Flavio R. Spedalieri, APPL
Artist Biography
Flavio Spedalieri is an award winning Australian Photographer based on Sydney's Northern Beaches with strong interests in Science and Technology and a love of landscapes that has carved and influenced his style for capturing unique and captivating images.
Emerging into photography from a young age, it was not until early 2000's where Flavio's passion in photography took a significant and life-changing direction, during the transitional period between film and digital.
From a very young age, Flavio developed strong interests and backgrounds in the fields of electronics, optics and Lasers, which to this day he continues to practice as an integral part of his professional work in the medical field of Ophthalmology. As a service & support engineer, Flavio works on specialised cameras to image the eye for diagnostic detection and identification of eye disease.
Flavio has over 20 years' experience in Information Technology, and qualified with a Diploma In Telecommunications Engineering, as well as a Cert IV is Training & Assessment. His I.T. skills continue to be an invaluable part of his professional career, and his photography as a vital part of the digital imaging, post-production and printing.
Adding to a list of skills and experience, Flavio also has a strong passion in the coffee industry, having worked as a Service Technician on espresso equipment between late 2008 and 2010. To this day, he continues to have a passion for coffee, coffee roasting, as well as supporting small cafes, donating his his time and skill to photographing coffee products, as well as donating one of his photographic works to a small cafe on the NSW South Coast.
In 2021, Flavio joined the Australian Photographic Society (APS), achieving his Associateship (AAPS) in 2022.
Flavio is a serving member of the Kiama-Shellharbour Camera Club, and in 2024 becoming an active judge of photography under the Federation of Camera Clubs (NSW) Inc (FCC) and actively on the judging circuit.
Much of Flavio's creative inspirations are drawn from his extensive range of passions, a natural creative ability, and many specialised projects he has completed involved with electronics, Lasers, Optics, night-vision devices and Tesla Coils (high-voltage apparatus) to name a few. The works of Tesla, Edison, Geissler, Crooks, Da Vinci and many others have influence Flavio's creative body of works in the scientific genre of photography.
Further, Flavio has developed a love and appreciation of lighthouses, and in particular he has a very strong appreciation for the beautiful engineering of the Fresnel lenses at the heart of a lighthouse, in themselves are a piece of art.
Flavio also has developed an interest in Bonsai, which also ties together the similarity between composition techniques in styling of the tree through to development of composition in a photograph.
In the latter half of 2016, Flavio was looking for a unique style of lamp featuring the antique filament globes, exploring the designs of commercial lamps and with some ideas at hand, there was nothing that really stood out, so Flavio had opened another creative outlet, designing and building a series of decorative lamps and starting up Enigma Lamps.
2019 brought with it the 'C19' era, and with it many changes and impacted lives. It was during this period that Flavio had set out to document his personal projects and journey and embarked on the massive project of building three websites which pulled into scope many of his skills including website design and programming - not something that is his forte. Much of this work encompassing bring back online, Nightlase Technologies.
Flavio is very much a self-taught photographer, but perhaps there is more to the story, perhaps, unknowingly a seed was planted much earlier;
Reading back on an old assessment that Flavio undertook while completing year's 11 and 12 to assess his strengths for prospective areas for employment, listed amongst the top were some of the creative fields, photography being one of the top. It is interesting when reflecting back, that Flavio's interests quite accurately track that early assessment.
As a young boy, Flavio, without realising had an early exposure to photography. His late Uncle Roberto who lived in New Caledonia, use to process film in a small lab in Noumea. Flavio used to help in the lab, in particular by pulling out the leader from the 35mm canister to then tape it to a large plastic carrier that was then loaded into the mini-lab developer. Uncle Roberto used to take Flavio out to the local beaches with his Minolta camera and quite a significant and substantial Zoom lens. Was this a 'silent' influence? Perhaps, as Flavio enjoyed taking photos, especially of the devices he built and places he travelled.
Around the late 1990s, Flavio had found his father's old Canon T50 which at the time was not working. The camera was sent for repairs and a couple of weeks later, returned as a working camera.
Flavio began to work with the camera applying an interest in taking varied photos. One disadvantage of this camera was that it was fully automatic, and ability to take control of exposure, shutter and aperture was very limited and soon was out-growing the camera, in-need of more manual features.
Around early 2000, Flavio had upgraded to a new Canon EOS 30 SLR, then eventually an EOS 3. Flavio's interests in the craft intensified as he became more interested in landscapes, and beautiful scenery.
Late 2005, the digital era was taking hold, Flavio was interested in the technological advancements, yet still with an influence on traditional film being superior in quality, and he waited for a 'full-frame' (35mm) digital camera to be released.
The answer finally came with the release of the now iconic Canon 5D, a 12 Mega-pixel camera.
In 2006, the opportunity to attend the 'Northern Exposure' workshop with renowned pioneer of Australian Panoramic landscape photography; Ken Duncan, David Oliver, one of Australia's best wedding and portrait photographers & Bruce Pottinger had a very significant influence on Flavio.
Soon after, Flavio also met grandmaster of photography, Peter Eastway.
These four Australian photographers have had the greatest influence on Flavio's work, focusing on strong emotive images through strong composition and story-telling; taking the viewer on a journey.
One of the most resonating influences on Flavio's work is the additional focus on high-quality and presentation of each piece from image capture, processing, fine-art papers, printing and framing materials through to the final image hanging on the wall.
In late 2006, Flavio became a member of the former Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), which after 75 years servicing the photographic community, closed its doors on 11th November 2021.
In 2007, Flavio received his first award for his works.
With a love of the Australian South Coast, Flavio is often out shooting around Stanwell Park and Wollongong crossing the alluring Seacliff Bridge taking in the breathtaking surrounds and inspiring his creative mind.
The South Coast has some of the most tranquil areas and great opportunity for crafting some stunning images.
Flavio continues to improve his craft, creating new images, learning new skills and subjecting his images to critique in judging for awards. Flavio continues to focus on consistent quality of work to engage the viewer.
Flavio's aspirations to have is images known for their unique and high-quality standards, captivating the viewer and taken them through a journey of the beautiful world in which we live, yet seem to take for granted and where it seems technology and social media has us more engrossed in our virtual worlds.... until it's too late.
In capturing unique, captivating & evocative images I only choose to work with the best equipment, materials and papers to enable me to create and present my work to the highest quality and professional standard that I demand.
Determined in seeking innovative advancement in the imaging area, in 2013 I transitioned from Canon (5D Mk II) to FujiFilm and the X-E1. Some may ask why?..a shift to FujiFilm... it's quite simple when you think about it, Fujifilm has its roots in film, and precision optics, but more importantly for me personally:
INNOVATION, QUALITY, SUPPORT... Most of all an extremely FUN and retro camera to use.
In maintaining my demand for high-quality images, all my editing and image post-production work is undertaken and viewed only on a colour managed EIZO ColorEdge CG277 Graphic monitor. EIZO manufacture the best high-resolution graphic monitors to faithfully reproduce colour, detail and clarity and the most accurate representation of the final print as it would on paper. My workflow commences from import of the 'RAW' file captures and processing them through Capture One Pro as its capable of extracting the best detail from the X-Trans™ sensors.
Following the experiences with Fujifilm X-Series, in 2014 moved to the X-T1, then in 2016, X-T2, in 2021 to X-T4. In 2023, making the move to the 40MP X-T5, together with a selection of XF lenses.
In 2024, while attending a photography event, Nikon was showing off it's release of the new Nikon Zf, A 24MP full-frame, retro style camera based on the FM2 SLR camera from the early 1980s. - We see it as the best of both worlds with a return to full-frame (35mm) sensor.
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