Take a Virtual Vacation with Francesco Ungaro's Photography

Welcome to Hero of the Week, an ongoing series sharing stories from some of the best photographers in the Pexels community.

By day, Francesco Ungaro is a consultant in Milan, Italy. In his free time and especially when traveling, he's a skilled photographer, capturing incredible details of life in locations all over the world.

Francesco's goal as a photographer is to travel and photograph the entire world. It seems that he's well on his way there, with his Pexels profile full of beautiful images from all over: Canada, India, Japan, Uganda, Finland, and of course his home Italy.

From underwater photography to landscapes, he captures the details of mood of each location with care.

Photography has been a lifelong passion for Francesco. "I started shooting when I was eight," he says. "For my birthday I received as gift of a Kodak Instamatic and I fell in love with photography."

His current gear includes a Fujifilm X-H1, DJI Mavic Mini drone, Olypmus Tough 5 for underwater shots, and his Honor 8 Pro smartphone.

"I started with portraits of human beings," says Francesco. "Now I'm more interested in nature: from landscape to animal macros. Maybe because I find myself captured by marvel of nature—its raw beauty, its vibrant symmetry and contrast."

So far, his most memorable shoot happened at Mount Blanc, the snowy European mountain that's the highest peak in the Alps. The image below was shot during a trip the mountain at dawn.

"We were hanging on a little, fragile, shaky gondola lift. Under a huge sea of ice with little trekkers like ants."

When it comes to photographic inspiration, Francesco mentions Danish photographer Jonas Rask, reknowned street photographer Alan Schaller, and Magnum photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin. He's also inspired above all by the search for harmony, the quest to "find the perfect frame."

Pexels Heroes is our invite-only community of the top photographers on Pexels. Find out more and apply to join here.