Reports
•Reports
Magazine Abigraf, 2006
Fabio Colombini â The exuberance of the brazilian biodiversity
The reverence to nature and its mysteries took him first, still on childhood. Photography came later, as an answer for the urgent wish of sharing what he saw. So much that Fabio Colombini acted as amateur for 8 years before he professionalized, in 1988, period on which he completed his academic formation in architecture for the SĂŁo Paulo University. At USP, he was an assiduous frequenter of the zoology library and, more than the architecture magazines, the ones that attracted him were the photography ones.
Such dedication makes him, today, one of the most reminded names of nature photography, with special spotlight to insect macro photography. In his photo collection, there are nothing less than 40 thousand images â 16 thousand of them available for on-line researches - , all of them carefully identified and catalogued in virtue of collection compose his main link with the market, be it editorial or advertisement. His work illustrates more than 1000 books, among them didactic works, institutional and art, besides numerous magazines, advertisement campaigns and more than 80 calendars, in Brazil or in the world. These numbers impress and bring us to think that Fabio has squared the whole area of Brazil. He is close to it, but the market requires an updated image bank, making the photographer to spend half of the year traveling to register exclusively subjects linked to fauna, flora and brazilian landscapes. âI also make projects under requests, but what guides my travels are more difficult subjects, that I havenât explored yet, like the humpback whales, and regions like RondĂ´nia, Acre and AmapĂĄ.â
Like the Animals
On these walks, a lot of patience, perseverance, respect for nature and its rhythm, physical preparation and lots of stories. The dive in the biodiversity of the chosen place begins, actually, way before, with the thorough study of the region and its animal species and vegetations. Itâs necessary to understand the behavior of the animals, knowing the period of reproduction, and feeding habits, without counting with the forecast and climate conditions, which counts decisively for the reactions of the animals and even the plants. âThinking about light, the best hours to photograph are by the morning and the end of the day. If the day is cloudy, itâs interesting to click the animals, since insects like the heat. If itâs clear, itâs time to photograph landscapes, and after the rain, the plants get prettier.â The approaching is always slow, trying to show disinterest and integration to the environment. To photograph butterflies, for example, FĂĄbio scales to the flavor of the wind. With mammals, like the pampas deer, found on the cerrado, it works to act as an herbivorous, crawling, lying on the ground and pretend youâre eating grass. From an inverse behavior, way more aggressive, Fabio had to take his chances in one of his visits to the Parque das Emas, in GoiĂĄs. âI was photographing stars, which requires a long time of exposition, so that the machine capitates the traces of the superstars. Suddenly, on that darkness, I heard the approaching of an animal, growling and barking, probably annoyed that I invaded its territory. In seconds I thought âDogs are prohibited here. What animal is this? If I run, heâll think Iâm a prey and will chase after meâ. I decided to use the strategy that numerous species utilize when theyâre threatened. I screamed, making an even louder noise, and made a movement as if advancing on him. Luckily for me the animal ran awayâ. The next morning, talking with the parkâs staff, the photographer discovered that he had an encounter with a rare species of wild dogs, rare and carnivorous, threatened with extinction.
The equipments also change with the theme. The macro photography, technique for making photographs of a size bigger than the normal, useful for reproduction of insects, requires macro objectives â projected to obtain as much distinctness as possible, highlighting the minimal details â lens of approaching and other special paraphernalia. For animals that you canât approach much, like the large ones, the option is the telephoto lenses, which can increase the size of the image and weigh 17 lbs. Adept of the Japanese brand Pentax, Fabio comments that the digital technology has been easing his daily life, freeing him from the limits of film, specially on simpler works, that donât require bigger expansions. But the conventional technique still predominates for quality, especially on the reproduction of colors.
What doesnât change, however, is the attention missed to aesthetics. Be they landscapes, be they architectural photographs, fauna or flora, the eye of Fabio aims to construct beautiful images through the best composition of lights, shapes and spaces. And his most recent choices can be judged with the release of the book Brazilian Nature in Detail, project framed on the law for cultural incentive and that waits for patronage. He gathers 120 images, with emphasis on macro photography, almost like a professionalâs portfolio. With texts from Evaristo de Miranda, teacher from USP and Unicamp and doctor in ecology, the work, like the exposition, should be released on this yearâs second semester.
