Hello guys! I'm writing this due to the amazing confusion I made around the new lens I wanted to buy. I've asked you suggestions being too vague in the first place, and then I've spoken of "street photography" but included in the lens list only telephotos (no real "street" companions by standard means).
I've appreciated your comments and critiques a lot! I've understood quite some things, both about certain lenses and about street photography as well. I'm going to develop a bit the discussion, so that you may understand what the whole thing was about.

Prologue
I'll be quick! Before getting the D80 I had the long zoom Fujifilm S5600. It has a built-in lens that is equivalent to 38-380mm. I've used it for about 7 months, and mostly at its widest focal. I also felt the wide I could reach wasn't wide enough for some of my ideas, so I also bought a wide converter (which worked, but caused obscene distortions and loss of sharpness at borders). I occasionally used the telephoto capabilities of the Fuji, but not often for sure. Therefore, when I moved to a reflex I enjoyed the 27mm wide offered by the standard zoom, and wanting more in that direction I recently buyed the ultra-wide 12-24. What I was surprised to discover though was that with my kit lens I was using 70mm (eq 105mm) rather frequently, surely more than what I used to do with my bridge. My take is the following: on a digital compact you see things from a certain distance (at least with mine, since the EVF was almost useless I had to rely only on the LCD) and it gets difficult to "enter" into a scene. Therefore static (wide) landscapes are more likely to give less frustration to the photographer than action shots or out of the studio portraits. And now the real matter is...

Yeah, what to choose? Why I used the words "street photography" after all? My favourite subjects in photography have been landscapes. I'm always looking at the sky, waiting for sunrise/sunset colors, searching for new locations etc... so why bothering "street photography"? Dunno, I wanted to experiment. I feel I should try to break some barriers I've always had. I don't know what street photography is, technically, but one thing I know it's that when it's done the proper way, I simply love it. The best thing about this photographic category IMHO is that gives more power to imagination and concepts, portraing the most common things in the most uncommon situations. At least this is what I feel when I'm in front of a piece of art I can regognize as a "street photograph".
My great problem with it is that I'm very shy, and I'm scared to do something that could make people go mad. Thus I was thinking of getting nearer to the subject little by little, THAT would be the use of a moderate telephoto in my mind.
Most of you suggested me to get a 35mm f/2... I understand very well that most of the best street photographs are taken with normal lenses: they get you INSIDE the scene, instead of screaming "I'm spying this guy/gal from a fu**in' tree a mile away". My dear friend Gianluca (aka =nasht-01) also suggested me to read `cweeks "guide" to Street Photography and to buy a cheap rangefinder camera to start. Even though I don't really like Cweek's way of "explaining things" (that resembles quite more a "to-do list or-you'r-fckd" to me), I can understand why a 30€-worth rangefinder could be more comfortable than my dSLR for this purpose. I don't know what to say about this... right now I had in mind to experiment other techniques and types of photography, not restarting to learn new tools and a whole new format. I've put efforts and money in my equipment, and I want to try what I can make out of it before saying "ok, I need a totally different gear for this task". Btw, my father wasn't surely a photographer nor a photoreporter, but he managed to take some wonderful street shots with its old slr back in his days. He also had to run a lot now and then, that's to be said! He didn't have super telephotos: only a 50mm and a 135mm.
To go straight to the point, I'm more interested in getting a telephoto than a normal. This is because I completely miss longer focals, not because I KNOW ('cause I don't) they will be vital to me. On the other hand I'd prefer to spend a little more for a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 instead of getting the Nikkor 35mm f/2. No doubt the prime is brighter, has better optical quality, and would probably be more fun, but I'll eventually need a bright and high quality standard zoom: I can't get double the optics only because primes can be handier and better at times. Having limited funds I must take decisions. On the other hand I already cover wide to normal focals (even if with a moderately dim standard zoom), so a good complemen... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/15970720/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/15970720/ Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:31:01 PST

The Headline

Hello everybody! Christmas is at hand, isn't it?? I'm studying hard for my last exams right now, but I'll be done shortly! (though I'll have to keep on studying for my last three exams).

No real bad news so far... as always I've been away from dA for quite some time... this site is truly a time devourer, and there are still so many things I need to do... I'm missing photography a lot! Because of my time shortage since I came back from Paris, I couldn't have a moment with my camera for about a month. I'm also missing some of my best friends, who are working or studying and I couldn't catch up with recently.

One good news is that my parents bought me a great Christmas present: a Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8D! I've opened the box to check if it was all right and functioning and, omg, it's soooo small and cuteee!!
Here he is:

"Small like a mandarin orange" pretty fits its size! It is so lightweight, yet feels decently built. I've tried it with a couple of shots, and what really scared me to death was experiencing the focus ring moving while autofocusing under my fingers!! This is probably the only bad thing about this lens: it is so small that there's really little room to handle it without touching the focus ring while shooting. Still it is the cheapest lens you could get, and probably one of the sharpest. Having 1.8 on a camera is real fun!

So now, since I've spared some money, I'm thinking of new equipment... upon trying a friend's 40D with a Canon 24-105 f4 IS in Paris, I've enjoyed the benefits of having stabilization on a lens. While taking photos on the outside of the Musée du Louvre I've also felt the need of a stabilizer. Since a while ago I had decided to buy a strong tele next to my super-wide Tokina (having the 70-300 VR in mind), I brought with me not only my D80 but also my older Fuji. The reason is simple: it boasts a lens that reaches 380mm with f3.2, and though its shooting performances and ease of use are put to shame by every dslr, having it with me could have proven a fair "preview" of the capabilities of a dedicated tele lens. The result is that I haven't used it much. This is probably a consequence of the fact I grew used to frame with a REAL viewfinder instead of a small EVF or LCD, but also because I couldn't feel the need of such a long focal in most situations. I'm strongly convinced that if I had the 70-300 in hands, I wouldn't have used it over 150 or 200 mm.
Therefore, charmed by the VR technology, my attention was drawn by the very popular Nikkor 18-200 VRII. Now I'm considering to buy it, but I'm really not sure... Why is it so? Well, first thing first, if I buy a 18-200 my 18-70 will be likely to spend most of its days in a box collecting dust. This would be a shame, because selling it wouldn't earn me much, and besides its optical quality is on par or better than the 18-200 on the 18-70 range (surprisingly similar though, and that's quite something for such super zooms). Nope, it's not the HUGE distortion at 18mm that bugs me (my 18-70 has hefty distortions at 18mm too) since I have my Tokina 12-24, almost rectilinear at 18mm. What I'm unsure about is the fact that I could save more for brighter and sharper lenses. But how much is "more"? Right now the 18-200 VRII would cost me about 650€, which isn't bad at all. I wouldn't be able to get any Nikon pro lens with such money, but I could get a "pro" third party lens. I thought about the Tokina 50-135mm 2.8 AT-X Pro and the Sigma 50-150mm 2.8 EX HSM as first choices, which would cost me equal or less than 650€. I've considered the Tokina because of the great built quality of the 12-24 I bought, but I read good things (apart from close focus issues) of the Sigma 50-150mm as well (it also has HSM). With them I would lose a good deal of range, but I'd also have sturdier lenses with overall better performances (in terms of sharpness, aberrations, distortions, and brightness). I'm bugged about the luminosityVSstabilization problem... I can't help but thinking that with the 18-200 I could enjoy the VR on the whole range, but I'm also asking myself if one day I'll feel the need for a faster lens...
This is it, I need your help/opinion on this matter. Do you think I should buy the 18-200 VRII or buy a third party "pro" lens like the one I've mentioned earlier and possibly update in the future my standard zoom with a brighter one? (like the Tokina 16-50/Tamron 17-50/Sigma 18-50 2.8)
I don't know what to do, but I'm really tempted to g... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/15615721/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/15615721/ Thu, 22 Nov 2007 06:17:27 PST

The Headline

Hello everyone! A few days ago I've returned from my trip to France, and as you may imagine I'm still recovering! We faced the beginning of the giant transportation strike the evening of the first day, and combined with other events things started to go crazy. In the end we decided not try our luck with the trains and we had a "calm" week in Paris instead of visiting Mont Saint Michel ()!

Can't say it was a bad idea, but we had problems finding affordable accomodations since we weren't planning to stay all the days in the expensive capital... anyway, we managed to survive somehow, and it turned out to be less difficult than we thought. On the other hand the underground system was free of charge for the strike, and the most useful trains for us had decent frequency (almost identical to REGULAR undegrounds here in Rome!) so we didn't have to walk miles to get back to our hotel (even though we actually did to visit the city!).

I can't say it was a bad experience for sure, but it wasn't an easy one. The weather was fine, but it was also freezing cold, something we didn't expect (even though we were quite prepared for the harsh conditions of Normandy). Probably we've chosen one of the worst moments to visit Paris: between autumn and winter -> no colors nor snow. Too bad, but we've made experience and that's what was really worth the trip. I plan to visit France again, but first I need to study french, at least the necessary to do basic talking. Then I'll probably go by car, or wait to have grown up enough so that renting one doesn't require me extra charge for being "a stupid potentially drunk youngster"! That's the same plan I've got to visit Norway and Sweden: there are some places I really want to explore, and I won't be able to do it without a veichle.

