The Eyes of Alps. A visual journey in the Dolomites
A single photograph and just a few seconds to capture a unique explosion of colors and a lot of emotion. Photography, most of the time, is about the journey the photographer has to go through to capture a unique moment. It's about the time spent reaching places where every corner takes your breath away. It's about courage, ambition, and devotion, about never giving up on what you dream of. Photography, as a science in itself, as art, is about the experience you have every time you're about to capture that moment. The community, the stories around this field often bring you closer to fulfilling the dreams you have. When you combine your passion for photography with a love for travel and nature, you lay the foundation for a fantasy that, without a doubt, will never leave you, wandering through your mind, challenging you, and bringing more magic than you can dream of.
It's a state of mind, a lifestyle, and I can say it slowly becomes a feeling of love. Up there, surrounded by cold breaths and biting winds, you are more connected to nature than ever before; it's a feeling you can't put into words. Let's never forget that most often, the most spectacular photographs are the result of an unusual symbiosis between your vision as a photographer and nature, or rather the moments it reveals to you. It's like dancing with time and space to a harmony sung by moments that will never repeat in the same way, and that is a unique chance.
The unpredictable opens new horizons and takes you to the peaks of the unknown, making you the best version of yourself. There was also a quote that I really liked:
'The entrepreneur jumps into the abyss without knowing what's in it, and while falling, builds from what he has at hand an airplane to fly where he desires.'
The Power of the Moment
The world we experience and perceive is surrounded, as we well know, by an ephemeral, uncontrollable, and often magical element—the moment. The photograph you capture randomly, simply by chance, improvising without any sense, attention, or direction, often reveals unique features that you could never capture otherwise. This is the power of the moment, the magic of nature, or I would say, the way the Universe tells us that sometimes it's important to enjoy the moment without being blinded by the desire to capture the impossible. The human eye is and will forever remain the best, most complex, and sensitive lens, so sometimes it's important to put the cameras down and look, observe, and connect. It's a method that helps us enrich memories, culture, and stimulate creativity. Often, you can realize, or better said, feel that you are the right person at the right place.
The most spectacular photographs are not taken by you; they are gifted to you by nature, by the moment.
These photos, although they may seem simple, or perhaps even mundane when you first glance at them, carry a story that speaks to how beautiful and magical it is to capture unique moments you never thought you would have the chance to experience. After a nine-kilometer hike that lasted over three hours, with a lot of photo equipment on my back, having everything in terms of photo gear except a tripod, I reached Lake Federa, a hidden place among the immense rocks of the Dolomites, with a dreamlike tranquility.
Shortly after we settled in, the sun set, leaving behind a canvas painted with infinite shades of pink, yellow, and red, unique colors that played their roles. We could relax and reflect on all the wonderful moments we had experienced that day. After a full night had fallen, we went outside, and with what we had at hand, we improvised a tripod by placing the camera on a piece of stone and a backpack, ensuring we wouldn't miss the Milky Way, which on that clear night, was almost visible to the naked eye. The constellations were perfectly visible, and the numerous shooting stars we observed turned the cold night into a true companion. You can't gaze at the sky without dreaming, feeling grateful for that moment.
After capturing around 200 frames and spending about two hours in the cold, we managed to capture the Milky Way. We enjoyed a hot tea, heard the wolves, and later made ourselves comfortable in the refuge because more adventures awaited.
Colors in Photography
When it comes to travel and landscape photography, colors play an essential role. They help you better integrate the story, allowing you to convey emotions more effectively through your composition. Therefore, we find that the use of colors is crucial in creating a composition that communicates. Colors have a very strong impact on how we interpret and assimilate the compositional elements in an image. Color, along with the shades it assumes due to the intensity of the light, automatically converts into electrical impulses passing through our brain when we look at it, metabolizing precisely through the same part of the brain responsible for processing emotions. Research in the field shows us that each color and shade, every light that nuances a base color, has a specific psychological effect on us. There is no color among the 16 million distinguishable colors that does not have such an effect.
