Gaetano Scaccianoce
Nature photographer and expert in nature promotion,
I started dealing with nature photography in
1996, although I have always been a naturalist. Before approaching
photography, I would stroll the
Sicilian countryside observing the wildlife living there: I remember
spending so many days
outdoors watching the birds with my binoculars!
The study of the animals behaviour and the knowledge of where and
how to find them are a great
help in order to take interesting photos.
I started by taking photographs
of the wild fauna but little
by little I got interested in all forms of life and in all natural
phenomena.
My strong passion for volcanoes drives me to be always present
whenever an eruption of Etna, “
my” volcano, occurs.
I’m also a tourist guide and I happen to take groups of people
on excursion. On these occasions, I
try to convey my strong passion for nature and make them aware
of the respect we owe the
environment, which nowadays is so seriously endangered.
It’s also through my images that I try to spread the love
for nature, mostly in Sicily.
I worked for wildlife recovery centres and for natural sciences
museums.
Some of my pictures have been used to illustrate tourist guides
and to make postcards. I often
arrange expositions and projections for photographers, environmentalist
and cultural associations
and for environmental training courses.
Roberto Cosentino
My passion for photography comes from my love
of my beautiful country, where all natural
elements constantly convey strong vibrations and intense emotions.
In 1996 I began to go to the Wildlife Recovery Centre of Catania,
where I met people with whom I
could share my love of nature. I also went on many exciting excursions
with them: we walked the
lava deserts of the highest active European volcano, the equally
charming “deserts” of the
innermost and less populated areas of Sicily, but also luxuriant
woods of larches and birches and
green paths of high ferns.
My first experiences were as a nature reportage photographer. This
activity has helped me listen to
nature, know her and learn from her. Photography has led me to
approach nature tactfully, with a
different outlook, a different attitude. “Living” nature
is much more than going for a quiet walk in
the country or climbing frantically up a mountain: nature needs
attention, pauses, meditation
because she shows her secrets to anyone who (according to his own
methods and principles) really
wants to explore her and is patient enough to wait.
Although I’ve never stopped landscape and reportage photography,
I’ve started to turn my attention
to a different kind of photography, more focused on colours, shapes
and on the simplest and most
common elements in nature whose unexpected beauty is always highlighted
by professional
photography techniques.
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