With an interest in photography from an early age, award-winning documentary and fine art photographer Antonio Busiello’s visual imagery focuses on capturing the relationship between humanity and the natural world. Antonio has traveled to all corners of the globe and through his travels, he has perfected the art of storytelling with his multi-dimensional approach to his craft. Through a connection to his surroundings, Antonio’s work is truly a direct extension of himself.
Antonio, thank you so much for sharing all of your thoughtful responses with us. I thoroughly enjoy the experience of viewing your work and I can’t wait to see more exceptional work from you in the future.
If you’d like to learn more about Antonio, please visit his website. You can also follow him on Instagram.
Can you please tell our readers a bit about yourself?
I am a photographer whose work mainly focuses on the relationship between man and the natural world that surrounds him. I was born in Italy and I studied anthropology at the University of Naples, where I developed a deep interest in mankind and its cultural differences. Soon after, I started traveling the world, combining and converging my studies in anthropology and my passion for nature into my photography projects. I lived in Central America for many years before moving to California then London and now in the Caribbean where I am starting a new project that involves photography workshops and environmental awareness.
Where do you call home?
I have been traveling and living in so many places in the last 25 years that it is hard for me to call home any of them. But at the same time, each and every place has left me significant meanings, and taught me so much that I feel comfortable and kind of at home in every new place I go.
How did you go about learning photography? Are you self-taught or formally taught?
Photography has always been my biggest passion. I remember the first time I held a camera in my hands, it was my father’s old Rolleiflex and I was just a little kid. I used to steal it to go take pictures of the sea or the Vesuvius Volcano. I was fascinated by the world reflected into the big top viewfinder, like a more soft and accessible reality where I could submerge myself quietly. Since that moment, my interest in photography has never dwindled. Instead, my camera has become my third eye and my filter to the world.
What is your favorite part of heading out to a new location?
The excitement about the new adventure, the research about the location. The pictures that I start to visualize in my mind and the challenge to realize them is part of the beauty that comes before the trip.
When shooting subjects, what do you find most challenging?
Everything underwater. Underwater photography is very difficult. Below, watercolors fade into a blue or green monotone color environment. The visibility is reduced and light conditions are hard. But at the same time, I love shooting underwater. When I pool out a great underwater photo the satisfaction has no comparison. Sharks in particular are among the most challenging subjects.
Who or what inspires you in your personal life and work?
Nature inspires me more than anything.
How do you stay motivated to continue photographing?
The motivation comes from the photographs themself. The pleasure and the joy to see a beautiful photo that I have shot myself that has the potential to communicate a message to the people that look at it, it is for me a great motivation to continue photographing.
What do you hope viewers take away from your images?
Emotions, curiosity, and understanding.
What advice could you offer someone who would like to change their lives and get into photography?
Photography knowledge, perseverance, curiosity, and patience. Photography is a difficult job, be technically prepared, and study your subject before shooting. Be patient, don’t rush in getting the shot, especially when you are photographing nature or people, and with a little bit of luck, you will take home great photos.
What type of camera(s) do you shoot with? What is your favorite lens?
I use Nikon equipment and Sea&Sea underwater equipment. I don’t have a favorite lens, it all depends on what I am shooting. But I have a lens that I use the most and it is the 24-70mm. Which is a very flexible lens.
What is in your camera bag?
Camera, lenses, flash, filters, batteries, a book, and a lot of spirit of adventure.
What is your favorite photography accessory?
Wireless triggering system. It makes me have total control over the flashes and the camera even from a distance.
What piece of equipment would you most like to get but don’t have yet?
10,0000 mm lens.
How important is Photoshop or other image editing software in your final images?
It is as important as the darkroom. I used it when I started photography years ago.
What do you think the future holds for you? Where do you see yourself in the next few years?
I see myself where I am right now, Roatan, a beautiful island in the Caribbean Sea. Here I am starting a new project about environmental awareness using photography workshops as a tool. I think that photography is a great tool for learning and growing. When you work on a project, you need to study your subject. In order to get realistic and honest true images of the reality you are photographing you need time to learn about it and feel part of it, that takes time and a lot of learning and that also makes you see things in different ways, helping you to grow both intellectually and socially. I have worked and traveled so much and learned so much thanks to photography that I think it is time for me to share all this and help people to have a more rich and fruitful approach to photography.
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