Milky Way stories
I admit that I haven't been active in astrophotography, at least not as a professional. I never had a portfolio in this area, at least nothing relevant, but these journeys and the mastery of the Universe sparked an immense passion for everything related to astrophotography. So, totally spontaneously, I said I had to try to capture the Milky Way, something I had always been passionate about. If I was ever on a clear night, on top of the mountains, it was the right moment and place. Imagine how mystical this phenomenon is, considering that 90% of everything it represents is unknown, and even powerful telescopes are helpless when it comes to interpreting the visual data it represents. The Milky Way, or as we rarely hear it called, the 'Milky Road,' is a galaxy of which we are a part, located in our solar system. There is a fascinating legend behind this name, originating from Greek mythology. It tells the story of Zeus, the king of all gods, who decided at one point to feed his child, Hercules, with the milk of the goddess Hera, his wife. However, Hera was not Hercules' biological mother and was not very excited about this idea. During the feeding, she resisted, becoming repellent, and a few drops of milk ended up on the infinite canvases of the Universe, forming what we now call the Milky Way. When we look at it from Earth, it appears as a long band of light housing hundreds of billions of stars that make up this system. Around and about it, we can observe a certain dust. We like to call it 'star dust,' but this dust is reflected by interstellar dust clouds and molecules present in the space between stars. All this assembly that causes a radiance that leaves you speechless is a unique system whose mysteries will never be unraveled. Most laypeople see the Milky Way as an ensemble far from us, in the farthest horizons of the unknown. Still, it is good to know that we, our planet, are part of the Milky Way, even in the 'Orion' arm of it. Our solar system is about halfway between the center of the galaxy and the outer edge of the Milky Way. In other words, Earth and our solar system revolve around the center of the Milky Way.
Imagine the Milky Way as a "cosmic neighborhood" you are part of, consisting of hundreds of billions of houses - represented by stars, all interconnected through invisible streets of light. When you look at it, you can say you are home - 'we are all under the same sky,' right?
Well, if I made a little detour, I'll tell you that to capture this magical phenomenon, it is essential to have a clear sky and little light pollution. So if you're in complete darkness at a suitable altitude and can see all the constellations, you're in the perfect place. It's ideal to check the weather, plan a bit ahead, and carefully watch the sky until you see that dust, and from there...
If, however, you don't see that dust with the naked eye, another crucial step is to have an app like Sky Guide installed, make sure you have location services active, and the app will accurately indicate where the Milky Way is. I improvised in capturing these images, but you can use a stable tripod, one of the most important elements when it comes to capturing this galaxy. I recommend a carbon tripod for travels because it is lighter, weighing around one kg, can be carried anywhere, and is easy to handle.
Be careful with the white balance; make sure you are between 4000K-5000K Kelvin degrees to obtain beautiful blue and violet tones that you can later manipulate in the editing process.
The Editing Process is Essential
To achieve such a result, or great result when it comes to your travel photography, the editing process is essential because that's where you can translate what you saw with the naked eye into a true creation. It's very challenging to accurately reproduce things that, in theory, you can't perceive with the naked eye. That's why the editing process becomes even more creative and detailed, a process where the dance between the shadows and the colors in your fresh "raw" files creates true shades and brings out remarkable features. You can use Lightroom, and on your phone, I also recommend Snapseed to utilize brushes and tools that help you create a detailed outline of the features the sky has.
Practice as Much as Possible, Both Shooting and Editing
Of course, as in any other field, practice is essential. Through practice, you learn and develop both creativity and sensitivity. Wherever you are, you have countless possibilities, and if the context limits you, you can improvise. In this field, it's essential always to seek answers to questions, do research, and follow people who do this.
Why Can't We See the Milky Way with the Naked Eye?
Although we can often see that long band wrapped in cosmic dust, what we can see with the naked eye is only a limited part of the cosmic spectacle. Our eyes, although amazing, have certain limits in the face of the dark sky. The diffused light that this phenomenon emits and the need for our eyes to adapt from direct light to diffused light, respectively darkness, significantly reduce the ability to perceive details. On the other hand, the camera has the ability to continuously capture and record light, with a long exposure time, allowing the sensor to reveal nuances and fine details that the human eye cannot perceive. The camera sensor can be set to a higher light sensitivity, and the open aperture, of course, allows for a stronger glow of the Milky Way.
Which Lens to Choose?
A question that most photographers, especially beginners, ask, but the answer to this question comes after much practice, experimentation, and research. There are hundreds of lenses you can use, with various characteristics and focal lengths. To discover what suits your vision best, you need to try different options. Personally, I find Canon 85mm 1.4 or 1.2 or even 1.8 lenses brilliant – 1.8 being a more budget-friendly option. An 85mm lens is always in my bag, but sometimes it's good to challenge yourself and, when traveling or working on a project, have only one lens with you to use in all possible ways and write a visual story that inspires. Another lens I adore is the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 or f/4. Both versions allow you to play with different focal lengths and be very creative, whether it comes to landscapes, portraits, etc. Another lens I always recommend to those just starting out is the 50mm, which offers beautiful bokeh through its optics and a perfect focal length for portraits, details, landscapes, and even events. love these lenses because the bokeh they offer is part of my style. If you didn't know until now what this effect is, let's say it's the aesthetic quality of the area of the image that is out of focus, or more simply, that beautiful and colorful blurry background that puts the subject in focus and gives it a moody atmosphere.
Plan in Advance
Although spontaneous moments bring photography into the nets of emotion, sometimes planning can give you more time and help you capture a much-desired moment. It's good to take into account the weather outside, weather conditions, and most of the time, other features such as wind, the time you have until the light or the wonderful colors the sky offers disappear.