Interested in some postcard-like pictures of Paris? Well then, here you are!

== "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" locations ==

------


Le Maison Colignon


Cafe des 2 Moulins


Le Manège aux le Sacré Coeur


Le Lamarck-Caulaincourt Métro

== Paris sightseeings... ==

------

Why do I checked the Amélie movie locations? That's just because me and my girlfriend love that movie and I wanted to bring home a couple of shots of the locations as a little surprise! Besides our hotel was in Monmatre so it was an easy task!
Oh I didn't put any photos of the Eiffel tower beacuse I don't wanna risk any copyright issues about that junk on night shots of the tower and so on... we visited it only at night, and I wouldn't bother sharing those pics either since I believe anyone has seen a pic of the place once in his/her life!

Now to the "techy" spot... FINALLY some serious tests on the D300 image quality are popping out in the web. For those interested I encourage you to take a look at the samples gallery of The Imaging Resource for the D300 (http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/15374969/ Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:56:23 PST

The Headline

Hello there my friends! I'm starting to think I can't really manage to keep on with this site... actually these days I have doubts I can manage to catch up with my own life itself! It's been a busy month for sure, but at the end of the day... well, I just can't remember what I've done! Where did all this time go? That's just close to 45k minutes gone forever, and I can't even remember what I've done with half of them (the rest is easy: sleeping and driving I suppose! )! I guess that's something that often happens to people who don't plan ahead and take things seriously... shame on me...

Ok, one thing for sure is that a week was gone with a flu, causing myself to rest at home with my father (who got flu before me). Mixed feelings for the rest: I've initially took my time with my girlfriend Michela, but it was about a week since university started over again for her too and she has pretty serious timetables this semester. One thing that pissed me off was that we had an awful weather for a looong time, and I couldn't grab my camera to get some autumn mood up until last saturday. I've also spent a couple of days in Tuscany, Pisa, to have some medical analysis. Some of you already know that it costed me all my filters... let's just not talk about that, I lost them, and I'm still feeling such a shame for what happened... guess I've learned a lesson about that.

Meanwhile I had to buy again some filters, and I choose to go cheap since I was saving money for a trip to France. Right, I forgot to tell you: I'm going to France next week! We'll be leaving on the 13th and we still don't know exactly when we'll come back! The idea is to visit Paris and Mont Saint Michel, but suggestions are really welcome!
Anyway, back to the filters... I bought a couple of Cokin and a couple of Kood ones to go cheap:
- Cokin GND8
- Cokin ND8
- Kood GND4
- Kood C-PL
Actually the Koods aren't bad. The pola surely feels a lot cheaper, especially the structure, which is entirely cheap plastic (while the Cokin's pola is made of metal), but the filter quality is pretty decent, and the GND4 is fair as well (even though I didn't appreciate the fact that is a bit thicker than the Cokin's). I would say you can live with these shortcomings if you're on a budget, especially for the pola which costed me close to one-third of the Cokin's! (I'll let you know if it'll turn to dust one of these days! )

I usually also speak about new technologies, new cameras, etc... I don't have the strength now, really. One thing that is really pissing me off is that the D300/D3 aren't off yet. While the most awaited D3 has been previewed and has already shown most of its insane potentials (check this Andy's journal entry for links on D3 previews if you're interested), D300's performances are still enigmas. We are all very excited for the D3 arrival, and happy-kudos to Nikon for the great achivements on the new FX sensor and the iso capabilities... but I think there would be much more praise in making a similar step forward in APS instead of FF! (most of us could also care more because of the price!) It's pretty evident that the D3 is the revolution, and the D300 will "only" be the evolution. But hell, I want to see how this camera performs!

Returning to serious matters... my devwatch is exploding: 4.300 messages. That's a whole freaking lot of messages. I'm not trying to fool anyone, I won't be able to reply. Right now I really don't have time. I'll try to work on some photos and submit something new, but I won't have the time to reply right now. On the day of the departure I also got an exam, so I'll have to study hard until that day... and then I'm off to France: no chances to waste time!
I'm very sorry about this, I'm so embarassed... especially for those who appreciated my works and commented/faved/watched, thank you all! You know I'm in a very critical moment of my life, I have to get things straight to graduate in a few months. I'm hoping I'll be able to catch up with all the things I'm leaving here on dA (old messages and promises) as soon as I'll have some time to breathe. Hate me, but please try to understand me! Thank you all my fellow deviants! http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14741399/ Sat, 22 Sep 2007 10:01:06 PDT

The Headline

Good morning world! I've been away for such a long time now, haven't I? As you have probably guessed, I was busy like hell because of September's exams! Good news: I'm back, and I've done all the exams I've planned to do! Now I'm less than 5 exams far from my graduation... if everything goes according to plans I'll be done on February... YUK!

After many thoughts I've decided to get the wide-angle I was longing for: the Tokina 12-24 f4 AT-X Pro DX (what a long name! ). Yesterday I had quite an hard time searching for it from local stores (I had decided to give them a chance before buying it online), but in the end I found it at a fair price (I was lucky since the shop was also the only one to have it! ).

The Tokina 12-24mm f4 AT-X Pro DX

My first impressions are very positive. It feels a bit more solid than the Sigma 10-20 and Tamron 11-18, and it is quite easy to use as well. Handling seems good, though the lens is actually double the weight and bigger than my Nikkor 18-70. I've tried to take a few photos to see it's performances, and I must say that I'm really satisfied. The wide feeling is really something, though it didn't impress me as the Sigma 10-20 at 10mm did. I feel that almost every shot I wish to take "lies" in this 18-36mm (equivalent on a full frame camera) range, and it's so great to have it at hand without having to stitch. Of course I can still imagine extreme conditions in which I'll have the need for a wider view (-> I'll need to stitch), but I can foresee they won't be frequent. Can't wait to go on the field and test it!

Before I forget, I was caught up in the "tagging frenzy" that took place a while ago! I was tagged by the great *Etoile06 and ~MattAnth. Here it is...

The rules are:

1. Post these rules.
2. Each person tagged must post 8 random (hopefully interesting) facts about themselves.
3. Tags should write a journal of these facts.
4. At the end of the post 8 more bloggers are tagged and named.
5. Go to their page and leave a comment telling them that they're tagged.

Here are 8 facts about myself:
- in my 22 years of life I've never smoke nor got drunk, and I'm not planning to change in the future!
- my dream is to move to Canada or Sweden in a quiet and "romantic" shack far from civilization
- I received my first SLR when I was born, but I could never use it!
- I work with a webzine and write reviews of softwares and smartphones as an hobby
- I've been a national champion of Bridge (the card game) twice in the under 15 league, but then I left
- I plan to marry in 5 years, unless Michela will change opinion!
- I don't have faith in any luck or religion: I have faith in Nature, mankind, science, and myself
- I plan to go around the world and visit every places I want to visit in a lifetime

Ok, at this point I'd have to tag someone, but I won't. I think you had enough, don't you?

Before you go telling I am forgetting something else, here it is the latest news for Minolta owners (who will have already got aware of this): Sony presented the Alpha A700!

This camera will be packed with features and a better sensor than the one on the A100. From the first sample photos that can be seen on "The Imaging Resource" Sony Alpha A700 Preview, I can state that the new sensor is not bad, but seems far from the performances stated by Sony. The photos produced at high ISO values tend to have quite a large amount of chroma noise, and the noise suppression algorithms doesn't seem to deal well with it (moreover, at ISO 1600 we see consistent softening of details, but chroma noise is still there in the form of large colored smears). Nonethless the camera does incredibly well compared to the A100, and it deals well against the D200 too with JPEGs straight ou... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14303007/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14303007/ Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:57:54 PDT

The Headline

Ok ok, I've got to be fair, and thanks to Andy I've just read about the Nikon answer to all the Canon developments we've seen during this year: TAAA-DAAAN! The D3 and D300 are coming to the stores near you!! (hopefully in November!!)
Since I've talked three times about new Canon models, I'll have to spend a couple of words on these two new bodies Nikon unveiled today (or was it yesterday?!? Doh!).

Let's start from the bigger player, the Nikon D3 professional body. Is it a Full Frame?? YES, IT IS! Ok, I could stop here, since this would already be a huge step in the right direction to me. Canon had FF cameras for a while in its lineup, and Nikon is just starting now, so we wouldn't expect to totally counter the situation in a blaze... but again we have surprises: the new CMOS FF sensor has "ONLY" 12 megapixels. What's wrong here?!? The D2X/s already had 12 megapixels! This camera will not surely be the 1Ds Mark III killer, but while it seems to offer the same output of the 5D with double the price, its strengths are totally different and thus its aims. Let's read at the sensitivity ranges: 200-6400 ISO. Something new? Not really, but... look at the range AFTER the boost: 100-25600 ISO!!! The new sensor is designed, guess what, to have the best performances in low light ever! That's a blast, and more so considering that Canon is the nominal king in this area. I can't really wait to see how the D3 will perform on the field... but wait, there is more! A new focusing system (Multi-Cam 3500FX) with 51-areas, the same giant 3'' lcd with live view we heard from Canon, a totally new imaging engine (EXPEED) and a burst speed of 9 fps (up to 11 in cropped DX mode)! This is a FF Eos 1D Mark III with boosted sensitivity and resolution!
What does shock me, is that probably Nikon is already developing the D3H and D3X at this point, and I can't imagine how fast the shooting speed of the D3H will be... Anyway, if the sensor will prove to be as good as it promises at high ISO, Nikon will convince me this is the "perfect" camera. Perfect from my point of view (though I probably won't ever have the money to buy such a camera! ), being 12 megapixels very close to the maximum resolution I'd want out of a digital 35mm camera (between 14-16 would be the maximum considering also photosites density and diffraction limits).

