Photographing the Light and Colors of Italy
Originally published on PassionPassport.com on October 13, 2017
“I like to tell about my country in different aspects,” Davide Oricchio says. “The culture, the colors, and the architecture — these things are what truly provide the best idea of Italy.”
Twenty-three-year-old photographer Davide was born and raised in Rome, Italy’s capital city. From a young age, he traveled throughout the country with his family and on trips with his Boy Scout troop.
As he got older, his passion for travel only grew, as did his love of photography.
Today, Davide still lives in Rome, where he studied Tourism and Languages at a university and now works as a freelance photographer for Culture Trip. He also continues to travel as often as he can. He loves experiencing new cities, or seeing old places from new perspectives.
Until the beginning of this year, Davide simply took photos with his smartphone. But, as he noticed that his Instagram followers seemed to really like his colors and perspective, and as he increasingly wanted to improve his photography, he decided it was time to upgrade to a DSLR.
He never stops learning. Though he isn’t studying photography in school, he gets a crash course by observing other photographers’ work on Instagram, collaborating with friends, and getting out with his camera as often as he can.
“Photography is about adding your perspective, or your style,” Davide says. “Today it’s starting to be easy to take the same pictures, and people are a bit tired of that. I search for different points of view.”
In his home city, for instance, Davide turns his camera away from the classic shots of the Colosseum and Trevi Fountain and instead chooses to focus on the scenes he sees around him.
He tries to do the same thing all over his country, hoping to show those who look at his images how much there is to discover in Italy.
Davide heads to Florence for architecture and history, to Naples for street photography, to Venice for the heart of the city itself, and to the Amalfi Coast for the landscapes and fond memories of summers past.
He looks for scenes that tell a story of some kind, shots that express how the place left an impression on him. He focuses on light and color, the most important elements in his photos.
When it comes time to post a picture on Instagram, Davide likes to be 100 percent sure that the image is perfect. If there’s any shred of doubt in his mind, he’ll wait until he’s positive it’s good enough.
He hopes that those who come across his feed learn to enjoy the moments, much like he has because of his photography. He wants to encourage people to slow down, observe carefully, and really look at what’s around them.
Maybe they’ll be inspired to buy a ticket to Italy, too.