Stefano is a seasoned travel expert and the visionary founder of MEL365.com, a leading travel website with traffic across 6 continents.
With a rich background in the travel industry, Stefano spent four pivotal years at Amadeus Travel Distribution System, gaining invaluable insights into travel technologies and distribution.
Is Photoshop used too much in photography? Have we arrived to a point where we cannot trust any more photography as form of documentation? How important is to use a software to improve a photo? Is Photoshop an essential tool in the photography world? Was SLR photography so much better? There are so many questions … Read more
There is no easy answer. As usual, Google has started a map website showing areas in different colours based on the “photo index” popularity. New York comes out as the most photographed place in the world, followed by European cities as Paris, Rome and Barcelona. Buenos Aires is in the top 10, a well deserved … Read more
One of the most fascinating type of photography is, in my opinion, architecture photography.
Any building is static by definition. It is down to the photographer to add the own interpretation. In doing that the photographer adds a dynamic to the architecture, taking it to another dimension. It is so important to have a connection with the environment and the people around, it adds the link to the local culture, giving instantly a message of the location.
Nic Granleese is one of the best interpreter of architecture photography in Melbourne. His work is just outstanding. You can check his commercial projects as well the the fun projects on his website. My favourite ones are for sure the Palau De Les Arts, in Valencia, and the portraits of the 2013 Victoria Architecture Awards, where he gave an awesome interpretation with a lovely fun post-production.
This is a real 5 minutes inspiring interview not to be missed
Most of the photographers, including myself, started with landscape photography.
We have all our favourite landscape photographers, the ones we took our inspiration from. A myth of mine is Richard Green and, even if on a trip with limited internet access, was able to organise an interview for MEL365.
Richard Australian photos are unique to say the least. One of the reasons is the location, which is not accessible even by four-wheel drive vehicles and many have never previously been photographed. How does he go there? By helicopter. The format of the prints is just amazing, up to 4 meters wide and, best of all, with all the details you expect from a great photographer. His compositions are awesome and spectacular. Go and check his website to live the unknown corners of Australia.
His book, Remote & Wild, is magnificent. All of the photos have a map of where it was made, and you soon get the sense of how big and diverse is Australia. I particularly like the last chapter where he explains
This week the interview is not with a photographer and not from Australia. This week we have a talk with Eva de Klerk, from Amsterdam. As she introduced herself “Eva de Klerk is an initiator, pioneer, cultural explorer, project booster, matchmaker, community builder, fundraiser, process manager and bottom-up city developer. She is driven by a relentless passion, commitment and devotion for the community and the utilization of urban areas“.
I came to know Eva during my long term photographic project Industrial Reverse Engineering, a reportage that took me to visit empty huge industrial sites in the North of Italy, The Netherlands, China and Australia. In some cases these places were offered and re-used by artists, meanwhile others sites were falling apart and used by homeless, squatters, illegal immigrants and even kids.
Eva was a key figure of the redevelopment of NDSM in Amsterdam, a formal shipping area recycled by the art community. Huge shipping sheds here are used as art studios and many communal areas are available to exchange ideas, projects, plans and dreams. This is an art heaven, an art village that should be taken as an example by many countries. Unfortunately art and money are not strictly correlated and having an affordable arty area to grow is essential, not only for the artist but also for
This is one of the most popular icons in Australia.
I love making photos of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I explored all around, and still exploring.
One early morning I found also an hidden hill which is really an amazing a relatively unknown viewpoint. And it’s in the city too, no long walks required.
Should I include or not include the Opera House? It’s your choice. I usually say the less the better.
It may work.
It may not, and the eye attention will just bounce between these two icons, distracting each other.
If photography is not your main goal than the view on spot #5 is probably one of the best you can have in Sydney, beside a beautiful walk too.
I live in Melbourne but, as photographer, I visit Sydney on a regular basis for my work. I just can’t stop myself waking up early in the day and visit a new corner of the city before starting my day shooting, or why not at sunset time! Going back home with some beautiful Sydney Harbour bridge pictures is not an easy job.
The main suggestion I can give here is: never give up on any weather condition. I have missed few interesting photos in my first Sydney visits. Weather can change quickly and a big storm can become a sudden dramatic sunset
Between all of the Sydney Harbour bridge viewpoints, my favourite spot is still Mrs Macquarie’s Chair however for my photography I love the hidden corner, the Observatory Hill, where I never met another photographer in my multiple visits.
