Born in 1992 in Carpi, Isabella Tabacchi is a landscape photographer based in the north of Italy. She’s always had a sensibility for natural environments and photography came in her life suddenly; a huge passion exploded in her heart. Isabella’s favourite environment is the mountain, especially the Alps, where she created her most popular images.
Isabella’s works were published in online and paper magazines like National Geographic, Daily Mail, Practical Photography ,Digital Photo SLR UK, N-Photo. She won prizes in many international awards like Moscow Foto Awards, Monochrome Awards, Monovisions Awards, Fine Art Photo Awards, Tokyo Foto Awards, ND Awards , Lucie Foundation’s IPA, International Photographer of the Year Awards.
Her pictures were published in the Outdoor Photographer of the Year Portfolio II (“The magic of the night” is the cover). Her image “The battle” is among the TOP 50’s in the Epson Pano Awards 2017 and received a Gold award. Isabella is Irix Lens, Haida filters and Fotopro tripods ambassador.
1. What was your path to become a photographer?
I attended basic courses in 2013, in Bologna, during my University period. My passion grew up and I started to focus on landscape photography at the end of 2014. The love for the natural landscapes was so big and I had many achievements during these years, so I decided to start my professional activity in 2017.
2. Do you prefer to photograph close to home or do you find faraway places more inspiring? Are there any special places that inspire you the most to create new work?
I’m fascinated from the difficult, far and peculiar locations. I live near Modena, in the north of Italy, but I don’t find the places near my home so interesting. I prefer to go in the Alps and the nearest place are the South Tirolean Dolomites. I prefer the hidden pearls in the Alps, the long trails and the sharp peaks.
3. Are you a meticulous pre-planer or do you prefer creating images spontaneously? Do you revisit your favourite places many times to achieve the required result? Can you tell us more about your method of working?
Yes, I’m a meticulous pre-planner, I like to plan, even if in some places is almost impossible to plan all; but I love this aspect of photography, or I would get bored. If I get interested in a location, I visit it until I don’t get a peculiar and original weather.
4. Terra Quantum displays themes and series portfolios; do you like working to the project/series/theme or find creating individual images more rewarding?
I like both. I find the series very interesting. A story, the soul of the landscape, can be also told in an unique shot, but is even more interesting discover more.
5. Can you tell us a bit more about one chosen photograph – what is the story behind it, when/why/how it was created?
I lived many emotions during my experiences, so is difficult to choose. “The magic of the night” was created in Alpe di Siusi. It was a Summer evening in the Dolomites. The fog in the valley, illuminated by the Moon, is a very peculiar moment that many photographers would like to catch. That day, the sunset was very foggy and the mist remained until the night; I lived a great emotion while I was looking at that rays of the Moon in the fog and the strong shadows of the trees. In the beginning I wished to catch simply the Milky Way, but it’s not possible to get the Milky Way and the Moon in one shot. So I did a delicate time blending of the panoramic with our galaxy and the valley illuminated by the strong moonlight.
6. Colour, b&w or both? How do you decide about the elimination or inclusion of colour and why. When do you decide about it - in the field or during the post processing?
I like very much both. For some shots I make the B&W version in which I love to emphasize the contrasts.
7. Do you find printing your images yourself as an integral part of image creation or do you use professional labs? How important is the choice of paper for you?
I use professional labs as I don’t own the required materials and I always choose the best materials for my pictures. I think every picture has an addicted paper. My favourite papers are Hahnemuele Fine Art Pearl and Photo Rag.
8. Do you think that social media is killing photography or playing an important role in promoting your work? How involved are you in your online presence?
I think that the social medias have an important role in promoting my works and the images of everyone. It’s the evolution of the galleries, the photo groups of the last century. Of course there are also negative aspects like haters and over rated pictures.
9. Do you have any plans for exhibitions, books or any interesting projects coming? Can you tell us a bit more about your artistic plans for the next couple of years?
Yes, many. I’d like to create books about my favourite mountains, the Dolomites. And I’d like to discover more unknown places in the World and tell more about their stories.
10. We are living on the most beautiful planet, yet it is over-burdened and over-polluted. As photography is an influential medium, do you use the power of your photographs to promote our Earth appreciation and environmental awareness? Any thoughts how photographers in general can become more involved in this important matter?
Yes, my purpose is always to show and interpret the soul of the nature. People often take the environment beauty for granted and don’t care about the human action. Many photographers often care only about the beauty of, for example, the sunset or about the “likes” in the social medias; only the landscapers that have a certain sensibility about these important matters can be involved spontaneously.
