BIRDS

The interest and the genuine passion for photography began with the purchase of a 500mm f.8, a Russian catadish lens that is not very bright and not particularly easy to focus on. It was 1979, there was also something better on the market, nothing to do with quality and usability with the current super bright and stabilized canvases, with the fast tracking autofocus, with the usefulness of the editable ISO. This kind of photography was a challenging double challenge, first with your ability to approach the animals and then with that to adjust the equipment before shooting, many cameras including my Nikon FM was completely manual.
Difficulty aside, it was nevertheless a fascinating experience. Initially I went out with camera, binoculars, recognition manual – the legendary “Brunn and Singer” – and notebook for notes, always in doubt whether to favor the photographic shooting or the observation of the birds.

A doubt lasted for a short time, since I soon realized that in the evening I was happier if I had some roll of slides to take to the laboratory for development.
I have had the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of these fascinating winged beings, especially those related to water environments and nocturnal birds of prey. I have learned to recognize several species, I have learned and sometimes studied in depth the behaviors. I searched for them, covering the most suitable places in all seasons or waiting for them in endless and silent ambushes. I shared most of these experiences with friends Fabio and Giuseppe, together we had the good fortune to tell these first exciting years in a photographic book “ALI” that collects the best of our shots of then accompanied by short texts – a sort of notebook of countryside – written by ourselves.

ALI (WINGS)
 Magnus Edizioni – 1989
G.Frigo  F.Garbin  P.Spigariol