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Lumia
January 20, 2014

Meet Matteo Mantovani, a winner of the Puerto Rico comp



Another of the five winners of the Photograph for Nokia in Puerto Rico Competition is Matteo Mantovani, an Italian who lives in Grasse, France.

Matteo tells us he enjoys discovering and telling stories within stories as well as showing people from his region “doing different things,” like in his beekeeper series. Happy to discover he shares our passion for the Nokia Lumia 1020, we were also totally wowed by what he’s produced with it. Check out Matteo’s insights into photography and his five favourite competition photos below. We promise it’s time well spent!

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“A surfer waiting for the time to go in the water.”

When, how and why did you become a photographer?

I’m not a photographer, not a professional one. I use photography to remember visions and experiences, to share emotions and thoughts. I would like to be a photographer, I will work hard to find my way in photography. To be a photographer is not only the good luck of one picture, it’s not only vision or skills, and not only the reproduction of others’ works. Photography for me is working on myself, on my relationships, through the camera medium. Now I work on different things, taking the opportunities offered by photo contests to get an objective opinion about my work.

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“Divers on the shore. Shadows from the clouds, light from the sun, and a rainbow in the background.”

Where do you most like to photograph?

The starting point for me was nature photography, but now I’m interested in the relationship between humans and the environment. I’m Italian and my experience of nature is from a historic land, where the mountains, too, are settings for human life. I haven’t experienced true wilderness, but I know how humans make their homes in different environments.

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“The smoke on the beehive. I like the quality of the Nokia Lumia 1020 in rendering the colors, very impressive!”

What inspired you to enter this competition?

When I read about the days with Alvarez with the Nokia Lumia 1020, I told myself: why not? And then I tried my luck with one of my photos. National Geographic is a reference and a dream for every aspiring photographer, isn’t it?

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“I have chosen this photo to show how Nokia Lumia 1020 works well in macro photography, too, also without close up filters.”

What did you think of taking photos with a Nokia Lumia 1020 and which features did you like best about it?

At first I imagined that it was like a view camera. Ok, that’s not true because you don’t have the movements, but I like the manual settings, the focus system, and also the good automation that I used in action photos. The camera grip is a powerful accessory, and I often use the tripod to take better quality photos. Nokia Lumia 1020 is a true camera with the plus of top quality smartphone capabilities. I think that is a powerful instrument for outdoor activities and for travels. Perhaps one day an underwater case will give us more opportunities… Another thing that I liked was what that I call the “Blow up” experience (the movie by Antonioni): sometimes you don’t notice everything you’ve caught with your photos, but after re-zooming you can discover something more. You can see a good example of this in my Tumblr.

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“This is a beekeeper in action, and this is the starting point for my next work…”

I absolutely loved this quote in Matteo’s Tumbler: “Sometimes taking photos with the Nokia Lumia 1020 is a “Blow up” experience, you don’t see everything at the moment, but when you enlarge and reframe the photo you will find the “body in the grass and a killer lurking in the trees with a gun”. Beautifully put and so true when it comes to the Nokia Lumia 1020. Try it out and see… it’s incredible how precisely you see every detail when you zoom in. Have you had a “Blow up experience” with your Nokia Lumia 1020? Then please tell us all about it in the comments below. And remember to share your opinion on Matthew’s stuff, too. Hope you like it as much as we do.