Magazine Photo Magazine, 2009
Home Nature
Spirituality, effort and technique are the allies of Fabio Colombini, a nature photographer specialized in brazilian biodiversity. Itâs been a while, after he released Brazilian Nature in Detail (Metalivros, 2006), Fabio Colombini received an e-mail. It came from a French woman and thanked for the pictures published on that book. The light and beauty of the images, she wrote, eased the oppression of the cold and grey European winter. Around here, some medical offices and hospital rooms also use the photographs of the photographer from SĂŁo Paulo to unwind the places, usually tense. This unsuspected therapeutic side of the of Fabio Colombini, who learned photography by himself, is a reflex of the themes he addresses: the exuberance of the brazilian jungles, with a special spotlight on the small scale world of the insects. He is, therefore, a nature photographer by excellence.
Harmonious scenes captured by a trained, attentive and respectful eye. Fabio Colombini, 44 years old, developed his abilities way before even thinking about shooting a camera. When he was a boy, he spent time assuming the mysterious science that pinned eyes on the wings of butterflies that flew on his houseâs garden. Fascination that followed him and got followed by him, in incursions through trails of his family property in Atibaia, SĂŁo Pauloâs inland. Difficult was to experience so many feelings without sharing them. Photography, fortunately, came to rescue him.
It counted in favor a certain family gene. His paternal grandfather, Ulysses Medeiros, was an engineer who liked to photograph the araucaria forests from ParanĂĄ and painted disk covers. Since he lived in Curitiba, his grandson barely saw him. Besides, he died when he was 8 years old. But he is had as an influence and, Fabio may havenât thought about that back in the occasion, when he decided to sell the terrain that Ulysses left as heritage, buying with part of the money his first reflex camera, somehow he was honoring him.
At the time to decide his future, Colombini opted for architecture and joined the College of Architecture and Urbanism of the SĂŁo Paulo University. But it wasnât the books of the discipline that interested him at the time â not even later, when he made a few years of publicity and advertisement at the USP School of Communications and Arts: the reading of publications about photography and environment in libraries and bookstores of SĂŁo Paulo occupied most of his time. âThe year I made a prep course, I saw a lecture from the pioneer nature photographer Haroldo Palo Jr., who encouraged me to open my mind for the possibility of working with photographyâ, he remembers. âAt college, I worked at the photo agency Kino, where I made my first publications and got experience on the professional marketâ.
If we want to translate in numbers this photographerâs trajectory, we can cite that, in 22 years of career, he produced images for more than 2600 books (artistic, institutional, didactic and paradidactic), 100 calendars of big companies and numerous guides and national and international magazines. And participated on 46 photographic expositions. A new book, about how to photograph nature, is on the way, through the publishing house Photos and, another, about brazilian botanic gardens, through Metalivros, releases in December.
One characteristic of his job: itâs exclusively dedicated to brazilian biodiversity: âItâs a privilege to live and have on disposition so many ecosystems and a rich fauna and flora. I could spend my life photographing the last 7% remainder of the Atlantic Forest. Anyway, I think hereafter of portraying other spots of the world, like Africa and the Antarcticâ, he says. While he doesnât amplify his options, he remains a photographer 100% brazilian. This means that, besides enjoying the profits, he has to deal with the costs and the inherent difficulties of the activity on home soil. Starting with the price of the equipments, which are the double of whatâs charged outside, at least. Plus the taxes of transportation, bad roads, lack of security⌠and the bureaucracy, which makes the lives of who wishes to photograph protected areas a living hell. Against it, some photographers of the segment have united and created, on the Environment Day, 06/05, The Brazilian Association of Nature Photographers (AFNATURA).
Difficulty, by the way, is something that has everything to do with the branch. There on her distant European house, the reader maybe is not aware of how much it costs to obtain those good images. Following the big picture of an animal on a wild field requires patience and a lot of resistance. The forest is usually harsh with undesired visitors and the animals donât have any reasons to trust us. âI need to get into the natureâs climate, knowing that I will not be always accepted by it, waiting for the seasons, the favorable climate, for the combination of subject, light, moment, background and get technically prepared to register this time fraction. Or even know how to find in the middle of the chaos and the infinite possibilities a position thatâs able to transform a landscape full of impressions, smells, sounds, details, on a limited and two-dimensional image that can snatch a viewerâ, details.
On the other hand, the randomness helps, a lot. Like on the time when he was walking on the Pantanal, he saw an anaconda crossing a clearing. Actually, the territory was from a flock of birds that, to protect their nests, decided to scare off the intruder with pecks. And they were so focused on that task that they didnât even notice the presence of the fortunate photographer. âI made a nice picture due to this unusual situation. Other pictures depend on planning, like the bioluminescence of firefly worms that inhabit the walls of termite houses on the Emas National Park. Itâs a really rare phenomenon that occurs on a restricted time of the year, and of difficult registering, since the lights they produce are really tenuousâ. Enthusiast of macro photography, Colombini locates it as a specialty of his area of acting, but with really peculiar characteristics: âIt requires different approach on nature, since everything is on another scaleâ.
