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Selina Mao
@selimao96
Landscape photographer based in Italy
My name is Selina Mao and I’m from Italy. I have loved nature since I was a young girl, which resulted in me graduating in Natural Sciences later on. My passion for photography was born 10 years ago, when I bought my first reflex basically for cetaceans photography. I have been fascinated by these animals since I was three years old (now I’m 24). During summer, I went out at sea for whale watching day after day, and during winter I exercised with photography, basically photographing everything that was around me. Naturally, travel photography came next.
I was more confident with the camera and I learned to look at things more closely. When I’m outside, or even at home, I notice things that before weren’t that detailed and interesting before. It’s all about exercising your eyes and also your mind and to be honest, I think there’s no better place to do that than at home. Since you are more familiar with the environment, you really have to focus and give yourself the time to look deeper at the things you may have seen so many times already. I realized that, even more now we can’t really travel abroad due to the covid-19.
"As a result I decided to explore Italy better - we have many beautiful places but sometimes we forget it."
I visited some magical places in Italy like Colle del Nivolet in Piedmont and Lago d’Arpy in Valle d’Aosta. I loved them so much! Actually I went to Valle d’Aosta already back in autumn and the colors were stunning. Photographing places like this make me feel deeply happy – I simply try to feel the flow of the place and let me be inspired by nature. Every place has a story to tell, and something particular to notice and learn about. Nevertheless, I have to say that the most important moment of my “photographer’s life” was when I photographed the “Flying Dolphin”. I took this picture in the Ligurian sea during a whale watching tour. It represents everything to me: It tells about my passion for both cetaceans and photography and it represents how I feel when I’m doing one or the other, imagine how I feel when combining the two!
"It generates an emotion within me that is hard to explain and it motivates me to keep doing the things I love despite the challenges."
Last year I went to many places, from London to Greece to Japan. The latter in particular was incredible; I’ve never imagined to fall in love with this country. I especially loved the atmosphere, so calm and relaxing, even in big cities like Kyoto. Japan and their culture always seemed so distant to me, but after this trip I got whole new insights into the country, the people and the culture. Now it’s not just an imagination based on images and stories anymore – I experienced it myself, formed a more accurate image of the country and I learnt about the way Japanese tend to think and do. I was stunned by their courtesy and attention, even if they don’t speak your language they will try to help you.
"I strongly believe that the better you know the essence of a country - its history, culture, the people - the better you can convey a story with your photography."
That is another aspect of photography that nourishes my passion; it enables me to not only create an image with my camera but also with my head and mind, an image that is high in definition, consisting of experiences, feelings, smells, views, adventures and interactions…
"For my passions I have to thank my parents, who allowed me to follow my dreams and encouraged me to be what I want to be."
And I also have to thank my boyfriend, he knows why. I think that everything in our life story is important. Bad moments, good moments… They allow us to become who we are, and shape us so we can be the best representation of who we want to be. Travel and photography separately enable us to open our eyes and also our mind. So if you put them together in travel photography, they could be a superpower. My wish is to achieve the objective of doing what I love every day and wake up every morning saying to myself “today I’m gonna do my best in everything I do, and everything that will happen will be a lesson for me”. I always said to myself that I wanted to have a job that I love. Something that makes me feel alive everyday and never saying “I don’t want to wake up” or “I don’t want to work today”.
"I want to do something that keeps me dreaming and fulfills me with energy for the future, that’s what I will be aiming for in my life."
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