True professionals never stop learning, trying, improving
Gabriele Lorenzini is an Italian professional photographer specialized in fine-art landscape, cityscape and night photography. His predilection for landscape photography takes him to travel frequently to various countries around the world: his portfolio contains especially photos from Iceland, United States, Africa, India, Ireland, Norway and many beautiful locations in Italy. He spends most of his time teaching the best techniques for shooting and post-production during courses, workshops and photo travels. It’s a great pleasure for NiSi to chat with Gabriele and share his photographic experiences and excellent works with you.
Z for Zoe and G for Gabriele Lorenzini
Z: Hi Gabriele, it’s nice to meet you! Firstly, could you share us three random facts about you?
G: I like good food and good wine. Although probably being born and living in Italy this is rather obvious. Among the things I love there is definitely pizza and ice cream. Ok, this is also pretty obvious.
Before devoting myself completely to photography I was a computer scientist and I worked for 10 years in the sector covering various professions.
Although I live in a small tourist town by the sea, I prefer the mountains and the wilder landscapes. Maybe if I was born in the mountains I would now be an underwater photographer.
Bryce Canyon, the US
Taken with NiSi S5 + ND (10 Stops) + Medium GND (3 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: How did you get into the world of photography and turn pro?
G: While I was studying computer science I started to get passionate about photography using the first digital cameras on the market. After graduating and starting my career in the IT industry, I continued my studies in digital photography, shooting techniques and post-production software.
At some point I realized that I had excellent knowledge, that digital photography was spreading more and more and that many were looking for someone to teach them.
So I decided to found a photography school and starting from the first basic courses I then improved and increased the offer more and more reaching what we are today.
Melmore Bay, Northern Ireland
Taken with NiSi S5 + ND (6 Stops) + Medium GND (3 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: At what point did you get the idea to teach others your techniques and build websites like FotoCorsi?
G: In 2010 the world of photographic workshops was still in its infancy.
I knew I had good connections and soon realized that I was also a good teacher.
I liked the idea of sharing my knowledge and having interesting experiences in the field with other people who are passionate about photography like me.
Founding the FotoCorsi school was therefore a simple decision and fortunately it turned out to be the right one.
Bled, Slovenia
Taken with NiSi V6 + Medium GND (3 Stops)
Z: Do you think it’s a challenge to make a living as a photographer? What aspect of photography gives you the greatest pleasure and why?
G: Living exclusively from photography is not easy nowadays.
There is a lot of competition and it is necessary to constantly renew, I always offer new proposals while maintaining very high quality.
Fortunately, I have so many loyal customers who continue to travel with me and enjoy my trips so much that they even make 3-4 trips every year.
What I like most about photography and my work is sharing exciting moments with my clients, who often become friends after a trip.
Admiring a sunrise, traveling aboard a hot air balloon, observing the Northern Lights, getting lost in the boundless landscapes of the world, are emotions that bind you to people and go beyond photography.
Cornwall, England
Taken with NiSi ND (6 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: When did you start using NiSi filters and why?
G: I have been using NiSi filters for about 3 years, after using filters from other brands for several years.
Even before getting to know the NiSi filters I realized that the filters I was using had many defects: they were not very sharp, they easily got dirty with water and fingerprints, they vignetted easily with wide angles, they had chromatic dominants, in addition to others small flaws.
After trying them I realized that NiSi filters solved exactly all these problems and so the choice was very simple.
Tuscany, Italy
Taken with NiSi V5 + Medium GND (3 Stops) + Soft GND (3 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: Which NiSi products do you usually use in your work?
G: I use practically all types of filters!
Screw filters, 100mm square filters with the NiSi V6 holder and 150mm square filters with the NiSi S6 holder.
The filters I use the most are definitely the polarizer, 3 stop ND, 6 stop ND, 10 stop ND, 3 stop Medium GND, 4 stop Medium GND, 4 stop Soft GND. Sometimes I also use the Natural Night filter although fortunately I often shoot in places where light pollution is not very present and therefore I don’t need that filter much.
Brittany, France
Taken with NiSi S5 + ND (10 Stops) + Medium GND (3 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: Among all the photos you took with NiSi filters, which one is your favorite? What went into creating it?
G: This is probably one of my favorite photos I took that NiSi filters.
Here I used the S5 holder with the Landscape polarizer, 4 stop Medium GND and 6 stop ND.
This is a photo where I spent a lot of time looking for the best shooting position to enhance both the rocks in the foreground, the reflection on the sea and the colorful sky.
Lofoten Islands, Norway
Taken with NiSi S5 + ND (6 Stops) + Medium GND (4 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: Could you share some practical tips for new photographers?
G: Make it simple. Most of the discussions on the web revolve around irrelevant topics for getting good photographs.
It is very important to be in the right place at the right time and try to represent what is in front of you in the best possible way.
Don’t think that post-production can solve the problems of a bad photo, but don’t think you can take a great photo without post-production either.
Studying with professionals is always useful even if we think we already know everything and true professionals never stop learning, trying, improving.
Kirkjufell, Iceland
Taken with NiSi S5 + ND (6 Stops) + Medium GND (4 Stops) + Landscape CPL
Z: What is your recent goal with photography? Any plans for the future?
G: I try to improve myself every day and I believe that I will never stop studying the work of other internationally renowned photographers for inspiration.
I am quite happy with my photography but I realize that there is room for improvement and that it is a constantly evolving way and that the general public has always new tastes, so we must not settle down.
I am planning many trips to new destinations and I hope to be able to organize them soon.
Planning new destinations is certainly one of the things that keep my passion alive in my work because it allows me not to get bored and not to fall into the routine.
Dolomites, Italy
Taken with NiSi S5 + Medium GND (4 Stops) + Landscape CPL
