Gear3

What's in my camera bag (La mia borsa)

Lots of people around me say things like "A-ha that's why your pictures are so good, look at what you carry in your hands". Well, there's nothing more wrong than that! Yes, it's true, I carry a stupid weight around and bring heavy lenses with me, but it's not the gear that makes the picture. There are photographers that work for agencies like Magnum that go around with automatic compact cameras and take incredible pictures. Actually I always say "It's not the camera, but what's behind and in front of it that make a great picture". For this reason, you need to be in the right place at the right moment, but also, with the right mindset. Molte persone intorno a me dicono spesso cose tipo "A-ha ecco perché le tue fotografie sono così belle, guarda cosa porti in giro!". Beh, non c'è niente di più sbagliato di questo! Si, è vero, porto con me un peso ridicolo tra macchina e obiettivi, ma non è quello che fa la fotografia. Ci sono fotografi di agenzie come la Magnum che scattano con macchine automatiche e fanno delle fotografie incredibili. Infatti, io dico sempre "Non è la macchina, ma chi c'è dietro e cosa c'è davanti che fanno una grande fotografia". Per questa ragione, bisogna essere nel posto giusto al momento giusto, ma anche con il giusto approccio mentale.
My camera bag... yes it is HEAVY!

My camera bag... yes it is HEAVY!

Cameras
I have multiple bodies including a Nikon FM10 and F80 which I can't sell, but the cameras that I use in my bag are now: Nikon D800 - My main body. This is the answer to all us Nikonians asking for more resolution even if raw files are huge at 33.6 Megapixels. Nikon D700 - A fantastic 12 Megapixels camera with low noise and fast autofocus. I now use this as a second body when I don't need the stupid amount of Megapixels produced by the D800.
Lenses
Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED - This is on my camera 70% of time. It's an incredible lens with no quality compromise. Often times I get to the point of buying an all purpose lens, then I see what this baby produces and I pass... Nikon AF-S 70–200 mm f/2.8G ED VR II - A super fast, super sharp, super everything  zoom. It's damn heavy and you have to be pretty trained to carry a D800 with battery pack around with this beast attached to it. Nikon AF-S Zoom Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED - This is a miracle lens. It's sharper and has less distortion than some primes. The only downside is the spherical front glass that makes it a pain when you want to use graduated filters, which I use a lot for landscapes. Nikon AF-S VR Micro 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED - A great lens for details and portrait. I need to use it more.
Flash/Lighting
Nikon SB-900 Speedlight - My main speedlight Nikon SB-800 Speedlight - My secondary speedlight Pocketwizard miniTT1 - I use this with 2 FlexTT5 to fire remote flashes. This changed my life. 2 x  Pocketwizard FlexTT5 Transceivers Studio Kit - I use the Speedlights in the Studio, but also an old Hyundai Studio Kit with Monolight and a big Softbox. Background Alley -  Background stand with bag and various monocolor backdrops.
Bags, Tripods and Others
Lowepro Vertex 200 AW Backpack - This is my main travel bag. I use it all the times on the plane, even when I know I'll go for city shooting. I then swap to my top loader in the hotel. You can check the picture on the left to see how it looks like with all the stuff in it. Lowepro Top Loader Pro 75 AW Camera Bag - I've tried all kind of bags, but when I go for urban shooting, either walking or on a bike, this thing with two side bags for additional lenses is unbeatable in terms of speed. You can see it with two additional cylinders in the picture. Gitzo GT1542T Traveler Tripod - This is my right hand friend. Since I moved to this tripod for travel, I never left it at home. You can fold it in a way that fits in any bag. Manfrotto 190XProB Tripod - This is a beast and I used to travel with it. OK, OK, when it's windy it helps, but... ReallyRightStuff Ball Head -  I saw this the first time in a trip to Arizona and I fell in love with the L-plate system. There's nothing faster and more practical than this. ReallyRightStuff various custom adapters and L-plates for my gear.
Hardware/Software
iMac 24" and MacBookPro - I always carry a 1TB Disk with my raw files with me. It's backup-ed at home to my QNAP Nas which is in Raid 5. Adobe Lightroom -  I migrated to Lightroom from IMatch and I am still working on metadata, but I don't regret for a single moment. It's much faster and more flexible and IMatch has not been updated for too long. Adobe Photoshop - With Lightroom 4.0 I find myself using Photoshop less and less, but when it comes to levels and advanced editing or brochures I go back to the big brother. Photo Mechanic - I use PM for quick culling or visualization. It's the fastest thing out there. Adobe Dreamweaver - For web editing.
The creative process is not only tied to experience, but also to your mood, your level of energy, the ability that your eyes have to send information to your brain that processes all these information and then engages you with the scene. That said, the best way to feed your brain is to show it as many pictures as you can. It’s by observing and understanding what you’re seeing that you shape your critical mind and your creative process. There’s no artist in the world that doesn’t feed his or her brain with inspiration continuously and for this reason, I buy books as fast as I buy bread. That’s my main gear and the most important one.
When I say books I don’t mean just photography books. Your imagination is made of words, numbers, music, images, movies and so on and photography has a lot to do with mathematics and physics. That’s why I like photography and that’s why I like to read everything, from novels, to graphic design, from management and business to illustration, lighting, print process and so on, ranging from how-to deep technical books to just picture catalogs. I also go through magazines and advertising in it, to explore the latest trends in studio lighting by reading model’s eyes and shadows. I am a sponge for others’ work.
You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.

- Ansel Adams

Il processo creativo non è legato solamente all’esperienza, ma anche al tuo umore, alla tua energia, all’abilità che hanno i tuoi occhi di inviare informazioni al tuo cervello, che processa tutte queste informazioni e stimola l’interazione con la scena circostante. Ciò detto, il modo migliore per nutrire il tuo cervello è quello di mostrargli il numero più elevato di immagini possibile. E’ attraverso l’osservazione e la successiva comprensione che si forgia una mente critica e un processo creativo. Non esiste un artista nel mondo che non invii al suo cervello stimoli continui di ispirazione e per questa ragione, io compro libri tanto spesso quanto il pane. Questo è il mio strumento principale e il più importante.
Quando dico libri non intendo solamente libri di fotografia. La nostra immaginazione è fatta di parole, numeri, musica, immagini, filmati e la fotografica ha molto a che fare con la fisica e la matematica. Questo è il motivo principale per cui mi piace la fotografia e perché mi interessa leggere di tutto, dai romanzi al design grafico, dal management e il business all’illustrazione, illuminazione, processo di stampa etc., spaziando da manuali tecnici a semplici cataloghi di immagini. Se capita, sfoglio anche riviste qualsiasi studiando gli scatti pubblicitari per registrare gli ultimi trend in termini di illuminazione, cercando di leggere i riflessi degli occhi delle modelle e le ombre. Sono una spugna che cerca di imparare dal lavoro degli altri.
Non fai una foto solamente con la macchina, ma consolidi nel momento in cui scatti le immagini che hai visto, i libri che hai letto, la musica che hai sentito, la gente che hai amato.

- Ansel Adams