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White on white


italian photography holiday
I have just returned from wintering in Central Southern Italy, where the Apennine range of mountains runs down the spine of Italy. The visual subtlety of winter mountain landscapes in low cloud conditions, can have a silent almost ethereal quality to it. The beauty here is evasive and almost impossible to fully capture on Nikon. And a complete ‘whiteout’ absolutely impossible, beyond displaying a white page. Even those that do not ski, can non-the-less, still fall in love with ‘white’. This journey has been invaluable research, for my next ‘Mountain Photography course’

These photos were shot nearby the beautiful mountain town of Pescocostanzo, where I am hosting my ‘Mountain Photography Course’. Set in the Abruzzo region of central southern Italy, this ‘undiscovered’ gem sits at an altitude of 1,400 metres. With paved and cobbled streets, old houses and a history of lace making, the town provides a perfect photographic backdrop. ‘Pesco’ is very much a loved ‘secret’ of Romans and local Italians alike. The area boasts four Michelin restaurants, with little more than 1,200 residents in the town itself. And so I am including lunch each day at one of these excellent mountain restaurants, with my Italian photography holiday course. ‘Pesco’ is not just a photo opportunity, it’s a perfect base for discerning foodies, skiers, walkers and of course photographers! You can see much more of my ‘Mountain photography course’ by clicking here.

The Hotel I have selected is a classic ‘Castello’ style hotel, although not quite a ‘castle’ as we might imagine. However it is both a beautiful and classical Italian building, untainted by modern embellishments and full of original details. This hotel on it’s own is full of photographic treats, and enough to keep you busy from arrival to departure!


Winter photography suffolk

 

Mountain photography Italy

 

 

 

Snow-white-out

 

by Roland Blunk

Roland Blunk(http://www.rolandblunk.com)
Throughout my career, I have been privileged in being commissioned by so many influential clients. Having discovered photography and graphic design before the digital revolution, the possibilities for visual expression seem almost magical to me, as we live our lives together with daily miracles and wonderment. My design and photography skills were learnt in their original pre-digital form. Slow, sometimes laborious, but wonderfully rewarding. Consequently I am forever in awe of the kit I have at my disposal. My main camera is a Nikon D4, which I use with either AF-S 14-24mm 2.8; AF-S 24-70mm 2.8 or AF-S 70-200mm 2.8 Nikon lens. I process my work on a MacBook Pro, so I can shoot, download, evaluate and post-produce my work, before posting it from anywhere and to anywhere within minutes of shooting. I have travelled through time from being Roland Blunk, a 60's London art student, using my parents' attic as a first 'dark room', to using the world as my studio and that really is a miracle to me. I studied design and photography in the late sixties, at what was then Hornsey College of Art, London. Life, after a series of drab boarding schools, was exciting to say the least. Jimmy Hendrix played upstairs at the Manor House pub, James Brown at Cook's Ferry Inn and Charlie Mingus at Ronnie Scott's, to name a few local distractions. I followed this by studying graphics at the LCP and the huge irony surrounding my design studies, concerned my exclusion from applying for the 'Graphic Design' degree course'. As I left school at the age of sixteen to study at 'Hornsey', I skipped my A's and so studied on the LCP's diploma course. A couple of years after leaving the LCP, I was thrilled when Tom Eckersley head of graphics at the LCP, and one of the foremost poster designers and graphic communicators of the last century (Google him), answered my application to lecture, with the news that he loved my letterhead design. Consequently I was offered a visiting lectureship, on the same degree course that I was not welcome to study on! Now let's keep that one quiet. My clients have included: Action Aid Arista Records The Arts Council The BBC The British Council The British Tourist Authority The Crafts Council The Design Council Eversheds Solicitors The Guardian Haymarket Publications Her Majesty's Stationery Office Hoeseasons Holidays The Institute of Chartered Accountants The Institute of Contemporary Arts Island Records The Longman Publishing Company The Manchester City Art Galleries The National Portrait Gallery The Opera Babes The Royal Shakespeare Company The Scottish Development Agency 'Sotogrande' Spain The V&A Museum I have lectured at major art schools in Great Britain including 'Central Saint Martins' London, and my work has been reproduced in the Swiss graphic publication 'Graphis' Annual, The 'Designers & Art Directors' Annual and 'Modern Publicity' Annual. I was nominated to 'Fellowship' status of the 'Chartered Society of Designers' in the mid 80's. In 2002 I qualified as a 'Snowsport England' ski coach (level 4) coaching instructors at the 'Norfolk Snowsports Club'. Each season I worked in both Austria and Italy as a freelance Alpine ski guide, with an 'Internationaler Verband of Snowsport Instructors' (IVSI) licence.