And now for the smaller sister... I wouldn't have changed the D200 so much, mostly I would have improved the sensor and the imaging processor, making a D200X or something... but no, Nikon decided to improve more... the D300 doesn't get close to the D2Xs, actually it gets beyond it! Boasting a 12 mp CMOS sensor, similar autofocus sensor of the D3 (Multi-CAM 3500DX, changing only in the format), and a fast shooting experience of 6 fps (8 fps with the battery grip (?)), this camera seems as much as APS bodies can provide. The iso sensitivity got also boosted, 200-3200 iso boosted to 100-12800 iso. What does this mean? It seems that at Nikon they believe that 3200 iso performance on the D300 work just fine as 1600 iso performance on the D2X/D200/D80/D40x. Should that be the case, it would mean that the improvements achieved don't lay in the EXPEED engine alone but in the sensor too (still manufactured by Sony). If the words of Nikon will be proved by facts, we can expect Canon won't have the high iso advantage anymore (though I wouldn't be sure of that).

In the end, Nikon seems to have got things right, and luckily I didn't have to wait long after the 40D/1DsMkIII press release! As Thom Hogan states, the chart of models comparison between these two giant brands now misses only few clusters. I'll write down my version of it, since Thom doesn't consider "old" models that will still be on sale for some time after these new models get released:

I consider the 30D being positioned a bit higher than the D80, and it's price fall with the arrival of the 40D will surely give the middle segment a shake. The 40D is more similar to the D200, having some new advanced features but lacking others as well. As it's evident, Nikon still needs to fill the Studio-oriented section with an ipothetic D3X, and the prosumer FF with a new product. Things are getting interesting, and the fact that new sensors will come with the D300 and D3 manufactured by Sony leaves us to wait for the imminent release of professional bodies from the Japanese giant as well.

That'... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14251367/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14251367/ Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:33:38 PDT

The Headline

Hi there my friends! I'm very pressed by studies for incoming exams (middle of September) right now, but I'm trying to find the time for everything and I'm slowly replying to your messages. I have a few news, some thoughts and some questions for you.


Let's start from the news: I got a "new" tool. Well, actually it is far from being new, I had it for a long time but wasn't of use with my camera up until now that I've bought an adapter. Here it is:

This Philips flash unit was used with my old Praktica BC1 up until the electronic exposimeter got broken. It isn't compact, it has a slow recycle time (about 9 seconds after a full power firing), it has no rear lcd and it doesn't dialogue that much with the exposimeter on my camera, but it has a decent guide number (36 at iso 100), it is 90° orientable and has 360° rotation, has a built-in diffuser and more importantly it costed me 8,50€ instead of 180€ (for an SB-600 clone by Metz, much more for the SB-600 itself). I'm still very new to flash use, and it is also something I'm not using so frequently, so I think this was really the best solution. Besides it adds a lot of mass to the camera, and I can hold the whole thing with the flash grip which is actually very comfortable.

Another news is that I've found a shop not so far from my home which still sells Polaroid 600Plus films, so I could get the chance to clean some dust from my old Pola!





Another news, this time not regarding me, is that the Canon 40D has finally been unveiled.

This time Canon has put together something which is IMHO a really impressive product, fitting perfectly in the shortlist of both amateurs and pros. To me, with the 40D Canon aims at three objectives:

1) compete with the Nikon D200 at full scale, offering a wide set of new features absent in the 30D at an aggressive price.
We still don't know if the ton of features present on the D200 will be avaiable on the 40D, but mostly the 40D gets it, and goes beyond. The new Digic III processor implemented (with more cores) in the 1D mkIII grants now a max burst speed of 6,5 fps with a double buffer compared to the one found on the 30D. The battery and memory card compartments got watherproofed, and though the D200 is totally weathersealed the gap is now much less pronounced. Plus it is expected that the 40D will carry the same great image quality at high iso to 10 megapixels like the 400D.

2) being in the leading position for amateurs capable of affording its price
Unlike professional cameras, the 40D keeps the scenes modes and more importantly has a great 3'' LCD with Live View which will probably be a great plus for the amateur photographer.

3) making more newcomers choose Canon
While the 40D will probably be a great camera, the 30D is not magically becoming a piece of crap all of a sudden and it will remain on the market for a while just like it always happens with Canon's lineup. Thus the price of the "older" sister will drop eventually to a very affordable tag, convincing more newcomers to choose Canon instead of other brands.

Kudos Canon, also for the 1Ds Mark III, presented alongside with the 40D. Consider again Live View, 3'' inch like the 1D mkIII and 21.1 megapixels: Canon is throwing an arrow towards the digital medium format here.
Me, as a Nikon owner, I'm really hoping Nikon won't sit still long before answering. They should really start revealing something about the D3 series to get into the arena and drive many expectations to some realities.
More infos on the Canon EOS 40D can be found here
More infos on the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III can be found here

All in all, we've talked about technical geeky subjects, but photography itself goes a lot beyond producing high quality photos in terms of resolution and/or noise performance etc... I could show you thousands examples of this idea, here on dA and around the world. I still see very clever Minolta owners not selling their bodies just because "6 megapixels are few": actually I see loads of great photographers using Konica-Minolta 5D-7D or Nikon D70-D50-D100. I suggest you not to buy a newer body just to "upgrade" if the new functions aren't really vital to you and your current one works fine. More megapixels can make your photos look... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14143189/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/14143189/ Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:35:29 PDT

The Headline

Hi there fellow deviants! I've returned from my trip to Netherlands and I'm still regaining... no doubt it was an exausting experience, especially for the "accident" that occurred at the beginning: the airport lost my baggage. Exactly, in a group of 10 people, I was the only one left without clothes, and more importantly without my tripod and the charger!
It seems that italian airports are screwing all at once, being my backpack part of a ridiculous amount of lost/forgotten baggage. To give you an idea, just aboard my flight the lost luggages were 41. And consider that the airport from where we departed is by far the best player in Rome about this issues.
Given you this introduction, I'm reporting a quick diary of the trip (this time it's a CCD: "Completely Colorful Diary"! ) If you're not interested, feel free to skip it!

Oh and for the photos... consider that I've recently discovered I forgot to submit a couple of older shots, so I'll submit them before submitting pieces from this trip. Be patient please!

deviantArcade - recent

recent inspiration


http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13928510/ Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:28:09 PDT

The Headline

Hi everyone! You may remember I had to go to Netherlands, and if you do you're totally right: 14h until departure!!! I'm so excited! I still can't believe it! It'll be a great fun, and hopefully I'll get the chance to take some good photos as well! AAAAHHHH I can't wait!!!!
Since I'm leaving I've uploaded three shots today instead of one: watch them slowly! They have to last until I return!
Unfortunately my trip will be short, but I'm so excited I think I won't be able to get any sleep in a week! I'm planning to wake up very early in the morning to capture the sunrise and the morning dew in the misty plains of Amsterdam's outskirts... awwwww windmills wait for meee! Yeah, I know, I'm out of sanity right now! Must be that I couldn't get more than a couple of shots in a month...

Anyway, due to departure duties and preparations, I couldn't answer your nice comments and thank you for your great support: I'm trying to do it here (though this is becoming too frequent recently, isn't it?), so please excuse me and have some more patience!

Have a great time while I'm away, and expect new photos soon!
Bye bye my deviant friends!

deviantArcade - recent

More monochrome features [link]
More colorful features [link]

recent inspiration
http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13804194/ Fri, 20 Jul 2007 05:19:45 PDT

The Headline

Hi everyone! I'm finally done with exams and now summer vacations are here for me at last! Unfortunately I'll have to start studing again soon, since I'll have more exams to do on September... they never ends!!

Let's not worry about the future now, and think about the present! While I've been away I've always kept a look at my deviantwatch so to fav each great work you porduced recently! I couldn't leave comments, but I really enjoyed watching your progress guys! Moreover I'm now watching a lot more people, great artists and newcomers, and this is really tripping since it gives me more and more desire to get better with photography! Unfortunately I couldn't take my camera in hands for a month, so I'm really in the need of shooting!

On the other hand, I had enough time to experiment new workflows for postprocessing, and this time I tried to mimic some of my favourite photographers' techniques. I ended up with decent results, though I still need to learn better and experiment more on how to correctly tweak and WHAT to tweak.

Last words on comments: I'm so sorry I couldn't answer and thank you for your great support while I was away! I'll try to do my best at answering, but consider I'll be leaving in 10 days so preparations will take me some time! I can't really wait to explore Netherlands! I hope I'll find the time to do some good photos too!

