If you wait for someone to do what you want to do, you often end up not doing it anymore. I grew up going to the mountains and I’ve always been taught that you shouldn’t go there alone. And this thought is always in my head. However, I do not want to limit my choices based on other people who do not have the same interests as me or have no way of participating in my outings for work or various commitments. Micro Adventures, as Alastair Humphreys teaches. And if his adventures, compatible with the 9-5 working hours, are micro, mine could be mini adventures. I go out one day and face the trek to reach the desired place and at that point I camp for the night, with a tent and camp stove and I can thus enjoy the magnificent places in the best moments of the day, namely sunset, night and sunrise!
The goal is to create experiential photographs. Create images that encourage people to do my own adventures or discover them even from home, to bring them closer to something that maybe attracts them but that they wouldn’t do. And so I sell the prints. On the one hand to finance me but on the other to share a thought, a philosophy behind these my releases. It is not just about beauty as an end in itself but rather to witness the reality of magical moments, such as sleeping under a starry sky or overlooking the city lights or watching a sunset over an alpine lake.
For my first solo overnight I decided to stay close enough to home so that, just in case, I was somehow “safe”. I went to Monte di Nese, on foot from Ranica hiking through Monte Zuccone, Colle di Ranica, Canto Basso and then reach the village and the Forcella. From there the last stretch and I camped just above. Departure this time at 4pm (last minute decision) and arrival around 6.40pm. I set up the tent and prepared a quick risotto to be ready to photograph the impending sunset. 20 minutes of preparing the risotto gave me the time to slow down my pace and enjoy the show that nature has reserved for me today.
It’s cold and there is wind, I have no gloves, I underestimated the temperatures given the period but it is still cold, especially on the almost 1000 meters where I am camping. I take some pictures at sunset and then go into the tent to be at least sheltered from the wind. I stay awake until dark and I run out for a moment for the last photo. The city lights that form the background and contrast to the environment in which I am inserted in the first person and my tent, which serves as a flag to all this, illuminated by my small front panel left inside.
I check to have got a good result and I quickly go back in the tent to get quickly into the sleeping bag trying to warm up a little. In the morning I will go down to ask for a ride to the school bus, as a casual conclusion to a fantastic mini adventure and at this point I will discover there are 5 degrees in Nese and therefore during the night there were certainly no more than 2/3 degrees at the most. Cold but happy I go home, hot shower and I write this little piece, with the hope that it can be an inspiration for the reader!
