Marco Grassi is a landscape photographer from Italy. During a one-year trip to New Zealand in 2013, he discovered his passion for photography. Breathtaking natural wonders and pristine landscapes have always been his main interest in his travels. Furthermore, in New Zealand he started feeling as if he had to capture those incredible sceneries around him and share them with other people.
Today, several years later, his work has been extensively rewarded and published by several media outlets such as the National Geographic, Geo Megazine, CNN, the BBC,The Telegraph and many more.
We featured a collection of his images on the @worldphotorg feed.
Tell us about the series of images we featured. Do you have a favourite , and why?
All the images in this series represent very particular situations experienced during my trips. Each one of them portrays a moment that means something to me, but if I had to pick one favourite, it would probably be "Present”. It was taken on the day of my birthday, during an early walk around Torres del Paine National Park, in a location where I had been several times before. As the sun was coming up, this “guanaco” appeared in the scene, and everything lined up perfectly.
Why photography? What does the medium mean to you?
Landscape photography is for me the most spontaneous way to combine the things I like to do, such as traveling, exploring what’s around me and experiencing beautiful places. It is what gives me the possibility to capture a moment in the present, and make it last into the future. I also see landscape photography as a powerful tool to help preserve the environment, as it can open people’s eyes and minds on more serious situations.
Do you have a photographic philosophy?
From the beginning, my approach has been to spend as much time as possible on location, get to know it and have fun while out there. "Enjoy the moment”, this is something very easy to forget, but that I always try to do, when and where I can. Even when the conditions are not great, I'm just grateful that I can be out there.
What inspires you?
In the last couple of years I’ve found most of my inspiration by being in remote places or in front of remarkable peaks. But more in general, the consciousness that I can always do better and obtain better results is what keeps me motivated and inspires me to keep shooting.