Adobe Lightroom Updates to 1.1

You may be surprised to hear me speaking about a software, and even more just for a simple update. The story is that I've liked Lightroom from the beginning, since it's beta release, but then I realized that the great flexibility and simplicity of the software didn't gave complete control over the workflow. There was still much to be desired, and I always found necessary to fine-tune things in PS CS2 after RAW-converting with Lightroom. This was truly a big limitation for such a pros-oriented and pricy tool. I was unsatisfied, so I tried Nikon Capture NX. It works well and has a good amount of options, but its main advantage is the good results of noise reduction applied to RAW photos (being the same algorithm applied to JPEG photos in-camera). No wonder NC was sluggish at best, I read about this issue almost everywhere on the net. It takes time to load a photo, it takes more time to view the preview of an adjustment, and it takes time to save it too. Multiple photo editing is something you can deal with, but just with a great amount of time and patience. I got a bit frustrated I must admit...

I was at the point of trying DxO Optics (something I should try eventually in the future) when I heard the big news: major update of Lightroom to version 1.1! No reactions at first. It's not unusual to see lots of updates that brings invisible changes or useless ones in a software, so I wasn't much excited about the news. My mood changed once I installed the update: something DID change actually! The most evident upgrades are in the tools of the "Develop" category, which now include a slider called "Clarity" (which is grouped with Saturation and Vibrance as the "Presence" category), a more powerful Sharpening control which now includes selectable Radius (from 0.0 to 3.0), a slider to enhance fine details, and a slider called "Masking" which restrict the sharpening to hard edges when at maximum. There is also a new option that "defringes" burned edges or all edges that performs resonably well.
There are more minor changes, but even just stopping here there would be enough to call this 1.1 a REAL update to Lightroom 1.0. All the new features integrates perfectly in the workflow and workspace, and they work perfectly on their own rights. Moreover, the code was somehow optimized so that now switching from views and zooming on RAWs is much faster. The only "flaw" that remains IMHO is the lack of a distortion correction tool.
Even without it, I'm more than satisfied with this version of Lightroom, and I'm starting to use it for full workflows of many pictures, without involving PS CS2. I really suggest you to look onto it, even if you were disappointed form the earlier versions. Peace!

deviantArcade - recent ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13506870/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13506870/ Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:50:37 PDT

The Headline

Ok guys, it's been a week already, uh? I got back to my place on monday morning, and even though my first cruise was an interesting experience, I guess I can't really hide my "home sweet home" mood! I thought I could write down a small diary of the journey for those who may be interested, and here it is. Just a few news and we'll start!

A very important thing is that I could get the longed filters right before departing. The generous *AndyMumford sold them to me for a irresistible price, but due to a misunderstanding we were unsure (at least, I was! ) that the shipping was going to be delivered. Everything went fine at the end, and I'm so glad I could have this trip to try them! They're all Cokin's, P series. The whole list follows:

- 3 adapter rings (58mm, 67mm, 72mm)
- 3 standard holders
- a wide angle holder
- a GND8 (P121S)
- a blue GND4 (P123S)
- a ND8 (P154)
- a warm-up (P028)
- a polarizer (P164)
- a sunset filter (P197)
- a blue/yellow polarizer (P173)

That's a whole lot of stuff! I'll need to dig into it much more than a week to really get the hang of the system. It is really funny though, and feels like a drug: you can't stop trying new filters!

Second thought: while away, my intent of repairing my old Praktica BC1 grew even stronger. I saw a lot of traditional SLRs, huge and professional ones, like the F6 and the EOS-1, and the idea of restoring my father's darkroom equipment made my imagination go wild.

The problem lies in the fact that there may be quite difficult operations required in order to repair the camera, since we discovered that the electronical issues with the exposimeter were a bit of a "trend" in this model. Since a reasonably long time passed since it was discontinued, about 20 years or so, I'm not really sure we'll be able to find anyone able to fix it. Moreover, such kind of repair will easilly cost me a lot, probably a lot more than I would pay for the same used camera on eBay (I saw one, with my normal 50mm plus a 28mm and a 70-210mm at about 80€!!).

And so it comes the part where I need your help! I need some opinions from photographers with experience in film photography and classic 35mm reflex. Do you have a model you can suggest me? I'd need both a camera body and a lens since I have right now only two old Praktica lenses with screw mount, two Praktica-Pentacon lenses with baionet mount, and a Nikkor DX. I would rather stick with a Nikon slr, but I suspect most useful lenses on my dSLR wouldn't work on the avarage SLR, and moreover Nikons are among the most expensive 35mm SLRs on the market. I really need some clues... do you have some models you'd suggest me to look onto? I need to invest a little budget on it, I still don't know how much exactly...

That's it, no more news! Let's get to the cruise!

Cruise to Greece 2007

As I've said, this will be like a short diary of my latest trip. Those who aren't interested, please don't read it! I know that reading my long journals can be really boring, so I encourage you to skip this if you want. I won't take it as an offence!

- Day I -

We left Rome from the port of Civitavecchia at 17:00, 18th of June. The first destination of the cruise would have been Catania, a city located on the eastern coast of Sicily. My parents are half from there, two thirds from Rome and a third from Tuscany, that's why this first stop was a very welcome one for them. My mother and my aunt were born and lived their youth in Catania, and they were very happy to show us the city (my father visited it in the past, me and my brother never had the chance).
The first day on the ship was dedicated to pure "exploration": we were sailing on the Costa Victoria, a giant about 250m long and 75000t heavy. The first thing that catched my eye was how the whole ship and all her ambients looked so clean. The idea of using lots of reflecting surfaces to "fool" the watcher and enlarge spaces was working nicely due to the continuous attention of the crew, who was cleaning every inch... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13388657/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13388657/ Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:38:24 PDT

deviantArcade - recent

colorful emotions




















<... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13198985/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13198985/ Sun, 03 Jun 2007 07:30:41 PDT

The Headline

Hi everyone! Today I've got a few things to tell you... let's start from the first one, and probably the most important one:
as some of you already know, yesterday me and my girlfriend celebrated 3 years together!

We took the chance, as every year, to make a small day-trip. This time we went by car to a place not far from Rome, unfortunately known because of a book I personally hate written by Federico Moccia: the Castle of Santa Severa. It isn't a very charming place, the castle is being restored since more than a year, and it has only recently regained popularity thanks to this stupid movie made from the book (yeah, I know I'm going against 80% or more italians, but you must forgive me guys, I can't find anything good in that story!). I discovered it was the same castle just yesterday evening... luckyly Michela didn't know either.

Our trip continued following the coast and then on the small mountains inside, all the way up to a small town called Tolfa.

After a quick visit, we randomly begun our return trip. I wish I had a month or more to visit all the places near Rome... they're far more interesting than they seem!

My second subject will be my planned incoming trips. Again, I've spoken about this matter before, but never clearly enough. The main trips that are planned right now are:

Cruise to Greece with my family, a week long (departure on June 18^th)
Trip to Netherland with my girlfriend and a group of friends, a week long (departure on July 30^th)

I can't really wait to leave for Greece! It's one of that places I really wished to visit at least once in a lifetime (like India, China, Egypt, Argentina, Canada and Usa (, etc...) for me!), and I want to take lots of photos of it! I'm going to need new stuff like filters etc, so I'm browsing for shopping right now. I'm so excited!
About the trip to Amsterdam and Netherland in general, I'm very proud about myself! It is the second time I'm arranging a trip abroad on my own, and this time I had to arrange a whole trip for 10 people. I could manage to do this thanks to Michela and Francesco who helped me a lot (Francesco, called simply "Fra", it's a great fella, probably the only one of the community who's gonna follow me in creazy-hours explorations! You can "see" him in my webcam photo, he's the square! ), and now we have both flight and accomodation booked.

In a sec, I'll also tell you a funny thing: I was about to finish the selling of my prints a few days ago, when I checked by chance how I earned with my prints so far... I had this surprise: someone bought one of my prints in 16x20 inch size!! I'm a bit worried about the print quality of that print, since it was made with my previous camera... but anyway, I really wish to thank this "mister/miss X" 'cause he/she gave me the opportunity to update my subscription with the deviantDollars earned! Thanks a lot, really! I'm really honored!

Last great thing to say: one of my "old" photos became a painting! It was used by ~bpsola for the background of one of his works! Check it out!

~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13028106/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/13028106/ Sun, 20 May 2007 16:15:43 PDT Welcome to my deviantART space!

The Headline

Hi guys! By an accident you may have read my previous journal partially changed... I dunno why, but sometimes dA goes insane, not only for maintenance! Anyway, I had things to tell you...

First, I've notice that I'm really really been lazy, having so many nice comments from you all that I've still not answered! I swear I'll do my best to write back to you and thank. It's just a matter of time, I swear!

Second, I'm in the mood of b&w. Yes, I just started with the previous two deviations with this mood, but that's the idea. I was so inspired by *AgenttSmith, *SerdarAKIN, and even more by *Pixydream, that I'm really too interested in experimenting!

Last is... oh well, there is a last one, but I've forgot it right now! In fact I'm really tired, and this is really not the right time to write a journal, but I don't want :devArt: to publish what it wants, so take it for now, there will be updates soon!

