No products in the cart.
Menu
No products in the cart.
Sunday it was a bad day, definitely, heavy rain, hail..I found this beautiful girl and I was so disappointed because due to the forecast we initially cancelled the shooting.
But we were in contact and at the first sunbeam we met to make some nice shoots!
Stephany has been the perfect model, amazing attitude and great smile.
More of her pictures soon on my website ! In the meanwhile check my tours and your favorite one with a photo shooting!
Thank you Stephany!
Cheers
Nostalgic process still heavily going on, another #tbt of this week is about the paradise that I found in the island of Kri
New pictures on the website soon
Cheers
After about ten days of fear winter seems finally gone and I was lucky to meet Nicolas for another great portrait session with a new friend!
Don't miss the chance for an amazing Venice Photo Tour with a portrait session in the hidden calles of this city, check my portfolio visit the website and book your favorite one!
Cheers
Reorganizing the hard drive, editing pictures..it's impossible to not notice so recent pictures that speak about something that seems so far after just two months in the real world.
The #tbt today is Arborek, stay tuned the next weeks for new nice memories!
Next week new pictures on the website with the update
Cheers
After crazy cold days finally a taste of spring with and amazing sun to warm up our bodies and mostly our souls!
More about Irene will be on my website soon!
So, come on let's get your portrait in Venice and join me for a photo shooting session, check the website and contact me or book your private Venice Photo Shooting Tour here!
Cheers
After days and days of rain, finally a beautiful sunny afternoon, it seems also spring today and nothing would have been better than a walk till the top of one of the most amazing terraces of the city.
Fondaco dei Tedeschi with its great restoration became on of the main attractions of Venice, clearly it's not a cultural center, but a luxury mall, anyway you can't miss a visit here also because it's the only place where you can go up for free in Venice.
So don't miss the chance at least till the next rainy days forecasted during the week end.
Check the website and find your favorite Venice Photo Tour to go there together and take amazing pictures.
Cheers
It's rare and when it happens nobody should waste time to complain about anything but just to admire it astonished, because it's even more beautiful and you already know that it won't last long, so do a favor to your self, take your coat and go out for the most amazing walk ever.
Castello is the most authentic area to explore, no tourist (just few), great calm and wonderful glimpses that the snow makes even more attractive. Zanipolo's church is stunning during all year but now well...
It's easy then to reach the most curious library ever, Libreria Acqua Alta and arriving you'll find this small island composed by the tallest buildings in the city (with the ones in the Jewish quarter).
Cannaregio anyway offers crazy spots too, it's the most residential sestiere of Venice and getting lost there it's always a pleasure, also for me even if I can't get lost anymore!
So what are you waiting for?
Check my website , book your Venice Photo Tour to take the most amazing pictures ever getting lost in the most hidden areas of this incredible city! I promise that you'll feel lost but I won't, you'll be safe and sound in the end, I promise!
Cheers
Every trip needs to come to an end, especially if it was a vacation, so it’s time for a small analysis, inevitable after one month abroad.
Every journey teaches something, a long one in particular, and this time the lesson was to bring less clothes (obviously) and maybe one lens more (but not necessarily).
Starting with a technical consideration, since this one is supposed to be a photography blog. I have to say that in my case less hasn’t been more because sometimes I’d have needed a lens for portrait, but anyway, moving often from one place to another I didn’t have so much time to change the lens when I needed to. On the other hand, more was more because I decided to bring my tripod, a light one (1,5kg), that I used just few times at Raja Ampat and in some cases I’d have achieved the same goals with some ingenious trick, but clearly not for the pictures of the starry sky.
So for this trip I brought my Canon 5D III, the Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 and the tripod, since I travelled often and through three time zones with multiple weather and light situations I’d say that it was a correct choice, 24-70 never betrayed me and it’s awesome also for portraits.
However my iPhone 7 has been an incredibly useful tool thanks to its great camera, all the pictures that I posted on my blog have been taken with it and I’m incredibly pleased about them.
If I wasn’t a photographers but just a blogger I wouldn’t have needed anything else, not even a light mirrorless, I don’t need to pretend to be cool or hipster.
Now something about the trip.
