About - Vitantonio Dell'Orto Nature Photographer & Writer

I was born in 1962, and from a photographic point of view in 1979, when I "borrow" my father's Olympus Om1. Nature photography becomes my passion at the end of the '80s, when I lay my eyes directly on what is around me, the Nature's world which, until that time, I looked at without really seeing. I begin then to be interested in environmental and natural sciences matters.

In the 1995 I join actively the SICF, the Italian Society for Wildlife Photography; I have been a member until 2006, an important step for my technical and human growth. I found a challenging battleground for my pictures, and, more important, the company of friends with whom I shared the love for Nature.

In the beginning of the year 2000 I decide to become a freelance professional after leaving my clerical job. The difficult decision is greeted by the lucky coincidence of a significant event: I am declared the winner of the 1° Italian Nature Photography Gran Prix Award organized for the first time by "Oasis" magazine, both in "Landscape" and "Flowers" categories. I'll be between the awarded photographer in each of the four following editions, excepted the 2002, when I'll take part as member of the jury. Afterwards I get other awards, including international ones. Among them, I like to mention (since actually it is a literature award) the 2nd Prize in the section "Journalism" in the Nature Literature Award "Parco Majella", for my article "Bewitched by Northern Lights" published on Oasis mar/apr 06.

As years go by I publish reportages, photos and covers in the main specialized magazines. My pictures appear in several books. From the 2004 to the 2008 I've been regular columnist on the magazine Oasis. In total I published 71 columns in 20 issues, which are almost entirely available here (alebit mostly in Italian). In 2008 - 2009 I write a regular column on the magazine Asferico, called "Through the mirror".

Between the other various collaborations the one with the company Lem Art Group stands out, for the production of calendars, posters and stationery with worldwide distribution.

At the end of the 2001 I publish the book: "Le Forme Incerte - The Uncertain Shapes", Pubblinova Ed. Negri.

In the 2007 another "change of skin": after a lot of travelling through Scandinavia I decide to move to Sweden, in Särna (Dalarna).

In the 2010 the publication of my second book, a photo diary (but not just) about 13 years of travelling and living in Sweden: "My Sweden - Tales from an Italian photographer in the North".

2012 sees my third book: "Wild Orchids of Appennino Pavese", this time a field guide, made together with Thomas Abeli and Gilberto Parolo.

Ph. Patricia Cowern/Arctic Image

A personal quote

"I regard nature photography as something going beyond mere documentation. I believe in the ethical value of experiencing beauty, as a moment of emerging awareness, and the particular beauty that moves and intimately enriches me is the beauty of nature. I live photography as an experience of harmony with the environment, because its dilated rhythms, the contact with wide spaces and wildlife, and the close connection with the cycles of natural life, put me in the right reflective state of mind toward my surroundings, and give me back forgotten feelings.

Photographing Nature allowed me to perforate the screen which divided me from the earth, blunting my capability to see, and above all forced me to feel with the soul, to listen to the spirit of the things. I like to feel as a part of the whole, to draw on this endless source of beauty that connects me with the multitude of creatures and sceneries, as an equal and with the humility of those who attribute the same dignity and importance to every display of natural life."