Generally, photographing nature requires effort. Not only the technical accuracy counts, itâs necessary to ally science and art. âAnd questions of beauty are more subtle, require maturation and education of the eyeâ, observes the photographer. However, the aspects of practical and aesthetical order compete to explain the successes of the work of Fabio Colombini with something that is literally, above that. The familiarity with nature and its daily miracles gave him strong spiritual conviction. Conviction that made him relate to the divine every aspect if his life. It is as if every well-taken picture strengthened his faith: âPhotography itself explores this question of seeing beyond the appearances, seeing what the world doesnât see, focusing on a different wayâ, explains, with the serenity of someone, on what he does, found the equilibrium point: âSpirituality is like that, being able to see beyond the material, beyond what you can prove scientifically, but what you can prove with the senses. Looking and seeing, like Jesus saidâ.
Magazine Ăcaro/Varig â October 1999
Text by Carlos Moraes
Lessons in Looking
This spring, learn to look at nature through the eyes of Fabio Colombini, a monk and wizard of macrophotography.
Our galaxy alone comprises 100 billion stars and it is believed that the Universe is made up of 100 million similar galaxies. Even so photographer Fabio Colombini thinks that more marvels hide in his garden than in outer space.
For the past 16 years he has concentrated on macrophotography, the art of magnifying details or small objects. In his first photo the butterfly he tried to capture in film didnât even appear, lost amid branches and leaves. Now his photos have been reproduced in books, magazines, advertisements, postcards and especially calendars â 32 in all, distributed by corporations such as Bayer, Caterpillar, Johnson and Bosch. He has staged 20 exhibits and the prizes he has been awarded include one from Fuji and another from the Organization of American States. In the United States, his photos are handled by the renowned Animals/Earth Sciences agency.
What is Fabioâs secret? Passion. He says that Brazil is a macrophotographerâs paradise: what with all those luxuriant tropical forests, creatures have attained a variety that would set Noah wondering. Beetles constitute the worldâs most numerous animal order, with some 300000 species. One in each five creatures on Earth is a beetle. Approximately 60000 species live in Brazil. The countryâs butterflies donât have to take a backseat to beetles â 40000 of the worldâs 70000 species can be found here.
Yet photographers suffer in this paradise. Fabio complains about the red tape they have to tackle to work in parks and preserves, the hardships they have to endure in the jungle, the gauntlets of wasps and ticks that lensmen have to run to come close to an attractive butterfly. Nonetheless, the most painful sting comes from local costs. Equipment, blank films and laboratory services â all cost double here compared to the United States, but the end product â the photos â commands half the price.
Even so, macrophotographers donât even think about giving up. Itâs like a revelation. Fabio had his epiphany at age 7, when he faced a moth with owlâs eyes on its wings. Later he caught butterflies with a coffee filter bag and kept some of them in audio cassette boxes for further study. In the familyâs property near Atibaia, he braved the woods in search of snails, grasshoppers, fireflies and velvet ants, the females of which donât mind using their powerful stings.
He also became an amateur entomologist. Science helped Fabio to plan a magnificent. Science helped Fabio to plan a magnificent photo essay on camouflage. For years on end he snapped the tricks and machinations used by creatures in their struggle for survival â he photographed spiders that disguise themselves as flowers, praying mantises that look like sticks, butterfly chrysalises that have the appearance of leaves, cicadas that appear in the guise of twigs, perfectly harmless insects that put on the mien of dangerous wasps and caterpillars that take the shape of the excrement of their most feared predators â birds. In other works he stuck his neck out to present a philosophical interpretation of nature. The result appears on the opening pages of this story.
The graphic character Fabio discovers in the wings of birds and butterflies, in the petals of flowers and the innards of stones would make the most creative designers turn green with envy. It makes us wonder what school the Supreme Designer was dabbing at when he created all this â was He a cubist, Dadaist or pointillist when he devised the ladybug? How did he accomplish so many shades of orange on a single manakin? By showing objects out of all proportion, macrophotography both puzzles and liberates us. That wing of a blue butterfly may very well be a stretch of ocean, just as that bromeliad leaf that may be a soybean field.
Perhaps Fabio Colombiniâs grittiest, most thorough essay is the one about beetles. The flying ability of beetles can be a fine example for us human beings. They are heavily armored and unwieldy â if they strictly followed the laws of aerodynamics, they would be unable to fly. But fly they do, though some awkwardly.