My works in short

Recent

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/12849610/ Sat, 05 May 2007 08:20:44 PDT Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi guys! I had a strange week... but let's start from the beginning: last week's Saturday. I had to wake up early, prepare things, get my sleeping bag, buy some food... to be short, that night, 2 o'clock I had to pick up my friend Luigi (though we call him "Chester"!) and drive all the way up to Argentario, in Tuscany. I was so excited about this photographic trip, though it was meant to be a short one (only Sunday + Monday, then back to work!). That evening I had to sleep to be rested for the trip, but I was so excited I couldn't rest more than two hours. I wasted time killing zombies at RE4, then head for my car...

It was morning... REALLY early morning!

When I reached the pub my friend was working in I had to wait a lot, 'cause the place was closing and some of his friends were still in talking to him. Anyway, at about 3:15 we left Rome headed to the camping of a couple of his friends. The trip was short, about 3 hours, and the way was very clean so it was an enjoyable drive through the darkness of night. We arrived right at the beginning of dawn, so we started immediately to take pictures and to drown into high vegetation. It was a misty-enchanted morning...

We walked through grass as high as a man 'til we reached these misty plains...

After scaring about strange footprints and have our legs hurted by harmful plants, we returned to the camping. We noticed that the fog had reached the sea and the woods, so we spent some other time taking photos!

My friend Luigi taking photos!

We were really tired, so after having our fun we went to sleep. That was our life for about two days: we woke up in the early morning to take pictures of the sunrise, and then sleep until sunset!
I'm ending the tale with a funny shot!

We reached the rails! Notice my assassin-look/face and the lanyard! The guy on the right is Gennaro (or Matteo), he's an artist and he's a mad guy (notice the short trousers he used to follow us into the tall grass!)

As you may imagine, expect a lot of photos from the trip! We were really lucky the weather was really perfect for photos, misty in the morning and very cloudy at sunset.

Now on the news side of the story: I really want to thank my precious friend *AndyMumford and the skilled =Etoile06 for featuring me in their journal. I'm so embarassed, they are such great photographers and they have such great features I always feel very tiny in their space!
I'm sure you already know them very well, but if you don't, check my weekly features at once! You really should!

I must thank Andy for another reason. He was the one suggesting me to get the Nikon D80, talking about its pros and cons, his take on the subject, etc... I was confused, I heard people getting Canons, I was at the point of taking a Canon in the first place, but then he changed my mind. And though I couldn't get anything wrong with all these great cameras, I'm really happy with what I've got I feel the need of thanking him! I'm taking more and more control of it, and the more I get the more I seem to feel comfortable. There is nothing wrong, nothing to be desired nor anything to hide. I'm really proud of this camera, and I think I couldn't ne... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/12669122/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/12669122/ Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:05:54 PDT Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi everybody! I won't tell you again, 'cause I guess you've already noticed that I've disappeared for some time now!
As some of you probably already know, I've been sick (I'm probably not yet ok though) and I had a ton of exams (I made about 3.5/5 of them)... so, that's quite a lot of work you know! Because of all this, I couldn't get my hands on the camera recently, but I have quite a lot of news for your ears:

1) while I was away, I grew older to the elderly age of 22 (cool! I got 22 on the 22 of March! ), but I'm still fine though I have some pain in the back sometimes... must be the time spent on the desk studing...

2) I may have been sick for months without knowing! Tomorrow morning I'm going to do about a dozen tests to discover what I had (and what I probably still have);

3) since I've really missed the camera and photography, I'm really starting to believe this is going to become more than an hobby! I'm talking about the future of course! Right now I have a ton of things to study and experiment, and I'm really excited! I've also spared some money, and this leads me to the following two news...

4) I've bought a new computer! Well yeah, I bought one at the end of March, and I didn't spent a lot on it 'cause I planned to have other expenses during this month. For those interested, here's my new configuration (importance ordered ):
- 19'' wide LCD Acer
- Athlon 64 X2 4200+
- 1024 mb DDR2 Kingston
- HD 320gb 16mb cache Seagate Barracuda 7200.10
- Ati Radeon x1900gt 256mb
Even though it's not an ultimate machine, it works fine for my needs, making photoediting and managing much easier than before. Lightroom works surprisingly smoothly too, and the choice of using a decent vga makes my day when I'm in need of a bunch of frags to kill time .

5) As some of you already know... yes, I couldn't resist and I bought a NEW CAMERA!! Obviously, I upgraded onto a dSLR, and though it was an hard choice, I went for the Nikon D80!

My brand new D80!

My first doubt was about the choice between the D80 and the 30D. Obviously the Canon has better continuous shooting speed, the buffer is larger and the body has a magnesium cage beneath, but I found the D80 + 18-70 kit a better choice over the 30D + 18-55 kit. The cheap kit lens of the Canon balances the overall performance giving both cameras plus and cons, but with the Nikon I also liked the overall tones of the images, the dedicated "bracket" button (wonder if Dirac's formalism is involved with its functions...), and the "type of noise" it produces. While the body is "only" made of polycarbonate, the feeling I got helding both bodies was similar, with the 30D feeling a tiny bit more comfortable due to the larger horizontal size of the grip (the Canon is actually wider and heavier than the D80), but having a "weird" disposition of controls to my taste (since some of my S5600 controls resemble the ones on the D80). It was really an hard match! The Canon had clear advantages, but less useful to me (I'm not really into "sport photography", so larger buffer and speed is none of my concern), and on the other hand the Nikon had better ergonomy (for my needs) and a more appealing menu system. What to do then? All in all I had to decide between metallic body and cheap lens, or plastic body and decent lens... the avarage guy would have chose the first I guess: "once you got the body, you can upgrade the lens, not the contrary". That would have been the case, if I wasn't so IN LOVE with the Nikon approach to image quality and photography. I still find the 30D great, but the choice is done!
Another problem raised (a way BIGGER one!) was that when I got to the shop, I found a GREAT bargain for the D200. Yeah, D200 + 18-70 were going to cost me less than 250€ more than the D80 kit. That blew me away. I had one hell of 32 hours browsing through tests an... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11943670/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11943670/ Sat, 24 Feb 2007 06:05:41 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi guys! Once again, I've disappeared for some time... now I'm trying to go quickly through all the devaintwatch messages (just checked a lot of your works... MAGNIFICENT! Unfortunately I had time just to fave them... no comment right now, sigh! )

A good news is that I've finally decided to wait for the original date to buy a new camera. I was at the point of buying a cheap dslr saving some money (I was thinking about the Nikon D70s and the Pentax K100D), but I think I'll be better off with some better equipment when the time is right.

Have you heard the news? Canon EOS 1D MarkIII unveiled! That baby will be a fast-shooting paradise for professional with its incredible 10fps capture speed and up to ISO 6400 sensitivity (I'm too curious to see some shots taken at that sensitivity!). Well, enough for the dreaming state, that toy isn't meant for anyone else than photographers and will surely pack 8000+$

As I've said, I won't buy a new camera... then what about my savings? I think I'll use them to buy a new Pc, since mine has now grown 4+ years old and it's starting to have issues all around. Moreover, I've been using Adobe Lightroom 1.0 for a while now, and it's really a resource eater boy, so an upgrade will surely make things better!

You already know I can't stay here too much 'cause university is keeping me busy, but I promise I'll try to be more present.

Have a great time my friends!

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11671198/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11671198/ Sat, 03 Feb 2007 12:25:31 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi there my friends! I've experience some heavy problems in keeping the rythm of the site! I'm having a lot to work with university and everything, so I couldn't thank anyone who faved my works recently!
I try to answer every comment though, and I'm really feeling happy to have your support everyday! It keeps me up, really!

Tomorrow I'll take a small trip with my parents to a beautiful place near Rome (a town called "Calcata", and the zone of Sutri), and I'll surely fill the memory card!
Mmmhhh... I'm thinking of carrying with me my laptop...
Maybe I need one of those "Archos" media player/storer!

For the reflex thing, I've decided to wait until the original date (december) to have a sufficent budget to afford the right reflex with the right equipment. If I had to buy it tomorrow, I'd probably stick with the D80 (also I'm planning to buy the same lenses of *AndyMumford if it'll be a nikon, the Sigma 10-20 and the Nikkor VR 18-200), but there's enough way to next Christmas and something more interesting may also appear!

Have a great time my friends!

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11583690/ Sat, 27 Jan 2007 04:18:44 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi there my friends! I felt in the mood of changing things around here! Hope you like the new look of the journal!
The layout is totally the same, I just messed with the graphics a little.
First of all, I want to thank everyone who has visited my site! I can now celebrate the over 200 watchers goal!!
This means really much to me, way more than s! It means that more than 200 persons in the world are appreciating my works and value my efforts... and that's something really fulfilling!

These days I'm feeling very weak and tired... dunno why, maybe the season changing... (Winter is coming here right now!)
Speaking about the weather, here it is really fantastic! Well, yes, it is reaining half the day, but the other half has such bright and cloudy skies... this must be a photographer's heaven!
I can't wait to have some free time (maybe tomorrow! ) to go to the mountains or to some old towns to take some shots!

I wanted also to let you know (if you've missed it) that I've updated some new and old shots. Here they are:

And now the tagged thing. Two friends have tagged me (=navigator7879 and ~LethalVirus).