Discovering Indonesia has been amazing and I’m so thankful to my friend Fedo that gave me the chance to join him on this trip, it was the sixth time for him here, so his help to discover, to explore, to find accommodations and to solve situations has been priceless. Now thanks to Fedo I’m in love with this country and I already decided to come back, able to manage myself and eager to enjoy again one of the most relaxing place in the world.
Clearly I wanna thank also my other two travel mates, Marialaura and Alice that with Fedo are three of my colleagues in my real life in Venice.
Obviously I will always remember the amazing places where I’ve been, Raja Ampat over all, an incredible paradise, Bali and its magic atmosphere, the temples in Java, but the most unforgettable memories of this trip will be for sure the incredible kindness of Indonesian people, their hospitality, their willingness to help in every situation, their generosity and honesty.
Knowing this people helped me to realize how lacking we are regarding tourism, all over Indonesia I found the opposite attitude towards tourist than we have where I live. I've been treated like an holy creature during my stay, everywhere, in Venice instead, more than sometimes, tourists are considered like intruders that need to be ripped off to earn as more money as possible.
Once we'll learn something from these countries, way more poor than our, outcomes will be amazing and our image will be definitely rehabilitate especially after the sad facts happened in the last months that has been around the world and immediately on every international newspaper.
Obviously I wanna thank everybody that followed my blog and had the patience not only to read but just to click on every link to take a look to the pictures. From know on I'll remember a bit of my trip through the other pictures I took that I'm editing and that I hope you'll like.
So now it's time to go back to the real world, working and saving for the next adventure.
Cheers
Here we are to the real reason for being in Yogyakarta, two amazing temples, an hindu one and a buddhist one.
I don’t know how many people will read this post, anyway one thing above all, nobody has a reason to complain about the price of museum and churches tickets in Italy in particular, especially international tourists
Yes, the temples are truly amazing but the international ticket price is not justified compared to everything else in my country. 325.000rp (20€) are like 60€ in Europe and considering this, nobody won’t visit anything here.
By the way the price of a tour guide is super cheap (6€) and it’s definitely worth because it’s the best way to understand the the place (but not just in Indonesia obviously).
No polemic here, but it’s funny when people consider Doge’s Palace or the Vatican too expensive because they have to pay about 20€ for something that represents the maximum worldwide expression of art.
First stop Prambanan, the biggest hindu temple in Indonesia, the second in the world after Angkor Wat in Cambodia, built in 850 a.d., originally composed by 232 temples, now just a few because of two earthquakes (half of the 17th century and 2006) that destroyed a lot of them.
The main ones are of Shiva (the king Rakai Pikatan considered himself the reincarnation of Shiva), Brahma and Vishnu, and then others. It was super interesting to hear about history of the temple and about the low reliefs all around, but actually what impressed me more was to discover that to control, improve and get rid of our bad character is necessary to let work our 7 chakra, soooo… doing yoga and meditation.
I started immediately, hope to see good results in a while!
Second stop Borobudur, built in 800 a.d., the biggest buddhist temple in the world, with a squared base, 2672 low reliefs about Buddha and 504 statues representing him.
About this place it’s necessary to be careful with tourist informations in Yogyakarta. We booked the sunrise tour from the temple but nobody explained us (or we didn’t read carefully enough) that the sunrise was from a hill few km far from the temple with amazing lights, amazing view, but not from the temple that was a small spot far from us.
Anyway nice view and good vibes, then the timing at the temple was good as well and the tour with another competent guide too.
It’s impressive to see all these Buddha’s statues during the climb from the first level with the desire’s spirals, to nirvana where there’re the three circular terraces with many bells with Buddhas inside as well.
Once we arrived on the top it happened something super funny, like rock stars or famous actors we have been surrounded by kids with their phone and selfie stick asking for a picture with us, they were really nice and polite but so many many many that our guide needed to distance from us to finish the tour.
Anyway what happened was a sort of nice end of our trip that summarized our great experience in Indonesia through incredible places with amazing people.
Now it’s real, time to pack our stuff and reach the airport.
Cheers
Leaving Bali has been pretty sad, but this trip had something else to show so the last stop is Yogyakarta, main venue for everyone that are interested in the Hindu and Buddhist temples.
