Honorable Mention
Dust
DESCRIPTION
A 360° startrail panorama taken in the Atacama Region (CHILE), 7 hours for over 600 shots to capture the Earth's rotation during a night with -8.1 degrees at 4447mt altitude. Definitely one of the most spiritual and intense experiences of my life.Finally, since 2019, I've been obsessed with this technique. I've experimented with dozens of different combinations, and I'm still trying to find a way to work with it in less than 20 hours of editing. I still have a long way to go.
La Pacana is an area in the Atacama region where we lived in a tent for two endless nights. After a few hours of driving, we reached this alien valley. Once on-site, we were completely astonished by the beauty of the wind-worked rocks. It immediately became clear why the gusts were so strong, with more than 80 km/h of continuous wind for two nights. It was both challenging and beautiful.
Using one of these polished monoliths as a shelter for our base camp, I started scouting. Backpacking at that altitude is very different, even a short walk of just 20 steps leaves you breathless on the flat ground. I secured the star trail gear with rocks and ropes to the ground. Shortly after sunset, I began capturing shots of the sky.
At 4:00 a.m., I emerged from the tent to photograph the foreground in moonlight. This allowed me to capture more detail and play with the changes of light and dark on that absurd pillar of rock in a barren, lifeless valley. It was truly unbelievable.
The walk to the spot was awkward, and I experienced a series of indescribable emotions. The silence, the moon illuminating the valley, walking by sight without a flashlight—it was all amazing. I found myself repeatedly asking, "Where am I?"
AUTHOR
In 2008 I approached Photography buying a small camera to capture the first landscapes, the first trips. Six years later I started to study deeply the techniques of planning, shooting and editing while i started to think about my own style, experimenting with the first wide field photographs. Today, after these years of research i finally have found my way to represent the strong connection i have with nature, with the landscape; the extreme panoramas are the language that I have sewn to myself, a choice sometimes uncomfortable (you have to consider the elements in front of, on the side and behind the point of shooting, often you can not shoot), but that gives me a way to express the immense beauty of what surrounds us, trying to inspire those who follow me to travel, to be curious, to respect and appreciate every scenario that nature, generous, gives us.