These are the 6 weird habits/things/hates about myself.

1) I'm too skinny... ok, it sounds ridiculous, but here it is!

2) I can't stop to critique bad habits of people... I should really be more tolerant.

3) I'm always tired! This is really annoying, but quite funny to watch: have you ever seen somebody angry with himself about being tired?

4) I can't study too much, or at least not as much as I'd need to. Moreover, I can't study matters I don't like at all!

5) I always have too much senses of guilt, even before doing anything!

6) I'm not so self-confident.

Forget the tagging, I don't like these kind of chains. To me this things ends here! Sorry guys!

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11494424/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11494424/ Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:50:38 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi there guys! You may have noticed that I couldn't reply to all the messages right in time... the problem is that I'm getting crazy with university + girlfriend + photography + videogames (I should really quit... )!! DA was left in an angle right at the end of each days and in spare time. I found looking at your new deviations really interesting as always! I had a sweet time, really!
These days I'm bugging myself about my future camera. Ok, I know I shouldn't worry about this so soon, but I've changed my mind. Right about a week ago I was firmly convinced I would wait for the first universitiy degree to buy a Nikon D200... now I've realized that the only thing that great camera has that really made me fell in love with is its unmatched HDR capabilities (9 bracketed exposures from -5 to +5!!! ). Talking 'bout numbers, I thought that since after my first graduation there will be a second, I thought I could give a shot of DSLR's world with a much cheaper camera, and then, eventually, upgrade 2 or more years after to some professional equipment (if I'll happen to find that DSLR not enough, and that's something I wouldn't be sure of...). I know that since there is really a lot of time to wait and think (I'll probably have to buy it near december) there aren't really many reasons to talk about it right now, but I feel just this way!
My current wishes are for a Canon 400D or a Nikon D80. The first is now the most favourite since it's cheaper and has much in common with the D80 (not ergonomy unfortunately...). Why a Canon? Probably 'cause right now it's the only brand with a semi-professional of high quality like the 5D to upgrade to in the future. The D200 is too similar to the D80, and the D2X and relatives are too expensive. This discussion is not really fair, since more models will pop up during next years, so Nikon will probably fill the gap between the D200 and the professional line and Canon could also upgrade the successful 30D so that the 30D itself will be avaiable at a cost lower than 1000€.

Well, who knows? I just needed to do some foolish talk!

Please excuse me, I'm very sorry I couldn't leave you plenty comments! I left a lot of s, but really few words, but that's only a matter of time! I really appreciated you works and your kindness, keep up the great work! I'll be always appreciating your efforts!

_{Two similar works that driven my imagination this week...}

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11418071/ Sat, 13 Jan 2007 04:20:36 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Hi there mates! It took me quite a while to recover! I had the deviantwatch full of grat deviation, and it was really a pleasure to browse through all of them! You've done all a great work!
As you may have seen, I've uploaded three new shots I'm really not proud of (you may ask yourself why I have uploaded them in the first place...), but I've uploaded them just because I had them already prepared and I wanted to know your opinion. I'll be back with good shots soon enough!

My 'bro working with my laptop!

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11320357/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11320357/ Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:02:50 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

-> Check my Today's Thumbs! <-

Ok guys, I'm here to ask you to forgive me since I sudddenly disappeared... I'm having an hard time with study 'cause in three day I'll have two hard exams to sustain! I'm really sorry that I couldn't answer your nice and kind comments nor thank you enough for faves and other matters... most importantly I'm very sorry I couldn't take a look at your newer works you submitted! Up until now I have 54 deviation stucked in my deviantWatch, and as far as I can see from the small thumbnails you have all done a great work as always! It'll be a pleasure to check them out once I finish my duties!

I'm not giving the italian translation for this journal, sorry guys!

A big new: I sold my first print!!! I'm so excited! I want to thank the buyer, so if you are among the readers, please tell me!

Many thanks and cheers for my friends and fellows photographer, have a great time while I'm stuck with exams!!

-> Check my BIG thumbed gallery! <-

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11208311/ Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:09:52 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

-> Check my Today's Thumbs! <-

Ok, since I've started showing off some of my "history", I'm going to talk some more about myself (bah... who cares?!? ). First of all, I'm going to present myself:

Ok, visto che ho cominciato a mostrarvi un po' della mia "storia", parlerò un po' di più di me stesso (bah... a chi potrebbe interessare?!? ). Prima di tutto, mi presento:

my name is Alessandro, I'm 21 years old (close to 22! ) and I'm from Rome. I've discovered photography as a serious passion only recently, though it has always been a part of my life (my father was an enthusiast film photographer! ). This photo was taken a few weeks ago, the morning I discovered my first abandoned house, do you remember? You could say I'm a very serious person... but you'd go the wrong way!

il mio nome è Alessandro, ho 21 anni (quasi 22! ) e sono di Roma. Ho scoperto la fotografia come seria passione personale solo di recente, anche se in realtà è sempre stata parte della mia vita (mio padre era un appassionato di fotografia! ). Questa foto è stata scattata qualche settimana fa, la mattina in cui trovai la mia prima casa abbandonata, ricordate? A vedermi così potreste pensare che sia una persona molto seria... ma sbagliereste!

I am a reflexive guy who likes to have fun, but sometimes is too tired even to get up from the bed! Not when I have to go shooting some photos though!
I guess you've already known my girlfriend, but since she's the most important piece in my puzzle I'll let you see her once again!

Sono un tipo riflessivo a cui piace divertirsi, ma a volte sono troppo stanco perfino per alzarmi dal letto! Certo non quando devo uscire per scattare delle foto però!
Credo che già abbiate "conosciuto" la mia ragazza, ma visto che è il pezzo più importante del mio puzzle ve la farò vedere un'altra volta!

What I need to say now? Not much more, since it's late and I'm very tired... I'll just present you one of my dearest friends, the one who always helps me to reach beautiful places where I can take photos... I'm used to call her "Michelle"...

Che altro devo dire ora? Non molto, visto che è tardi e sono molto stanco... vi presenterò solo una delle mie migliori amiche, colei che mi aiuta sempre a raggiungere posti bellissimi dove posso scattare foto... io la chiamo "Michelle... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11208286/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11208286/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 04:38:47 PST Welcome to my BIG thumbed gallery!

_{Note that this is only a selection of my most popular works. Hope you enjoy!}

<sub>Transcending Darkness


The pretty alley


Brand new Hope


The lonely town


There is more to see


Light on Ashes


Nobody's home


Are we "evil"?


Taut in the Morning Light


Solitude of Thoughts


Driving with Silence


At the end of our days...


A sight of Rome


The other side of the wall


Where we belong


Rush</sub>

~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11207232/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11207232/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 00:43:58 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

-> Check my Today's Thumbs! <-

Grrr... I'm really pissed off! But that's my fault... I can't go photographing with this beautiful weather/sky...

Grrr... sono davvero imbestialito! Ma è colpa mia... non posso uscire per fare foto con questo bellissimo tempo/cielo...

Some "history"...

_{This is the view I have at the moment from my room's window (27/12/06 9:20 am)}

_{Back in time! This is a photo of me when I was little with my beloved Polaroid!}

_{And this is where all started: my young father in love with photography!}

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11156840/ Sat, 23 Dec 2006 00:20:03 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

-> Check my Today's Thumbs! <-

Hi there everybody! I made this update just to inform you - even if I'm more than sure you won't care a damn 'bout it! - that I'm starting to upload some prints of my works (due to the kind suggestions of my dear friends and ). I'm not expecting anyone will ever buy them, but who knows...

The sky is finally showing its best these days! I've got to study (once again ) but I managed to take a few shots yesterday, and I must say I really love this polaryzer filter! As soon as Christmas is gone and prices return to normal, I think I'll buy some GND filters aswell!

I wish you all a merry merry Christmas! Both if you like it, or not! Have fun during your holidays guys, and be sure to take a ton of photos!!

Salve a tutti! Ho fatto questo aggiornamento solo per informarvi - anche se sono piuttosto certo che non ve ne fregherà un fico secco! - che sto iniziando a uppare alcune stampe dei miei lavori (su gentile consiglio dei miei cari amici e ). Non mi aspetto che qualcuno le comprerà mai, ma chissà...

Il cielo sta finalmente dando il meglio di sé in questi giorni! Devo studiare (ancora ) ma sono riuscito a scattare qualche foto ieri, e devo dire che mi sono davvero innamorato di questo filtro polarizzante! Non appena Natale sarà passato e i prezzi ritorneranno alla normalità, penso che comprerò anche qualche filtro GND!

Auguro a tutti voi un felicissimo Natale! Sia che vi piaccia, o no! Divertitevi durante le vacanze, e scattate un sacco di foto!!
http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11123789/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 12:30:36 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

-> Check my Today's Thumbs! <-

Hi there everybody! As some of you already know, I haven't felt quite well lately... this prevented me to complete the Christmas' shopping, so I'm in big troubles now! To make things hader, one of my beloved grandmothers passed away this Sunday. We all had an hard time with that, especially my father, who had a lot of regrets since we hadn't seen her for about 6 months... I too had a gift to gave her that she couldn't receive... another thing she was always saying was that she wanted to know Michela, and I promised her that would have happened soon... but it wasn't soon enough. I've always been a very rational person, and even if I cried a lot during her funeral, I know there wasn't anything that we could do. She has always been very ill, and she also survived an heart-attack in the last years... but I must admit we weren't expecting it. It is really true that there are some things that we don't understand the importance until we lose them.