Nonetheless I think that this city deserves a chapter apart. It's smaller than Jakarta but with one thing in common, It's pretty ugly. I didn't visit too many things but I can confirm that its inhabitants are the most amazing thing.
These people are incredible, unbelievable kindness everywhere, one of the best memories of this trip.
The city by the way it's a mess, incredible traffic, unbelievable number of scooters and cars and unbreathable air, for real. During my life and travels I never found a place where it was difficult to breath like Jogja, the mask with filter is essential, obviously I didn't have it, fortunately I was almost all the time inside a Uber or Go-Jek (yes, here they work perfectly!), or reaching a restaurant i small and hidden alleys.
Just arrived we took a walk in the main street, Malioboro, crazy place with a huge crowd (half of it was asking us for pictures), people cooking and eating on the sidewalks, rickshaws everywhere.
A friendly man recognized us immediately as europeans, he was (allegedly) a teacher that taught in Florence for a while (or at least this in what he said, but he spoke a bit Italian) and he insisted to show us an art gallery with paintings of students in a narrow street. The situation was not that clear but he was so passionate explaining the technique and the painting process that we indulged him but then he started to insist forcing us to check all his paintings trying to persuade us to buy them. So we stayed there few minutes than we left because we had things to do and started to feel uncomfortable, and he was not disappointed but really sad and embittered. We found out later, reading the Lonely Planet, that there’re many people that try to attract tourist in these so called art galleries to sell their paintings.
I spent the following days to visit a bit to discover something nice, I reached a market called Pasar Ngasen because over there they were supposed also to sell snakes and other animals but I found just an incredible variety of vegetables, meat with flies, blue eggs and many really strong smells.
Nonetheless, unlike other cities in the world, in Jogja is not necessary to look for authenticity because it’s everywhere, here touristy places are well hidden or far away. In fact we found one of them randomly, just strolling around we bumped first into Water Castle Cafe, really typical and quiet place were we drank a super good smoothie with fresh fruit (my stomach has never been good like in this trip, for real), then we were suspicious about the name, in fact we found the real Tamar Sari (Water Castle). The place was the venue of the royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta, characterized by different areas and a european architecture since the project manager, Tamenggung Mangundipura, learned about it during his travels to Batavia (Dutch East Indies), the current Jakarta.
Then the weather was definitely not good, so we decided to rest and to use our time to visit the two main temples in the area, Prambanan and Borobudur.
Cheers
Being the first time on this side of the world, in this trip I decided to explore rather then stay for a long time in the same place. So I've never been in the same place for more than 3 nights, so despite of the short time and even if the accommodation was not that good, the atmosphere around here was perfect.
Canggu has few beaches but I decided to stay at Batu Bolong, good waves, good vibes, both locals and tourists particularly kind. Clearly Bali is the most occidentalize part of Indonesia (comparing with the other that I visited) and this aspect reflects itself in the quality of life in general.
Tide permitting the beach is nice, many beach loungers and several rental surf board places, everything with a temple in the background. After the beach, starting from 7pm, the place to be is the Old Mans Restaurant, a sort of restaurant/bar/club on the beach, mainly for tourists but also with locals.
Anyway all along Jl. Pantai Batu Bolong there 're many nice shops, barber shops, nice restaurants and fancy cafes. Actually Bali, at least in the central areas, doesn't seem Indonesia, it's definitely westernized and probably there's also the influence of Australian owners concerning the interior design of bars and cafes. So great food, fresh smoothies, good coffee, amazing atmosphere.
Also here we found a great place for pizza, at "Pizza Fabbrica" products were definitely tasty and good, we tried also a fried panzerotto and it was simply perfect.
Also here forget Uber, Go-Jek and app concerning transportation. The best way to go around is to rent a scooter, cheapest and easiest solution also because if you walk around away from the central areas you risk to be killed by thousands motorbikes and cars. Anyway the areas far from the center are pretty fascinating.
So definitely when I'll come back to Bali Canggu will be my favorite destination to stay because from here it's easy to reach many other places with scooter or car, life is good, there're a lot of nice people and most of all no chaos.
