Popular shots (prints shipped from Europe)

Portuguese Man o' War

TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2017: HIGHLY COMMENDED in the Primary Colours category and shortlisted in the Wildlife, Sealife category. A few months earlier, the judges of the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards commended this picture of mine as Top 50 in the World in the awards’ Open Wildlife category. Often incorrectly defined as jellyfish, the Portuguese Man o' War is a siphonophore - a colonial organism. While the bell is harmless, their tentacles can deliver very painful stings! I took this shot while the Man-o-war was floating on the water surface a few miles off the south coast of Pico Island (Azores, Portugal). Later on, at home, I looked at the picture and realised, much to my surprise, that I had got a shot with a very abstract mood from a 100% real photograph. Very calm seas and smooth wavelets led to the totally unexpected reflections. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Rifugio Nambino in the Dolomites

Night shot of Rifugio Nambino, located in the Adamello-Brenta National Park, right by Lake Nambino. In winter, the lake is frozen and its surface is covered with snow. Access to the area is strictly regulated and walking is the only way you are allowed to reach the refuge. The closest town is Madonna di Campiglio, Trentino, Italy.

Mount Pico wearing a turban (dedicated to my Mom)

Sunset on Mount Pico, the highest peak in Portugal (2351 metres). Located on Pico Island in the Azores, this stratovolcano is dormant and last erupted in 1718. His famous hat (a lenticular cloud) looked actually more like a turban when I captured this shot. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Lake Bled reflection

Reflection on Lake Bled in autumn. The island in the middle of the lake features a gothic church. The spot is truly beautiful and has become a classic for photographers. This image was awarded Top Photo Winner in Vacation Destination Challenge on GuruShots.

Blue whale diving for Krill

The biggest animal ever to live on our planet - the Blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) rarely flukes up in the Azores. This one did it and nicely framed the Ilheus da Madalena for me. The two rocks in the background - the Ilheus - are the two islets just outside Madalena harbour.

Grand Teton National Park

View to the Tetons from my trip to Wyoming and Montana in 2011.

Whaling station in Porto Pim and Mount Pico

Now a museum, the whaling station of Porto Pim is located on Faial Island, Azores. At sunrise, I first got very excited because of the nice light, to then feel a little disappointed because I was hoping to capture the entire Mount Pico in the background. Funnily enough, in the end my feelings about the image changed again after reading a comment of my good friend and great photographer Luciano Catozzi, who pointed out the picture is much more intriguing the way it is, with just a hint of Mount Pico peeping out from behind the clouds. This shot of the Fábrica da Baleia de Porto Pim is therefore dedicated to Luciano.

Majestic iceberg in Ilulissat Icefjord

By far, the nicest iceberg I happened to see during my winter trip to Greenland. While on a boat tour, I instantly fell in love with the shape and texture of it.

The volcano at the very end of Europe

Vulcão dos Capelinhos and the ruined lighthouse. Located in the mid-Atlantic, on the western side of Faial island in the Azores (Portugal), the volcano last erupted in 1957-1958 for 13 months in a row. The natural catastrophe started with a submarine eruption and then involved lava bombs, pyroclastic clouds as well as lava streaming into the ocean. Although there were no casualties, thousands of people had to leave their homes. In 1958, the United States of America helped through the so called Azorean Refugee Act, by authorising the emigration of 1500 people. Among the Congressmen sponsoring the act was a young Senator of Massachusetts named John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The first floor of the lighthouse is still completely buried in ashes and sand. Considering that Flores (the westernmost island of the Azorean archipelago) lies within the North American plate, the volcano of Capelinhos can be considered the westernmost point of Europe. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Mount Anboto

Mount Anboto (1331 metres) is a limestone mountain located in the Basque Country. It is the highest peak of the Urkiola range. I was on the motorway to Irun when this very sharp mountain captured my attention. Luckily, I was very close to a rest area, managing to pull out and take the shot before the light was gone.

Forte de Santa Catarina

My take on the Forte de Santa Catarina at blue hour, Figueira da Foz, Portugal.

Sunset at Baía das Caldeirinhas

Situated in Faial, the Bay of Caldeirinhas is a no-access Marine Protected Area facing South. I first visited this place with a photographer eye in April 2017. It was about 2pm and I had to take the ferry back to Pico Island before sunset. I though decided I would come back some other time and spend the night in Faial to get the shot I wanted, which is the one you see here. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus)

Water playing with a surfacing Fin whale

Northern Lights over a Canada Goose store in Greenland

Aurora Borealis in the skies of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. The place is as arctic as it could be, making it a fantastic location for a Canada Goose store and their Arctic Program.