Well, after all that letâs take a lesson in photography from Fabio Colombini. He works with a Pentax camera, though he respects all brands. He recommends a macro lens, preferably a 100 mm model, to avoid having to get too close to the creatures. The lens must be of the same brand as the camera and offer a maximum aperture of at least f/4. An extension tube comes in handy to shoot tiny objects. Even with the proper equipment, the hardest part is focusing â in macrophotography a deviation of just a few millimeters is enough to put the subject out of focus. Hold your breath and handle the camera both firmly and lightly. A flash may help freeze the subject and impart depth to the picture. Fabio says that he is used to stalking, crawling, kneeling and camouflaging himself. This kind of work takes a lot of practice and patience. You must press the button only when the creature, the twig, the leaf, the background, the angle and the light all combine to grant a perfect photo. If you have the passion, with time your finger and your soul will know how to act together.
Speaking of oneâs soul, mystics say that somewhere in this variegated world God wrote His true name and full explanation of mystery of life. Thatâs the ancient, reassuring idea of the world as a divine revelation that may seem far too esoteric but which imparts a theological basis to environmental conservation. By indiscriminately destroying wildlife, we may erase forever Godâs name. In a beautiful short story by Jorge Luis Borges, an almost blind old monk reads the hallowed name on the striped markings of a tiger. There are no tigers in Brazil, yet it is in the same spirit that Fabio Colombini offers us his bird and butterfly wings, stone grooves, plant graphics and even alligator retinas.
Editor & Arte, n° 38
Closer to God
Our interviewee sees on each photo a gift of nature and a way to approach God, our world and its origins.
The SĂŁo Paulo photographer Fabio Colombini, 42 years, graduated on architecture at the SĂŁo Paulo University, and coursed Publicity and Advertisement at the USP Communication and Arts School.
Autodidact in photography, he professionalized himself 18 years ago. Since then heâs been enriching his collection with records of the biodiversity of Brazilâs fauna and flora improving the technical and artistic quality of each image.
His ample image databank is arising from numerous expeditions through the brazilian ecosystems. On his work, stand out the strong graphic character, reconciling art and science. The macrophotography is the most developed technique by Fabio Colombini, specialist on exploring the details of nature and the world of the insects.
His pictures illustrate more than 1630 books (artistic, institutional, didactic and paradidactic), 100 calendars of big companies, and numerous guides and national and international magazines, participating on 46 photographic expositions.
With what age/on which moment of his life it was noticed the involvement with photography? How did it happen?
The involvement with photography was almost simultaneous with the involvement with nature. When he was about 13 years old, he visited with frequency the rural area of Atibaia, and on the observation it was awakened a fascination for the living things, by its beauty, exoticism, wisdom, creativity. Then he felt the need of sharing the scenes he saw and share them with the people. It was then when it grew the interest for photography.
How was the specialization on the theme nature? Did you actually do a course to understand the fauna and flora better; do you have the help from a biologist or something?
The best teacher is contact and observation of nature itself. Although I was coursing the Architecture Course, every free time I had I dedicated to the study of nature and photography, being an assiduous frequenter of the collegeâs Biology and Arts Library. Many biologists and teachers helped and help me giving tips, guidance, scientific classifications.
Is your focus brazilian nature or do you photograph other countries too?
Iâve been centralizing the acting on Brazil, since we have the biggest biodiversity of the planet, a lot to be known and shown, and few professionals working on the area.
How does your formation as an architect influences your career as a photographer? Have you actually done a photography course or have you always been autodidact?
Architecture, just like art, in general influences really positively the way the photographer sees. In nature, you canât manipulate light and the photographed subject, therefore, you must have a sensibility to details that can make a good picture or not. Senses of composition, light, aesthetics that are sedimented on the mind of the photographer help to compose prettier images. Iâve never actually frequented photography courses.
Color is a strong characteristic of fauna and flora, but have you ever made experiences in B&W? What did you think of the result?
With the theme nature, the few B&W I have done didnât satisfy me, since the color has a crucial meaning on nature, and it may be the difference between life and death for many beings.
You have already received several prizes. Whatâs the importance of awards for the career of a photographer and yours in special?
Prizes give a lot of incentive, increase the professional recognition, and frequently are the starting point so amateur photographers enter in the market, which happened with me.
Do you work on an independent way? Why not making part of a team of a specialized vehicle, for example?
Ever since the beginning of my career I have always worked on an independent way, together with my wife Edna, and be at the difficult moments of the beginning to the more productive phases, we get used with the possibility of making our own decisions, directing the course of our job, dealing on a personalized way of our image and production. We assume with faith the risks and advantages.
