor, then you’d wax lyrical about their subtle beauty, wouldn’t you? Well today, that’s what I’m going to do. So thank you pigeon, you’re very welcome.
For my Italian-speaking friends (or anyone wanting to translate into another language), I recommend DeepL translator available clicking here or also as a browser extension for Google Chrome.
Per i miei amici di lingua italiana (o chiunque voglia tradurre in un’altra lingua), consiglio DeepL translator disponibile cliccando qui o anche come estensione per il browser Google Chrome.