Sunrise on snow-capped Pico

It was right while taking this shot that I realised a fumarole was starting to appear on the volcano. You can find another shot in this gallery which I took after changing lens and zooming in on to the fumarole, which became meanwhile much more visible.

Stranded tree in the Adriatic Sea

Long exposure of a tree ended up out at sea after a storm, taken from the beach of Senigallia, Marche, Italy.

Enrosadira on the Dolomites

Sunset on the Dolomites captured from Campitello di Fassa, Val di Fassa, Trentino, Italy. The peak in the middle is called Dente (2859 metres) and the one on the right hand side of the image is the Innerkofler (3114 metres). The red glow on the mountains is known as Enrosadira, a word of Ladin origin (not Latin!) . The optical phenomenon, observed at sunrise and sunset with variable intensity, is due to the type of rock that composes the Dolomites, known as Dolomia. In turn, Dolomia gets its name from the mineral Dolomite, which is made of calcium carbonate and magnesium.

Christmas time in Milan

The famous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II at Christmas time. Located in the very centre of Milan, it connects Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral square) to Piazza della Scala.

Cloud Hat on Pico Volcano

The amazing cloud hat on Pico volcano, the highest peak in Portugal (2351 m). Such lenticular cloud is rarely observed. It forms very rapidly and, due to the high air turbulence, the changes in shape are so abrupt that they sometimes look like time lapses! I was very lucky in this occasion as the cloud just kept spinning around the top of the mount during the 30 seconds I needed for my exposure. Ten seconds later, it suddenly started to descend along the slopes of the volcano, completely covering its summit. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Houses and Icebergs

Colour houses in Ilulissat, Greenland. There is a bird on one of the chimneys and I first zoomed in on it, to then realise a wide angle shot would be more pleasing, at least to my taste.

Who is walking whom?

Newfoundland dog walking a human in Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal.

The Day After

Sunrise on single tree line in Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal. The area was ravaged by fires in 2017.

Road on Pico Island vanishing into Faial Island

View to the island of Faial from the road that crosses Pico Island from the mountain to the coast. My wife was spotting for cars behind me, so that I could safely take the shot.

Sled dogs in Greenland

Commonly used by fishermen and hunters, sled dogs are widespread in Greenland, where there are no roads between towns.

Brenta Dolomites

Sunset on the Brenta Dolomites, north range, Italy, picture taken from Madonna di Campiglio.

Nifty cat

Alya, my yellow-eyed gray cat. This is what I consider a 'natural selective' colour.

Highlands of Pico Island

My take on the series of volcanic cones you can see from the road that leads up to Mount Pico. The island, called Pico, is the second biggest of the Azorean archipelago (mid-Atlantic, Portugal).

Sunset on Lake Bled and the Pletna boat

Twilight shot of Lake Bled, Slovenia. It was a very cold day of December and I really struggled for the two hours I spent out there waiting for natural light to match the artificial lights on Bled island. I chose a so called Pletna boat as a foreground. These traditional boats are only known at Bled and are operated exclusively by the Pletna oarsmen, a title that is passed over generation to generation.

Sunrise on Pico volcano

Cloudy sunrise on Pico volcano (2351 metres), the highest peak in Portugal, Pico Island, Azores.

Rough seas off Pico Island

The Ilheus da Madalena on a stormy day on Pico Island, Azores, Portugal.

Blow without a Whale

Very special weather and sea conditions off the coast of Pico Island in the Azores made the blow of a Fin whale persist for a long time after the animal dove. When I got back to land, I looked at this 'ghost blow' and, suddenly, my thoughts went to the millions of whales slaughtered for centuries by mankind. This photograph is dedicated to their souls. +/- Read the story behind this shot

Una Rotonda sul Mare

Designed by architect Vincenzo Ghinelli, the Rotonda a Mare of Senigallia (Marche, Italy) is a platform that was built in the second half of the 19th century. Utilised as a military warehouse during the second world war, in the 50s and 60s the Rotonda turned into a very trendy live music venue, inspiring the lyrics of the popular song by Fred Bongusto "Una Rotonda sul Mare".