The list below has no particular order. Have a look, enjoy and let me know what you think
If you are in Sydney for just few days be more be careful with your planning. There are good sites for the sunset and others that work great on sunrise. Above photo was a long exposure (118 secs at f/18, ISO 100, ND9) from the highest point of Mrs Macquarie’s Chair. We had a big storm in the afternoon but, lucky enough, it opened up for a lovely sunset
In the lowest part of Mrs Macquarie’s Chair you can instead include few stones which, on long exposure (540secs at f/16, ISO 100, ND9) , become lovely with this milk-like effect
#4 Lavender Bay
Almost on the other side of Sydney Harbour, you can find Lavender Bay, where you can include the city centre into the photo as well. This is a great spot for sunrise or just during the day.
#3 The Observatory
Another sunrise spot, which is not as typical and you do not find in as many photos around is the Observatory. It is a relatively wide area where you can include other point of interest as the bench below.
#2 Dawes Point Park
One of the most popular spot is however under the bridge, at Dawes Point Park, on Hickson Park. You can make here photos from either side of the bridge, including the Luna Park, another Sydney icon.
This is the left side of the bridge
and the black and white version from the right side. I used in both case and ND9 filter for a long exposure effect
#1 Under the bridge
As last, I tried an unusual corner from just under the bridge. I quite like the end result. It almost look like the Eiffel Tower upside down :D
My final thoughts
A dramatic sky helps to maximise the impact of the photo. You may experience quite a number of storms during the summer, a great time to the be there anyway ? The best time of the day to visit the bridge is probably sunrise, if you stay on the Opera House side, and sunset, if you are on the other side of the bridge. The best season, for the sun direction, is winter. In summer the sun tends to be too easterly (therefore on your left or right side, based on which side of the bridge you are) instead of your front or back.
I suggest you also another point, Jeffery Street in Port Jackson. Always remember to check TPE orSunCalc (my favourite) for sunrise/sunset and sun direction information. If you have a mobile with you have a look to the Best Free Travel Photography Apps that can help you with your Photography planning, setting and navigation through the city
Enjoy the map and let me know your favourite ones.
PostCron – Plan your marketing on Facebook and Twitter
Managing all the connections and links with the social networking can be time consuming. Meanwhile I quite enjoy post-processing, I find the social side of that laborious. Do not keep me wrong here. I like talking with other people through Facebook, but keep writing on a daily basis posts is “challenging”. Sometime I have few comments ready to be published, or few pictures but I do not really want to publish all of them in one go. I looked for different solutions in the market. I wanted an app to schedule my posts, so that I could prepare few of them in advance, from time to time.
The initial criteria’s were quite standard:
Had to be free, at least for the start. If I like it I will keep using it, otherwise, sorry I move on. If I see a good result, than I can upgrade to a next level
Had to be almost ads free. I did not want to add advertisement to my friends page. That could be quite dangerous. A link back is ok of course.
Had to be simple, very similar to Facebook, just with the schedule button, date and time, that’s all I needed
Had to include photo posting, essential for my photoblog
I looked around and I found different application available. The market is somehow saturated of web based apps or even mobile apps, both Iphone and Android.
I started my research based on what was offered first for free. That was an easy way to cut a part of the market. I believe that every software should be modular. You install it, you test it, and you start working. You need a new functionality, you pay a little premium and you get it. You see good results coming from the tool? Ok, it is time to move to the next level.
I found few software that took a long time to load on my web browser and with questionable results at the end. I just wondered why sometime it is so difficult to write a simple code, or better say a simple web page. And that it where I was most fascinated by PostCron. This is the main page of this site:
This is not a copy and paste of part of the monitor, cutting of all the ads.
No, this is the full page, as simple as that. Once you write and schedule your post, they come out below and, in case you have many of them, you can do a quick search through them. This is quite useful if you tend to post a good amount of articles. In case you have more fan pages, a simple drop down menu helps you selecting the desired one, both when you post and when you search back a publication.
Publishing a status, a link or a photo is exactly the same as posting on Facebook, which means the learning curve for this application is about four seconds, just because you need to select the fan/person page. And that is exactly the same if you want to create a Facebook ad.
Another feature that most of the other apps were lacking, was a real photo posting. If I schedule a photo posting, I want my photo to go in the default album and the comment related to it. I do not want the photo posted in somebody else database with my link on my fan page pointing another site, I do not think it is fair. PostCron is fantastic in that, because works as on Facebook leaving the photo in my default album.
I am still missing one functionality in PostCron, but I have noticed that is next to come: posting of a new album.
I usually post on a weekly basis an album on the last 7 days of photos. At the moment I have to go on Facebook and follow the usual process. I would rather prefer to do that on PostCron. I can do it in advance, have a regular schedule on Sundays. Now I am forced to do it when time allows me, maybe Sunday, maybe Monday if not Tuesday. I am really looking forward to it.
Overall, PostCron is a real nice and easy app. If you have similar needs, give a try and let me know.
One of the most fascinating type of photography is, in my opinion, architecture photography. 