Well well, talking of happier subjects, how are your Christmas preparations going?
Here we're not really feeling any Christmas spirit, probably 'cause the weather is so nice and Rome is a city rarely gifted with snow... but who knows, sometimes it happened!

I'm really happy that my first real Tutorial had a big success! You can find it here. It's about working with HDRI, a very basic guideline to be honest. I'm happy that you found it interesting, I'll be doing more tuts to share some of my editing methods.

I wish you all a merry merry Christmas! Both if you like it, or not! Have fun during your holidays guys, and be sure to take a ton of photos!!

Salve a tutti! Come qualcuno di voi già sa, non mi sono sentito molto bene ultimamente... questo mi ha impedito di completare le spese natalizie, e quindi ora sono in grossi guai! Per rendere le cose ancora più difficili, una delle mie amate nonne è passata a miglior vita questa domenica. E' stato un momento duro per tutti noi in famiglia, specialmente mio padre, che aveva molti rimorsi visto che non eravamo andati a trovarla da 6 mesi circa... anche io avevo un regalo da darle e che lei non ha potuto ricevere... un'altra cosa che che le diceva sempre era che voleva conoscere Michela, e le avevo promesso che sarebbe successo presto... ma non è stato abbastanza "presto". Sono sempre stato una persona molto razionale, e anche se ho pianto molto durante il suo funerale, sapevo che non c'era niente che potevamo fare. E' sempre stata molto malata, ed era anche sopravvissuta a un infarto negli ultimi anni... ma devo ammettere che non ce lo aspettavamo. E' proprio vero che ci sono alcune cose di cui non capiamo l'importanza fino al momento in cui non le perdiamo.

Beh, parlando di argomenti più allegri, come vanno le vostre preparazioni natalizie? <... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11069162/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11069162/ Fri, 15 Dec 2006 04:02:45 PST Welcome to my deviantART space!

Ahaha! Here it is, my first try on customizing my journal!
I've chosen Nobody's Home as header/footer theme because I thought it could give the right mood to the journal. I don't really think this is definitive, maybe I'll do some photos for journaling purpose only!

Nothing more to add right now, I'll be working on this later on!
Hope you like the results!

Ahaha! Ecco qua, il mio primo esperimento di personalizzazione del journal!
Ho scelto Nobody's Home come motivo di sfondo perché credo che si addica allo scopo. Non penso proprio che questa sia la forma definitiva, magari farò anche alcune foto con il solo scopo di utilizzarle come sfondo!

Nient'altro da aggiungere al momento, ci lavorerò ancora in futuro!
Spero che i risultati vi piacciano!

Weekly feature

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/11052005/ Wed, 27 Dec 2006 01:02:59 PST Welcome to my latest thumb selection!

Today's thumbs...

Older thumbs...

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10979493/ Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:13:19 PST ----------------------------- ...The HeadLine... -----------------------------

Fast like thunder, I didn't imagine that DA would have given me the subscription even before receiving money from paypal!!

I've got to study now, so I can't work on CSS and other stuff, I'll just add some thumbnails for now! Have fun!!

Wallpaper matter? I'll be happy to hear about you what photo in my gallery you would like to see framed as a wallpaper on your pc. Thanks in advance for the help!!

Thanks for the support to all deviants watchin', especially to all my friends who give me advice and share their thoughts with me!

May inspiration bless you all!

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Veloce come un fulmine! Non immaginavo che DA mi avrebbe accettato l'iscrizione ancora prima di ricevere i soldi da paypal!!

Ora devo studiare, quindi non posso lavorare sul journal in CSS... aggiungerò solo qualche anteprima per ora! Divertitevi!!

Per la storia degli sfondi? Mi farebbe piacere sapere da voi quali foto nella mia galleria vi piacerebbe vedere riorganizzate come sfondi per pc. Grazie in anticipo per l'aiuto!!

Grazie per il sostegno che mi date, a tutti i devainti e specialmente a tutti i miei amici che mi danno preziosi consigli e condividono i loro pensieri con me!

Possa l'ispirazione benedirvi tutti!

----------------------------- ...My Features... -----------------------------

My recent works at a glance!

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10925010/ Sat, 02 Dec 2006 12:37:02 PST ...The HeadLine... -----------------------------

Exams draw near...

I haven't got much time right now, so I'll be short! Today me and my girl achieve 2 years and a half together!
I'm really happy to say I feel so lucky having her sweet presence with me everytime, everywhere... I love you Mici!

Today we went to Mt. Livata together to have a different day away from the city, away from everyday confusion and noise. I spent a wonderful time there, and I have also taken a lot of photos!! I'll post them soon enough! Love mountains, I'll return there soon... winter is near!!!

I've decided to spend some more time and write descriptions and journal entries both in english and italian. This decision was made both for italian deviants passing by, and also because I heard that my aunt and my grandma' are watchin' my site and aren't understanding a word of it!! Thanks aunt, thanks grandma'! You are both the best relatives one could ever wish!

Wallpaper matter? I'll be happy to hear about you what photo in my gallery you would like to see framed as a wallpaper on your pc. Thanks in advance for the help!!

Thanks for the support to all deviants watchin', especially to all my friends who give me advice and share their thoughts with me!

May inspiration bless you all!

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Gli esami si avvicinano...

Non ho molto tempo al momento, quindi sarò breve!! Oggi io e la mia ragazza "compiamo" 2 anni e mezzo insieme!
Sono davvero felice di poter dire quanto mi sento fortunato ad avere la sua dolce presenza al mio fianco, sempre e ovunque... Ti amo Mici!!!

Oggi siamo andati insieme al Monte Livata per passare un giorno lontano dalla città, dalla confusione e dal rumore della vita quotidiana. E' stata una giornata stupenda, e ho anche scattato un sacco di foto!! Ne posterò presto qualcuna! Adoro la montagna, sono certo che ci ritornerò presto...l'inverno è vicinooo!!!

Ho deciso di spendere un po' di tempo in più per scrivere le descrizioni delle foto e il diario sia in inglese che in italiano. Questa decisione l'ho presa sia pensando a tutti i devianti italiani, ma anche perché so che mia zia e mia nonna guardano periodicamente questo sito e non ci capiscono un acca! Grazie zia, grazie nonna! Siete le migliori parenti che si possa desiderare!!

http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10797379/ Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:48:39 PST ...The HeadLine... -----------------------------

Well this wasn't a great week after all... I couldn't go photographing since I had to study for today test, and today I've done a disaster... I knew everything, but calculations were ridiculously hard! Plus the prof gave us less time than expected, and when the time was running out he bagan to make us haste. GRRRR!!

If this isn't enough, the weather is also playing jokes on me, showing all its beauty in these days I can't take photos...

Oh well, guess this moments occur...

Now I've got another test next week... if the test of today will prove a disaster as I believe it will, I have promised my parents I won't photograph until next good test... sounds funny, but they really think I'm too concentrated in photography not caring about study, so...

IMPORTANT!!
I've noticed my two wallpaper packs were quite a success since they gave me more than 400 views each! Do you think I should start making some other wallpaper out of my photos? (coming ones or already uploded too)


BTW, I'm now part of a nice club called "Nothing--But--Nature"! I hope my presence will contribute in the appreciation of this beautiful subject we all have (and we are wasting for no real reasons)!




Thanks for the support to all deviants watchin', especially to all my friends who give me advice and share their thoughts with me!

May inspiration bless you all!

----------------------------- ...The Lyrics... -----------------------------

"How I go" - Yellowcard
---
I could tell you the wildest of tales
My friend the giant and traveling sales
Tell you all the times that I failed
The years all behind me the stories exhaled.

And I'm drying out
Crying out
This isn't how I go

I could tell you of a man not so tall
Who said life's a circus and so we are small
Tell you of a girl that I saw
I froze in the moment and she changed it all

And I'm drying out
Crying out
This isn't how I go
Hurry now
Lay me down
And let these waters
Flow, flow

Son I am not everything
You thought that I would be
But every story I have told
Is part of me

You keep the air in my lungs
Floating along as a melody comes
And my heart beats like timpani drums
Keeping the time while a symphony strums

And I'm drying out
Crying out
This isn't how I go
Hurry now
Lay me down
And let these waters
Flow…
Flow
Let it flow

Son I am not everything
You thought that I would be
But every story I have told
Is part of me
Son I leave you now but you have so much more to do
And every story I have told is part of you

---
Probably one of my favourite songs ever. It shakes myself from the deepest pits of my soul everytime I listen to it... probably I feel I have something to do with it


-------... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10701551/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10701551/ Sun, 12 Nov 2006 13:40:17 PST ...The HeadLine... -----------------------------

EDIT: lightened up the journal and added some "featured Deviants"!