Now it's sadly time to move to the last stop of this trip, on my way to Yogyakarta to see the temples.
Cheers
After the transfer from Gili Air we had another small car trip with our Indonesian friend Made from Kuta. So Bali again, Uluwatu this time.
From the car Kuta is crazy crowed and super touristic. We took a lot to drive out of the city because of traffic, I'm pretty glad that we didn't stopped there.
As soon as we arrived, thinking to our previous experiences, all my Airbnb expectations collapsed. This time definetely, accommodation, no. Papers with many rules about how to behave. Useless direction on a useless handmade map. Wifi password with recommendation to use it in moderation. The promise of a person (with his phone number) to contact in case of need since the place was in the middle of nowhere, that never answered. No towels, no soap, stinky blankets, at least one roll of toilet paper and comfortable beds.
Anyway in the morning we had a long walk and we met an old english man. He was living in Bali since '84. He showed us a nice restaurant and a place to rent scooters (50/60k rp per day all around the island). In this case safety was definitely not first. Also here forget Uber.
Around Uluwatu there are so many beaches, all amazing and with a scooter is pretty easy (with google maps) to reach them. It's also very nice because of the hills, many hairpin turns and amazing landscapes. Obviously a lot of attention is needed because driving is on the left and basically there're no rules on the road!
January is not the perfect month in Bali, storms and a lot of rain in the night destroyed roads and raise the tides a lot in the morning. Anyway we found some nice places to relax under the savage Indonesian sun. Always remember protection 50+, that sun is savage.
Every beach has a ridiculous price to pay (2/3k rp = 0,12€) to park the scooter. Obviously nobody tells you before about the high tide. Always check the tides before! In fact we haven't been able to reach Uluwatu beach that was suppose to be pretty amazing. Same for Padang Padang (the one of the movie Eat Pray Love), incredible high tide so we stopped there just to watch a super funny monkey for a while.
Finally we arrived in Balangan, nice beach and good weaves so I had the chance to surf. Remember that here almost all surf boards for rent are cover with a strange rough rubber, so don't do like me, remember tu put a t-shirt on!
After that nothin's better than a Bintang on the beach looking at the ocean and listening to the waves.
Before to leave a must do was the view from the hill over Balangan Beach for a stunning view. Apparently a lot of married couples had the same thought about it for their wedding photo shooting.
Melasti is another great beach but to surf Pandawa is better, the scenery are both stunning though. Clearly, even with a t-shirt my abdomen got way worse.
Finally another must do was the Pura Luhur Ulu Watu, the Uluwatu Temple, with the temple accessible just by hindu observants. Less monkeys than Ubud but way more intrusive. Anyway mystical view from the cliff.
The best moment is toward the sunset when there's also the chance to watch the Kecak (Monkeys Dance) in the theater on the ocean.
Time to go to the north, Canggu's waiting
Cheers
From the Hanging Gardens the trip (400rp) was pretty fun. First part (my favorite) on a small van, with a funny nice driver who really liked Blink 182 and a crazy chinese/american girl from NY on his side. 1,5hr with Blink obviously, Robbie Williams, Guns and Roses, Aerosmith and other hits from the 90' for a great soundtrack.
Then after a long wait and a quick trip with a crazy fast boat we arrived in Gili Air. The smaller of three small islands, Trawangan, Meno, Air. In front of a bigger one, Lombok, to which they belong.
In this period Air is really quiet, the atmosphere is nice, no cars or motor vehicles, just bikes. Just electric scooters and funny coaches pulled by small horses. Also here, like around all Indonesia, kindness seems to be the rule.
There's not much to do during the off season but along its 4km outer limit it's possible to join many bars and restaurants on the beach with amazing vibes and and sunsets.
Everyone here is more happy and chilled than the usual. I realized that is was probably because of magic mushrooms that you can find in every bar included in the happy hour package. They sell them also in cones (like fried fish in Venice) made with palm leaves. They are allowed just in Gili, anyway I preferred to not try them.
Also inside the island there's no shortage of surprises. Walking around we found this pizza place called "Classico Italiano" where I ate a delicious pizza, totally unexpected.