Pôr do Sol no Canal do Faial

Sunset on the channel between the islands of Pico and Faial, Azores, Portugal. The lava rock wall in the foreground is part of the Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture, a Unesco World Heritage Site. These walls protect the plants from the wind and salt. I was quite a way inland when I took this shot and I had to use a telephoto zoom at 300mm. I did not want to use an ISO higher than 200 and, since it was getting pretty dark and the boat in the foreground was moving from side to side, I could not use an aperture smaller than F10 to get everything in focus in a single shot. Therefore, I took two exposures (one for the foreground, the second for everything else) and blended them using a technique called focus stacking.

Free ranging cows in Peneda Gerês National Park

It was a late afternoon at the beginning of November in Peneda-Gerês National Park. As soon as I saw these cows and felt I had a nice composition in front of my eyes, I pulled off, got out of my car and took the shot. The tenderness these two animals showed towards each other is one of my best memories of the trip.

Trees and sun climbing up

Trees at sunrise on a foggy day in Peneda-Gerês National Park, Portugal

Cascada do Arado

Located in the heart of Peneda-Gerês National Park (Portugal), the waterfalls of Arado are one of the main tourist attractions.

Lake Lugano by night

Night view of Lake Lugano, Switzerland. The deep, V-shaped mountain profile allowed me to capture the sunset lights in the background, while the mountains themselves shielded the shoreline from the natural light, thus producing an almost pure night shot in the foreground and middleground. The red building across the lake is the Casino di Campione, located in the Italian municipality of Campione d'Italia within the Swiss canton of Ticino.

Volcano of Capelinhos and Lighthouse

Here you see the volcano of Capelinhos and the ruined lighthouse next to it. Located in the mid-Atlantic, on the western side of Faial island in the Azores (Portugal), the volcano last erupted in 1957-1958, for 13 months in a row. The natural catastrophe started with a submarine eruption and then involved lava bombs, pyroclastic clouds as well as lava streaming into the ocean. Although there were no casualties, thousands of people had to leave their homes. In 1958 the United States of America helped through the so called Azorean Refugee Act, by authorising the emigration of 1500 people. Among the Congressmen sponsoring the act was a young Senator of Massachusetts named John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The first floor of the lighthouse is still completely buried in ashes and sand.

Lighthouse and volcano of Capelinhos

My black and white take on the dramatic scenery of the Capelinhos volcano and its ruined lighthouse. The volcano last erupted in 1957-58.

Lighthouse of Capelinhos

The ruined lighthouse of Capelinhos, a volcano on the western side of Faial Island, Azores, Portugal. I have uploaded a picture of the volcano itself briefly before this one, in case you wanted to see what it looks like. The lighthouse survived the last eruption in 1957-58, although the first floor of the building is still buried in ashes and sand.

Bison traffic jam

Spot color photo of bison causing a bit of a traffic jam in Yellowstone National Park. Rather than simply crossing, these four bison stopped in the middle of the road for a little while, thus freezing the shot themselves rather than the photographer!

A little spot for philosophers

I took this shot in the area of the Parque Florestal da Prainha (Pico Island, Azores, PortugaI) and thought it would end up either in colour or black and white. Reality is... I could not make up my mind!

Fumarole on snow-capped Mount Pico

Sunrise on snow-capped Mount Pico (2351 m), a stratovolcano located in the mid-Atlantic on Pico Island (Azores, Portugal). The fumarole on its top is not often observed from sea level. Constantly monitored by volcanologists, Pico is dormant and last erupted in 1718.

Fin whale off the south coast of Pico

Spring on Pico Island is very high season for watching baleen whales (suborder Mysticeti) during their northbound migration towards high latitude foraging grounds.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

The river flowing through the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and, far away in the background, cues of a hydrothermal feature.

UniCredit Tower

Sunset in Milan, Italy, my hometown. While pretending to shoot the mountains with Milan in the way, I actually captured the tallest skyscraper in Italy. The UniCredit is 231-metre tall. Designed by architect Cesar Pelli, it was completed in 2011.

Lone Tree Standing in the sun

A solitary tree standing in the sun on a cliff of the mid-Atlantic. Picture taken in Cachorro, Pico Island, Azores, Portugal.

Forte de Santa Catarina

Blue hour at the lighthouse of Forte de Santa Catarina, Figueira da Foz, Portugal.