with NiSi Hard GND 8 , IR ND 64 and CPL
Francesco Gola is an experienced seascape photographer based in Italy, who had won the Top 3 photographer in 500px.
Two years ago, Nisi had an interview with Francesco after he won the prize. During this two years, he have been to multiple places around Europe than before, as well as charming photos creating. So we are happy to chat with him again, for asking his feeling and experience as a well-known photographer.
Hope you enjoy this interview!
with NiSi Hard GND 8 , IR ND 64 and CPL
F for Francesco and L for Lee
L: Hi Francesco, it’s appreciate to listen you sharing your experience, firstly please introduce yourself again.
F: I am a seascape photographer come from Italy. I love traveling around the world and experience everything different. However, in actual life I am a engineer hahahah.
L: We can all got from your portfolio, the compositions and colors that you created is almost perfect, which artist or photographer inspired you most?
F: At the beginning of my photographic activity I was inspired by those that are considered the sacred monsters of photography, like Steve McCurry or Sebastiao Salgado, but to be honest I found the true inspiration attending the online photographic communities.
Recently in order to improve my compositions skills and to understand even better how to work with colors and light, I started to find inspiration on the classical painters: William Turner and Ivan Konstantinovič Ajvazovskij are actually and without any doubt my greatest source of inspiration.
with NiSi Hard GND 8 , IR ND 64 and CPL
L: Based on your FB post, we all know you have a special emotion relationship with Iceland, could you share the reason why you love there?
F: I love so much Iceland because there I feel much stronger this connection between me and nature. There everything is so wild and you feel that Nature is the real landlord.
Unfortunately now is affected by mass tourism, but I really hope they will find soon a way to control this and to protect the environment from the stupidity and avidity of mankind.
L: Besides shooting, what else did you like to do during the trip?
F: When I’m out shooting I want to feel part of the Nature. The mood is essential, also because it is reflected in the image I’m going to capture. For this reason, usually I love to enjoy some classical music like the one of my favorite Italian piano composer Ludovico Einaudi. If I’m on a long trip far from home, I also always try to immerge myself in the local customs and traditions.
with NiSi Hard GND 8 , IR ND 64 and CPL
L: During a long exposure or a time lapse waiting, how’s your feeling? Expect, nervous or…?
F: It’s a great mix between excitement and anxiety. The excitement is due to the fact in front of you there is a wonderful show offered by Mother Nature and you have clearly in your mind the idea on how to capture it.
The anxiety is due to the fact that a long exposure could require event 2 or 3 minutes, and you know that if for any reason you didn’t something wrong, probably you will not have a second chance as the perfect light lasts just few minutes!
L: At the moment that shooting a perfect photography, what’s your feeling?
F: It’s a moment of pure ecstasy, because you immediately understand just looking at the RAW file that you captured something great. Maybe you woke up at 4am, you drove for 1 hour and then you got some heavy rain, just hoping to be in the right place at the right moment. In most of the cases you will not find the situation you hoped for, but when it happens, it repays all the times it went wrong.
with NiSi ND 64, Medium GND 8 and CPL
L: How long would you spend on finding a perfect shooting spot?
F: The planning of a trip could require several months. I think it’s the most difficult part of landscape photography, because in order to maximize the chances to capture the perfect light you have to understand all the elements that play in this game: from the position of the sun, through the tides to the conformation of the coastline. More you know in advance, more chances you have to adapt successfully to the events when you’re on field.
L: After shooting so many wonderful scenes, have you ever thinking about the relationship between yourself and the nature? How is it?
F: As I said before, when I’m on field shooting I feel an intimate connection with Nature. Basically Nature was my shelter from the frenzy of the modern life, and that’s why in my images I try to reflect this peaceful state of mind. I’m sure that without feeling part of the everything would be impossible to create my images. If one day I’ll lose this intimate connection, for sure all my pictures will lack of soul.
with NiSi ND 64, Hard GND 8 and CPL
L: Share about the most meaningful and significant change that photography brings you?
F: I think the ability to watch at the world with different eyes: the eyes of the mind. Thanks to the long exposure technique, I turn visible the invisible. And thanks to photography more in general I really enjoy much more the small things, as I know that are the details that really matters and that can make the difference, in photography as in life.
L: Have the reputation brought any positive or negative influence to you?
F: I definitely not consider myself as a photographer with a reputation, but of course is great when you know that somebody appreciate your works. I think it’s a good thing, because it pushes you always to raise the bar. But I’m not interested in competitions or in contest. I really don’t aim to be a “photographer of the year” or something like that. I just want to capture emotions, and I’m glad when somebody perceives a soul in my images.
with NiSi Hard GND 8 , IR ND 64 and CPL
L: Do you think is a good job to be a photographer?
F: I’m a seascape photographer since almost 12 years now, and I’m 100% sure it’s not the job that will make me rich! But this is not the real goal. For me photography is a powerful tool to express my feelings and to travel around the world. My real long term goal is to see as much as I can of this world before I pass over.
L: Share a deepest impressed opinion that others comment on your photos.
F: Sometimes they tell me that it’s more like a painting or a cartoon than a photography. : )
Actually I’m super happy when I understand that in my images I transmitted not only the representation of a location, but also my feeling while watching at it.
In any case, I love much more to read the criticism messages on my images: they are much more funny!
L: How long have you used NiSi filters? Which NiSi filter do you like best?
F: I believe this is the 4th year I’m using NiSi Filters, and I can state proudly that I was a pioneer of this brand in Europe. In the past I used many other different brands in order to achieve my images, but since I started to use NiSi, I wasn’t able to go back: the quality is priceless!
My favorite filters is the ND64, a Neutral Density filter of 6 stops: it’s simply perfect to achieve long exposure shots near the sunrise or sunset, when the light is still to much to shoot without ND filters but the light is simply perfect!
L: As you see, how can NiSi’s products grow better?
F: I think that one of the best aspect of NiSi, together with the quality of the glasses and materials used, is that he listens to his customers and brand photographers. Thanks to this relationship, NiSi was able to improve day after day and to become quickly a market leader and an innovator. Before NiSi, it was almost impossible to have a constructive discussion with other manufacturer of filters in order to improve products or create new specific products designed according to the real needs of photographer. With NiSi everything is just simple! I think that to improve even more NiSi has just to listen to his users, because they know what they need in order to create new outstanding images!