The owner is Andrea, a super nice lady from Venice that with her husband from Rome decided to live in Gili Air and open two restaurants. The second one is called "Perla Nera"; another amazing surprise, this time with hamburgers. I know that it's uncommon and not preferable to eat Italian food abroad, but we reached the limit with nasi goreng and rice, and most of all they were excellent!
The plan was also to do an excursion to snorkel and swim with turtles. Unfortunately the weather have been good just the first day. It rained a lot and this offer the chance to relax more and enjoy our amazing house. One thing that surprised me a lot, in Ubud first and then in Gili Air, is the fact that Indonesia redefines the concept of Airbnb with an incredible hospitality and kindness. Apparently there're no airbnb without a swimming pool, breakfast service and room cleaning service all inclusive for a super cheap price.
So if you are coming here with a group of friends go definitely for an airbnb. If you are traveling solo there're many alternatives in several clean and nice home stays ridiculously cheap.
To conclude, Gilis are a particularly good idea from march, especially if you are looking for amazing weather, no rain and a lot of people to party with (Trawangan is the craziest one in this case). Anyway also in January it seems to be a good idea if you are looking for some extra relax.
Now back to Bali in Uluwatu and Canggu.
Cheers
Finally in Bali, Ubud and the impact with this town has been amazing, spirituality is the main character of this great place. Ubud is a beautiful place in the middle of green and if you are looking for culture, wonderful temples, relax, good restaurants and food, nice shops, spas for massages, this is the place.
Even if it's not chaotic like Jakarta the situation on the road is pretty much the same but everyone is more peaceful and relaxed.
The island is an hinduism fortress and everyday people prepare devotional items for the gods. Small buckets made with weaved palm leaves called canang sari. They are characterized by many different scented flowers, representing different divinities. Furthermore there are sigarettes, coins, cracker Ritz, wrapped candies, everything completed by incenses with a strong fragrance.
Here, as I disclosed, there are many temples and they are all fascinating with an incredible atmosphere and steep ways to reach them.
Speaking about sacred spiritual places, the Monkey Forest in Ubud is the main one. Here the aim is to spread peace and harmony among visitors through the Tri Hita Karana (three ways to achieve physical and spiritual wellness). This sacred place is also a venue to preserve particular plants and to study monkeys' social interaction.
Three temples, the main one is consecrated to the cult of Shiva "The Transformer", and more than 700 monkeys divided in 5 groups.
The experience is amazing. Monkeys are incredibly funny but you can't smile otherwise they get angry, they are friendly in the beginning. When they become familiar with the situation they let you know that they are the ones ruling the place. They jump on you trying to steal things but also just to be friendly and because they are curious. The important thing is to not overreact otherwise they become aggressive and the bite you.
Between temples, in Ubud it's possibile to find many incredibly nice restaurants, bars and bistros along the main streets like Jl. Monkey Forest and Jl. Hanoman. Many options that meet everyone's taste, vegans, vegetarians, celiacs.
In three days I tried just few but delicious places like The Good Food Brotherhooh and Atman Nourish Cafe. But in every neighborhood it's possible to find tasty typical food. Basically you won't never wrong because the atmosphere will be always amazing. Finally Bali, Ubud and its amazing food!
The only kind of whim that I allowed myself in this trip and probably during all my life was a night at the Hanging Gardens. An amazing resort in the middle of the jungle. I read about it a lot and I've been always curious and the typical thing that you can do once in your life time. Definitely makes more sense than go to drink at the Harry's bar or in St. Mark's square in Venice. I'm not use to this kind of situations, so I won't probably be able to describe it so..picture.
Finally, an aspect that surprised me a lot is about transportation. The public one is rare but taxi (the safe taxi service on line is offered by Blue Bird) and Uber in particular work pretty well and here comes the curiosity. Walking in Ubud the most frequently pronounced word is "taxi?". Many many locals sitting on the sidewalks asking to tourists for a ride. They are all abusive and as far as it seems they are a real threat for Uber drivers. It has never been so difficult to book Uber rides. As soon as you find your driver he immediately starts to call you to ask you where you are because in the center of Ubud allegedly there's a lot of "taxi mafia" and they are scared to pick you up there. Otherwise they start texting you to raise the price of the app because "it's to far" "I need to come back from there" ecc. By the way when you find the good one, the ride it's crazy cheap. So "Go-Jek" should be the solution offering a wider choice of transportation options.
