SEARCHING FOR THE EXTREME
I have always been fascinated by extreme places. These are far from contamination of man, from his habitual frequentation, they are places of perfect and precarious nature balance. Timeless, inhospitable, harsh, fascinating places: there we can only be passing through. Some of them are unsuspectedly close, others immensely remote. In some I have been there, at the bottom of the sea, but many others are still to be expolred.
Freediving Fishing
Fishing is among the oldest human activities, linked to human survival instincts. Today, practiced industrially unscrupulously, it is to be considered one of the most destructive human activities towards the balance of marine ecosystems. Therein lies the injustice, in the excessive, short-sighted exploitation of the sea. Freediving spearfishing, is the most sustainable form of fishing. It is practiced in an element where we have very limited dwell times, seconds, minutes for some more gifted people, poor speed of movement compared to fish, very rudimentary weapons such as rifles that shoot arrows no more than a fewer meters away. Spearfishing done on a few adults does not alter the balance of the marine environment.
FISHING AT EXTREME DEPTHS
Challenging myself, improving myself. Reaching a limit, and understanding it, then overcoming it. The recklessness mentioned earlier turns into self-knowledge. I want to find out how far I can go, how far I can push myself. I like to be the first to reach a bottom, I like to be the only one to have fished there in those conditions, but most of all, I like to measure myself against the sea. I am a human being and I already know that the sea will always will however touching the impossible attracts me and touching it at sea is my passion.
SURVIVED AND NEVER GAVE UP!
Yes, literally survived 13 brain accidents (Taravana syndrome) and as many as 3 brain strokes, in this extreme sport. The latest accident changed everything. It manifests as a physical and mental deficit, the outcome of neurological malfunction that no one can yet explain with certainty. If not rescued at those instants of compromised capacity, you risk the worst.
My trusted friends were able to assist me promptly, every time!
But the last incident changed my fate: in fact, the neurologist gave me an ultimatum: “a fourth stroke could kill you or leave you infirm forever!”.
All over?
“Scars are the tattoos of the warrior: they tell a story of strength, resilience and triumph”
No. A new hope has been born. A new challenge, a new way to dive deep: ready to show others my idea of ocean beauty and spread my passion. A hero facing new adventures, ready for new meaning in his life. My story was not yet finished, it took a different direction: the extreme character I had built would evolve.
I began to dive in other ways, as long as I continued to frequent that wonderful and mysterious underwater world.
Driven by a new strong motivation.
UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY
“The deep sea has the magic of turning my scars into unique pieces of photographic art.”
By no means is the material capture of a beautiful specimen of fish the most exciting thing! In the underwater world there is much more to capture with eyes than with a rifle and a photographic capture remains forever in your memories and in those you share it with. I love discovering the most remote corners that a beautiful destination offers, the most unexplored, with more opportunity to observe undisturbed, poised nature, in balanced. I love to do it by freediving, because that way I feel part of that corner of the sea, but also with all the other possible techniques that allow me to concentrate better and longer on those magnificent catches.
THE MEANING OF LIGHT
Oceans are dark as well as mysterious… light penetrates for very few meters relatively to their average depths.
And finally is DARKNESS literally speaking:
- Metaphorically blackness, shadows, in my works are the dominant element that distinguishes life from death, which brings out the essential meaning of the forms of the illuminated subjects…
- Metaphorically, there is yet another meaning, more related to my personal history: resurfacing from the depths after a dive, especially if done in apnea…