First of all, I'm stopping this "Mine feature" for now... I don't really think it's of any help... I should wait for christmas, then maybe I'll gift myself with a subscription and then I'll be able to do some serious journaling features
The same thing is for the Dev featured... but I don't want to delete them right now, I'm not adding anyone though... don't have time to think what to write about them!
Guess you can call this "sickness for subscription"!

I didn't really thought that I could do so much photography these days, but in fact I did it! I'm continuing to post at least 2 works a day, but still newer photos keeps piling up! Maybe I should start refining and avoid to publish every single shot that bugs me... whatever... it's not like I'm puttin' up a show, so I guess I'll continue this way

Thanks for the support to all deviants watchin', especially to all my friends who give me advice and share their thoughts with me!

May inspiration bless you all!


------------------------- ...Deviant Featuring... -------------------------

+ MikY-iN-WoNdErLaNd
You have to understand me, she's my love!
She has finally posted something new!!! And she's still working on something! I'm so happy that she's back in action on DA!

+ navigator7879
My always-present supporter! Take a look at his gallery if you want some real and fine photography (not like mine, which is actually a monument to post-processing! )

+ frankewebdk
Now now, if you're reading, GO CLICK THIS LINK! He may be a newcomer to da (oh my God! And what am I?!? ), but he's not a noob in photograph for sure! You have to take a look at his early works!

+ TheRuneKeeper
Looking for some skilled photographer? He his a traditionalist, and his late series taken at Potter's place, "Hogwarts", is simpy "fascinating"!

+ alessandrociccarelli
If you're interested in deeper subjects and meaningful photography, you should go check this great deviant!

+ ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10620391/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10620391/ Sun, 05 Nov 2006 02:01:12 PST
Yesterday the forecast said that today we'd have clouds over Rome: they were right!!
I've waked up early in the morning (not sunrise though, since I'm feeling not completely well yet and the weather was quite chilly at 6 a.m.!) and gone making some shots to study subjects I'll catch with better light conditions. Some of the photos have turned to be not that bad, even if they are just scrap work...
I'm planning to move more in the coming week to take more photos and keep practicing!

Hope you're doing all your best! Have a good time


-------------------------- ..."Mine" Suggested... --------------------------

- Emptiness [link]
- Sitting aside [link]
- Golden tranquillity [link]
- Wireframe [link]
- Weird watcher [link]
- Casting Shadows [link]
- Fading far away [link]
- The Watcher [link]
- Storm Staff [link]
- To colour what was pale [link]
- The old widow [link]
- Celtic feeling [link]
- Tidal reefs [link]
- The explorer [link]
- The explorer II [link]
- The Wizard's Tower [link]
- Belt of clouds [link]
- Memories [link]
- Light trails [link]
- Farm-house by sunset [link]
- Youth [link]
- Charm latino [link]

I'm going to add more once I post new photos!


-------------------------- ...Deviant Featuring... --------------------------

+ MikY-iN-WoNdErLaNd [link]
You have to understand me, she's my love!
She has finally posted something new!!! And she's still working on something! I'm so happy that she's back in action on DA!

+ navigator7879 [link]
My always-present supporter! Take a look at his gallery if you want som... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10570031/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10570031/ Tue, 31 Oct 2006 11:24:27 PST
After a little thinkin' I decided to stop uploading older photos since there were not many left and I don't think they deserve to be published that much... so I'm starting to post new photos from now!
I'll begin uploading 2 shots taken with my phone (it's been awhile... ), and then I'll be uploading with less frequency ('cause I'm not a photo-factory, you know! ) newer shots made with my new camera (and eventually with my loyal cameraphone! ).

I hope you like my new works, and I'll be very happy to hear as much critics you have in mind! Feel free to suggest, agree or disagree. I'm willing to improve my immature skills, so plz help!

Hope you're doing all your best! Have a good time


-------------------------- ..."Mine" Suggested... --------------------------

- Emptiness [link]
- Sitting aside [link]
- Golden tranquillity [link]
- Wireframe [link]
- Weird watcher [link]
- Casting Shadows [link]
- Fading far away [link]
- The Watcher [link]
- Storm Staff [link]
- To colour what was pale [link]
- The old widow [link]
- Celtic feeling [link]
- Tidal reefs [link]
- The explorer [link]
- The explorer II [link]
- The Wizard's Tower [link]
- Belt of clouds [link]
- Memories [link]
- Light trails [link]
I'm going to add more once I post new photos!


-------------------------- ...Deviant Featuring... --------------------------

+ MikY-iN-WoNdErLaNd [link]
You have to understand me, she's my love!
She has finally posted something new!!! And she's still working on something! I'm so happy that she's back in action on DA! http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10533122/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 01:14:48 PST
Update: I'm sorry for disappearing, saturday I got sick and now I'm quite better but still not healty. I'm adding a guy I've missed in my previous "featuring list", hope he's not angry about this

I'm not that into doing the "week stuff" anymore, guess I have to keep working! Too bad that my cloudy skies have left me! I have to wait again... during this week I didn't manage to take many pics, 'cause I got overwhelmed by univerisity and painful tests. I've got more, at least up to the first week of november, so I have to study quite a lot (that actually I don't do ).

As for posting new photos, I'm very sorry, but I'm still far
I'm not yet finished with the shots taken this summer in Ireland, but I think there are not that many left. I really want you to see my new shots, and about that I'll PRETEND all "ADVANCED CRITICS"!
Of course compliments, appreciations and favs will be still very welcome!

Hope you're doing all your best! Have a good time


-------------------------- ..."Mine" Suggested... --------------------------
(in this section I'll note my works I actually prefer)

- Emptiness [link]
- Sitting aside [link]
- Golden tranquillity [link]
- Wireframe [link]
- Weird watcher [link]
- Casting Shadows [link]
- Fading far away [link]
- The Watcher [link]
- Storm Staff [link]
- To colour what was pale [link]
- The old widow [link]
- Celtic feeling [link]
- Tidal reefs [link]
- The explorer [link]
- The explorer II [link]
- The Wizard's Tower [link]

I'm going to add more once I post new photos!


-------------------------- ...Deviant Featuring... --------------------------

+ MikY-iN-WoNdErLaNd [link]
You have to understand me, she's my love!
I'm warning you, she's up to something... mayb... ]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10454803/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10454803/ Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:01:06 PDT
As I said earlier, I'm still posting old shots (that doesn't exactly mean they are "old" like ages, but they are made with my previous camera - which I'll never stop to hate - and weren't still taken with the "spirit of photography"! ), but I promise that in a week at most I'll start uploading new shots done in these days.

I want to especially thank all my friends watching for their support (how could I possibly not mention the "ever-present in my comments" Brend?!? Many thanks buddy! You're great! ), and of course my girlfriend always watchin' me like a blessing from the upper floor (hoping that she will manage to survive these early days of university and start over posting some of her beautiful drawings in her space [link]).

That's all for now! Keep practicing, good work, and come back anytime to pay me a visit

]]> ~ZephonSoul http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10378773/ http://ZephonSoul.deviantart.com/journal/10378773/ Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:45:04 PDT

Thanks to all deviants watching!

//////////////--------//////////////


Hi everybody around! Is it usual to say something obvious in the beginning, like "hello, this is my first post!" (yeah, whatever... we've got eyes enough to see for ourselves), so I'll be just like that, writing down something about me (zzzz...).

"It all begun in the day of my baptism, when my parents gave me a fantastic Praktica reflex as a gift...", that could be a good start, but in fact that beautiful camera was used by my father until I was thirteen (they gave me a Polaroid instead... crap! I couldn't take more than 1 pic a month 'cause films where damn expensive!). Then I took that beautiful camera fully equipped with external flash and an original tele... but couldn't even use it more than a month 'cause got broken and I wasn't able to find an affordable way to repair it. Too bad, but I wasn't too much concerned about it since photography wasn't one of my favourite activity. Later on during the secondary high school, I received my first digital camera: a 2.1 mpx from HP wich was more like a plastic brick than a camera. Eventually I started taking photos, not so seriously though. I've started reconsidering photography when I bought another HP camera 2 years ago (wich was even worse in quality than the previous one!), and the final step was buying the cameraphone Sonyericsson k750 about one year and a half ago. Working with all the (few) settings of the cameraphone I started to enjoy the challenge of taking good shots even with poor means, searching for the right timing and the right spot. With my growing interest for photography I discovered Deviantart (which I already knew by the experience of my girlfriend, but never browsed before), and I started to watch astounded the ability of many photographers around here... do you know how kids act, don't you? "I want it toooo!!"

So... about one year passed by, and now I got my hands on a (finally) decent camera. I decided to take a Fujifilm FPS5600 (USA model 5200) because I got a good bargain and I don't really care for the megapixels stuff: the HP I had was 4 mpx and made photos way worse than my girlfriend's 2 mpx Canon Powershot! I got a long way ahead before I'll even start considering to invest on a reflex digicam, 'cause I'm just a beginner and I hope to learn a lot. Surely I will keep practicing, and as I always say, "do not expect perfection from me, for I can only grant my best at the moment!"



One last note... since I took lots of photos in the past wich I edited and never published online, I'll begin posting my old shots first. Try not to be harsh, I was still a kid!


Goodbye and good work to all deviants 'round the world!

]]> ~ZephonSoul