In 1905, my grandfather Nicola (1885-1952), a pioneer of photography from Fondi (in the province of Latina) and an honorary knight for artistic and professional merit, took his first photo. During his career he produced thousands of images which were unfortunately almost all destroyed during the war.

At the tender age of 10, my father Benedetto (born in 1919), who was also awarded a knighthood, already showed such a great interest in this modern form of art that the following year, his father decided to give him a camera and encouraged him to take his first photo. From then on, Benedetto would go on to produce an infinite number of images not only for work but also for a personal passion.

Photography has therefore always been part of the Trani family but, maybe as a reaction, I decided not to follow in my father’s footsteps and to earn my living by doing something completely different.

It seemed that the family tradition was to end with me but, over the years, this strange form of art slowly began to grip me more and more and, like all great loves, totally and overwhelmingly captured me so much so that my camera has become a faithful companion in my travels and everyday life.

There is no particular theme in my photos; landscapes or monuments, portraits or animals, people who are standing still or moving, taken in no particular pose or during a show, and there are photos both in black and white and colour. I think everything should be photographed, depending on the mood of any given moment.

I’ve never considered taking part in any competition as I believe that photo is the result of a unique emotion, a feeling, an uncontrollable need to immortalized a moment through a lens. I’ve never exhibited my photos as I’m rather jealous of them but I think that a photo is the most simple and direct way of communicating with somebody.

My site is managed by my cousin, and our grandfather’s namesake, Nicola Trani who has been a photographer for 25 years and a web-designer and webmaster for more than 10.