One evening a friend of mine contacted me via Skype and after he’d barely said Hi, he sent me this message: ”what you wrote on your Skype profile is perfect”. I asked him to explain what he meant and he said “the sentences you wrote to describe yourself are perfect; it truly describes who you are”. The description was “A daydreamer who studies physics but loves photography”.
Yes, he was right; in that line you can understand a lot about me.

I waste a lot of time daydreaming. I say “waste” because probably I am not skilled enough to honestly consider daydreaming a useful way to start a real-life project… But I can’t help it; daydreaming is something I do even when I am talking with people. Unfortunately, there is always a part of me projected toward another dimension that at times is dangerously far more captivating than reality.

Physics, or science in general, has been one of the most important things in my life from my earliest memory. No surprise — my father got a degree in physics and my mother is a mathematician. This also means that most of their friends studied physics, math, and any science-related thing you can conceive. When I was a little girl I used to look at mama’s paper thinking that those sequences of symbols were fascinating codes (as they actually are) that were worth understanding.

As a consequence, no one was amazed when at the age of 9 I said “I want to be a scientist”. For the following years until the last high school year, I kept living according to this “future image of me”. At the age of 19, during the last months of high school, I decided that I wanted to contribute to find alternative sources of energy, and especially I wanted to study a way to improve the use of sunlight. I used to say “God has already created an amazing source of energy and we are not using it as much as we could. I want to contribute to improve the use of sunlight as a source of energy”. This is probably the last most important turning point of my life. As a final project for the final high school test I did a presentation where I tried to show how photography is used in almost every field of study (e.g. science, history, art) as a way to analyze reality in order to discover the Truth.
In those months I would have described myself as “a daydreamer who is going to study physics AND loves photography”.

During those 10 years another passion was growing: the passion for photography. In summer 2006 it was already grown enough that I had considered for a couple of weeks the idea of moving to north Italy to study photography, but the passion wasn’t strong enough to consider it a wise plan. After 4 years I’m still trying to figure out if at the age of 19 I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life.
At the university I met my boyfriend (the webmaster of this site) and despite my clear failure in my studies, I still consider physics amazing and captivating. In this regard I can’t say that I made a mistake.

On the other hand, the passion for photography imposed itself on my life.
It changed from a “lovely hobby” into something essential and at the same time extremely painful.
I feel photography is essential because it keeps alive the ability to find Beauty in life, even when everything seems to be crashing down. I consider photography painful because each shot I take, each second spent at this activity makes me feel like a thief because it’s not what I am supposed to do now. At the same time, it is probably the only thing I can do in a decent way.

In these days I’m fighting against myself to get at least a bachelor’s degree in physics (despite that I’m already 2 years late for this) and at nights or when I have a moment of apparent free time I try to understand what bad and what good I have done in recent years, and how to increase the amount of good actions and choices in my life.

Meanwhile, I keep on taking pictures looking for that Beauty that makes life worthy and I try to keep this site alive to show to the world what I have been able to find, in hope that it can be useful for all of us.

My Boyfriend
Have you ever gone into a completely dark room without even a lighter? Well! Elisa is the sun coming from the window!
She’s an excellent photographer, a very intuitive student (even if she’d rather to “just” take pictures) and a “careful” observer. Most of the things you can see in her pictures are probably the same things that have passed under your nose and you haven’t even noticed.
When she takes pictures she assumes the most incredible positions in order to get the best and she’s so rapt in what she’s doing that she forgets about any kind of nuisance.
She’s a playful, noisy and dynamic person. She never stops and she’s cannot stand to spend a day and being unable to find its meaning. She’s also an extremely logical person and despite she has got a nerve, sometimes she decides to hide. Indeed, if she wants she is able to go unnoticed.
It’s impossible to describe everything about Elisa in a few lines, but I think this gives a general idea about who she is. For the rest, you have to know her ;D

Chris
A curious mix of the commonly immiscible, Elisa is in her heart a scientist, artist and devout Catholic; these qualities each influence her eye for photography. Her technical, creative and spiritual inspirations show well in her work, and give her photographs a unique character. To know Elisa is to be often taken with puzzled amusement by her non-sequitur thoughts, warmed by her affection for her friends and impressed by her aesthetic talents. She’s sometimes a lot to handle, but she’s not too crazy — she’s just crazy enough.

Berlicche [Berlicche]
Beauty-seeker butterfly with sharp wings.
High voltage. Handle with care.

AnnaV [Anna Vercors]
Smart and sensitive, Ely is seeking for her life vocation, the only one, the one that can makes her happy.
And... whoever seeks will find... who faithfully waits for, doesn't do it in vain.

Viviana [Cazzeggiolibero]
You must be brave to tell others about your emotions, you need a great sensitivity and skill to do it through pictures.
Ely's pictures talk to the hearts of those who wants to listen. Keep this on mind when you look at these pictures.

Sguardoleale [Sguardoleale]
Ely, young brilliant and lively. She loves photography, Beauty, but about above all what keeps awake her"self". Her curiosity is respectful but pressing. Helpful and careful as few of her age. A character you have to know.

Rita
Born with the camera "under skin", to fix moments in order to enjoy them for eternity. She often "breaks marbles" [is annoying], but in a kind way, so when you want to answer back she is already out of fire and you cannot "shot her". Really nice, crazy and a genius especially of friendship. Gazelle eyes, grit of a lioness; yeah yeah, it's really her:Ely!
If you know her you don't shun her, you cannot avoid to love her.

Brown Bear [Filosofia e fede]
Ely is a young Italian artist. Her artistic field is photography.
She lives in Catania, Sicily, where she studies for a degree in physics.
Her open nature and, probably, her sincere Catholic faith, help her to spread the fruits of her artistic job to her many friends and, potentially, to the world: and this, for the mere desire to share her joy in front to the beauty.
She is a sensitive girl, but not inconstant, especially in what she considers essential, e.g. friendship.