Animal Kingdom Here will go all the photos of animals that are not my own, cats and dogs of course but also wild animals and hopefully other pets... Questions for the Photographer Who or what influenced you to become a photographer? It was nothing or no one in particular at first, I just followed my heart and did what felt like fun as a hobby. What led you to specialize in the photography you do? If nature photography can be considered my specialization, I've started taking photography seriously when I was 18. My real passion was and still is nature in the first place, photography came later: I began taking pictures of my pets because I love them and wanted to create and store memories of them - I think any pet owner can understand my point here - and I gradually realized that I liked what I did and that I could create beautiful images, therefore I started to diversity my subjects and shoot more than just my "roommates". What motivates you to do what you do? It is a passion, an inner urge to create and express myself. I think everyone has this trait, it just materialises in different ways for each and every individual. I believe that passion should be the key ingredient in everything we do. I like to create something that only exists in my mind, I am not interested in showing objective beauty - although I'm irretrievably convinced that my cats are objectively beautiful - rather in interpreting reality according to my vision. Please describe your relationship with your favourite subject. Are you an expert on it? Creativity can come from the most unexpected situations. A photographer just has to be ready and never ignore ideas, no matter how weird or crazy. As long as artists from all over the world will keep experimenting, art will never die. Do you feel you have succeeded in being innovative in your photography, or do you feel the shadows of past masters over you? It’s up to others to judge my work and decide whether it’s innovative or not. My goal has never been to be innovative, but I think I'm succeeding in realizing what I want, I'm just glad I've had the chance to take so many beautiful photos that were able to reach and excite the viewers. I continually draw inspiration and possibly have been influenced by all the amateur and professional photographers I find on the internet. I don't remember having felt overshadowed; I enjoy myself and do what I want. IMPORTANT © COPYRIGHT NOTICE All the work contained in my gallery is copyrighted © 2006-2016 Silvia Colombo All rights reserved. All the materials contained in my deviantART gallery may NOT be reproduced, copied, edited, manipulated, altered, published, printed, transmitted, sold, or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My work does not belong to the public domain. If you have doubts about this matter email me to silvyfirst@libero.it