Has any picture of yours served as a complaint about the neglect of the environment, or was the registering of a new species, for example?
My focus is basically on the beauty of nature, and through it I can bring people to love it, and as a consequence, preserve it. Iâve already contributed with campaigns of several NGOs like S.O.S. Atlantic Forest Foundation, Arca Brasil, Greenpeace, Conservation International.
Can you know at the hour of the click if a photo is going to be good or not? Has it ever happened that you couldnât find anything special at the time you took it, but then it is really praised?
Yes, you can know when you get a special picture. At the exact moment youâre photographing, no, since all the senses and concentration are focused on the scene and technical questions. But right after being made, comes a feeling of great happiness for obtaining the image. This sensation used to appear only several days after coming back home and revealing the films. Today the digital provides an almost immediate certainty.
Have you ever been attacked by an animal, insect or got red for days after a trip to the jungle?
Yes, I already got threatened by an owl, wild dog, jararacussu, lapwing, ant-bear, and attacked by all sorts of bugs, like blackflies, horseflies, mosquitoes, caterpillars, ticks, ants, wasps, bees, besides spikes, nettle, etc. All of this is normal on the daily life of the nature photographer.
What are the preparations to go searching for images on a less urban place, letâs suppose? (bug repellents, vaccines, training, searching about the species to be photographedâŚ)
Itâs necessary to plan with antecedence, verifying the best times to photograph, knowing the habits of the animals, taking vaccine against yellow fever for some regions, taking strong insect repellents to areas with malaria, available traction vehicles, contacting local guides and bringing extra equipment, since in nature they are really required.
Is there an image more important/thrilling in your portfolio? Why does that image deserves the spotlight?
The close of the jaguar, whoâs my top model, having already been published on various magazine covers and calendars, like the magazine Veja, magazine Jaguar (England), Catalogue Animals Animals (U.S.A.), Bayer, and others. This jaguar presents a feature thatâs wild and really expressive, transmits dignity and involvement.
What equipment you use the most?
On the production of chromes I utilize Pentax equipment of medium format for landscapes, and 35mm for fauna and flora, with various lens according to the necessity. For digital photo, I use Canon EOS. Since Iâm specialized on macrophotography, I use a lot the macro lenses.
Have you totally migrated to the digital? How was (or how is it being) this transition?
For half a year, I have only been doing works on digital, and Iâm happy with the amenities and recourses it offers me, besides the security of obtaining good results amid the nature. There are still some reproductions of colors that really make me wish for more, but the advantages outweigh the limitations.
Do you make photos that require special equipment? What kind of photo and which specifications of the work material?
Depending on the subject that you photograph in nature, thereâs the need of special lenses, from big tele-objectives to capture faraway animals, even macro lenses to photograph bugs up close. I use accessories like flashes, diffusers, firing cables, tripods, monopods, camouflages, sub aquatic cameras. The quantity of equipment to be carried are the items that difficult the most nature photography, and itâs always subject to weather, dirt, falls, etc.
What image has the most curious story behind or was the most difficult to obtain? Why?
A really special image was of the bioluminescence at the Emas National Park, in GoiĂĄs. Itâs a really rare phenomenon, on which firefly larvae brighten the termite homeâs walls, attracting and attacking the winged termites. This occurs on a short and specific period of the year, and since the lights are so tenuous, there was great difficulty at exposition and lighting, in the full darkness of night in the cerrado, thatâs because I didnât have the recourses of the digital camera.
Is there a difference between exposing in or out of Brazil? Are the treatment and recognition different?
I feel that the photographic culture in Brazil is not so developed as on other countries, where their own population values photography as much as art. There are great difficulties and limitations in Brazil, but throughout my career, I always found people who recognized, encouraged and supported my work.
What do you think itâs more interesting/gratifying on your area, and what do you consider the biggest difficulty?
What I consider the most gratifying is the possibility of being together with nature and contemplate its beauty. This beauty forces us to get out of ourselves, from the routine, from the ephemeral. And by analogy, by the grandeur of nature we know the greatness of its Author. The biggest difficulties are the physical sacrifices that impose themselves for the obtaining of images, however, when you do it with love, even the sacrifice gratifies.
I read on a text that your grandfather Ulysses was also interested in photography. Did you coexist with him? How do you think he influenced you?
My grandfather was an engineer and artist. He photographed the araucaria and the coffee plantations from ParanĂĄ and made disk covers. He passed away when I was 8 years old, and since he lived in Curitiba, we only met once a year. But the influences that cross generations are stronger than we think, and even with little intimacy I really look like him. He must be looking out for me.