Marco Grassi
About Marco:
“Born and raised in Italy, Marco Grassi is a self-taught, award-winning photographer focused on landscape photography as well as an avid adventurer and experienced photo educator, leading workshops all over the world to share his vision, knowledge and approach with others.
Marco’s work has been published and rewarded worldwide in a large variety of media outlets, such as the National Geographic, CNN, The Telegraph, BBC and GEO Magazine.” See more
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NAPA is proud to announce that Marco will join the jury of the 2021 NAPA World Photography Awards! The interview below reveals a personal side of Marco and we hope you can be inspired by his experience.
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NAPA: What is photography to you?
Marco: Photography, more specifically landscape photography, is for me the most spontaneous way to combine the things I love, such as traveling, exploring remote destinations and spending time in the outdoors. I also see landscape photography as a powerful tool that can raise people’s awareness on more serious situations and open eyes and minds on the importance of preserving nature.
NAPA: How did you start photography?
Marco: Long before I bought myself a camera, I was a nature lover, trekking enthusiast and travel addict. It’s during a one-year trip to New Zealand that I’ve discovered my passion for photography as it’s there that I started feeling as I had to capture the amazing sceneries around me. At the same time, I knew traveling and being in nature was something I wanted to keep doing in the long term and possibly make it my job and soon realized that landscape photography would be a great way to pursue this dream.
NAPA: Do you have a style? What is it? How have you developed your style?
Marco: Since when I first started my journey as a photographer my style has changed and evolved a lot over time. I used to shoot very different subjects, but later on I grew a passion for mountain sceneries and remote destinations as those were the places where I mostly enjoyed spending my time. Therefore focusing on shooting those sceneries came pretty natural.
NAPA: Please tell us a story of your work. What is the key message of this work? How do you get the scenery into a finished photograph in just the way you want?
Marco: Photographs are for me a way to capture the natural beauty of the places I visit and share it with the rest of the world. Most of the locations, like Sarek National Park, are places where people can enjoy nature as it should truly be: untouched and preserved. My hope is for my photographs to pass on this message and for people to take conscience of the importance of preserving such beauty. All the images in this series were taken around Sarek National Park, officially referred to as one of Europe’s last true wilderness areas. The aim of creating this collection was to highlight and capture the natural beauty of this region in Swedish Lapland made of glaciers, mountains, rivers and high plateaux.
Getting a nice shot requires planning, time and patience. However, sometimes the unexpected moments are the ones that make a picture unique. My partner and I drove all the way to Swedish Lapland and back from Southern Europe (3.300+ km each way) which was an adventure itself, and then hiked in the park for a week. The place is super remote, it was just the two of us for kilometers plus a crazy amount of reindeers here and there. On our last hiking day we reached Skierfe, I took some images from the top and camped there for the night. To get out of the park the next day, we had a helicopter planned and thankfully the weather was perfect. I could photograph the area from above and took some of the images in this series. The others were taken a few days later, when the weather was promising again, at sunrise from the helicopter.
NAPA: How much effort did you put into it? Could you share the most difficult part of creating this work and how you overcame it?
Marco: This particular collection mainly required planning and time. In fact, I had been wanting to photograph this area for many years but I was always busy with other projects during this time of the year (September), which is when I had planned to visit for the colors to be this way. When I finally reached Sarek National Park, the colors were perfect and I knew what I wanted to shoot, I just had to hope for the weather to work out.
NAPA: Lastly, what advice would you give to an aspiring landscape photographer?
Marco: Shoot something you like to shoot as this is by far the best way to stay motivated and inspired over time. And never forget to enjoy the moment.
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Marco has many digital tutorials for all levels of photography enthusiasts and in-person tours all around the world’s best landscapes! You can also own his presets starting at €19.
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