Now it's time to leave this magic place for other few chill days in Gili Air (Gili Water).
Keep you updated
Cheers
Jakarta wasn't so crazy after all, landed in Sorong I found a nuthouse! Hundreds small guys screaming and asking for a ride to the harbor with their rattletrap. Our driver turned on the car with wires. I thought that I would have never arrived but even here..no crashes at all.
My first truly unforgettable Paradise, Raja Ampat. Here we made four different stops with the same kind of accommodations. Stilt houses on the water, bathroom consisted in a wc inside a shed, flush was a big ladle. Shower was a big tub with another ladle. Pretty savage but certainly authentic.
Food was good in the beginning, but repetitive, rice, fish, vegetables, bananas, in different modes. They were used to fish for us, it was all-inclusive for 350.000 rp (21€) so no complains at all!
Every place was perfect for snorkeling and enjoying the most amazing reef ever and its fishes, turtles, mantas, a real divers' paradise.
First home stay was in Arborek (cover picture), really small island in the middle of nowhere. Peaceful and relaxing with many nice and friendly hosts that took care of us.
They also brought us for an excursion to visit the amazing Pyanemo. We snorkeled around there, had lunch on an amazing beach were we socialized with few iguanas.
Next stop Mansuar incredibly quiet place with just two stilt houses in front of the jungle. We escaped the day after because we slept with huge spiders and other big bugs, fortunately we had a mosquito net.
We moved to Kri for a couple of nights, the place was quite relaxing but not as good as the others, we decided to explore more so we spent the last three days on another island.
Gam was amazing, we have been welcomed by the kindest people since we arrived (and everyone has been pretty nice with us)! Amazing place, great view, good food, big and comfortable accommodations. The best way to complete our stay in the unforgettable paradise, Raja Ampat.
Now it's time to fly to Bali with the right energy and sensations, hoping that Garuda (the fifth most dangerous air company in the world) will allow us to do it!
Hope to write you soon
Cheers
p.s. yes I know, I love clouds, I'm crazy
about clouds
On our way to Raja Ampat islands internet connection disappeared and it was kinda nice to live
without for about 4 days, but I'll tell you something a about this in the next post.
I landed in Jakarta, my first stop, it's something crazy, more than 10 millions inhabitants, at least 5 millions motor-scooters. At every traffic light it seems that there's a moto gp race starting, lines on the roads are pure decorations, thousand car drivers honking randomly, hypotheticals crashes everywhere but zero accidents.
Probably it's not a new feeling for many people that travelled a lot but to me has been pretty uncomfortable noticing how many luxury and modern places are mixed with shacks. At the same time it's fascinating to see all these poor people selling food along the road, facing life with great smiles and happiness, something unthinkable in our culture.
Anyway there're no homeless here, everybody has a place to stay and try to find something to do, able to be kind with everyone, also with foreigners, exactly like it happens in a city that I know very well in Italy, northern Italy, nort-east...
The city is huge and I tried to visit something in about 20hrs..so...big malls, crazy traffic jam, al adhan (the call for prayers), national monument and by the of the day we collected a lot of pictures with local, they are interested about us like we could be attracted by famous actors and singer, pretty funny.
Anyway this one was just the first micro quick taste of Indonesia.
See you later
Cheers
It's been a while, but now it's my turn to relax. Last year has been though, full of big changes, I became a freelance, I finally realized my project Venice Photo Tours , I met new friends and finally I became an official tour guide.
It's off season now, or it's suppose to be, so what's better then leave to discover a new place?!
I'm going to be in Indonesia for the next month, to relax, to surf, to take pictures, to explore and to spend good time with my friends, hopefully with a lot of nature and not much wifi or technology, but my camera.
It will be anyhow a significant experience and if you like the idea, I'd like to share it with out pressure and hurry when I'll have the chance to do it. So if you already follow me somewhere on fb or instagram you know that from now on you can find me also here!
Cheers