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My real name is Michele, an Italian name
that is impossible to pronounce, spell or remember for English speaking
people. You would pronounce it
more like “Michelle”... a girl’s name.
So many years ago, when I moved to
California, I changed it to Michael, following as incident at a Bank of America branch, where the cashier was
questioning my identity. Now I live in the United
Kingdom.
From here you can go to one of my websites, or you can read the story
of my life below. All the websites below were created by myself and no, it's not my job, but yes, I do it for other
people.
Fine Art Gallery - www.MikeValeriani.com
Wedding Photography - www.LifeReportage.com
England Travel Tips - www.England-Travel-Tips.com
Web Design Service - www.Best-Website-Design.org
Mobile Catering Solutions - www.MammaMiaDiner.com
The Wedding Facebook
Social Network - http://misposo.ning.com
Photography and I...
 I’ve always loved photography and
absolutely never thought I would have become a wedding photographer later in life. I first started taking
pictures at age 13.
My father gave me my very first camera as a present. It was a compact Kodak Disk, one of those obscene mistakes of the
past. The negative size was simply ridiculous and consequently the quality of the photographs produced was very
poor.
Not a camera for a future professional
photographer, you would say. It wasn’t long before I “borrowed” my father’s Nikon FE and started playing with real
photography.
I was totally fascinated by this
interesting way of capturing and reproducing reality.
To make a long story short, I went to
the European Institute of Design in Rome (Italy), to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara (California)
and to the Academy of Art in San Francisco (California).
Still I hadn’t remotely considered of
becoming a wedding photographer.
The Weddings Discovery
I’ve always worked alongside my father (editor) for magazines of all sorts. My work has been published
in all five continents and I took picture of all sort of people, including the King and Queen of Spain and the
President of Italy. I had been invited by the President of Algeria to take part in a diplomatic mission to
illustrate Algeria to the world in all its beauty.
But there was something I didn’t like
about working for magazines: they told me what to shoot, when to shoot, what camera to use, what lens to use, what
film to use and sometimes even what shutter speed to use! It was a bit stressful at times. Then one day, by
accident, I discovered weddings.
A wedding photographer in Italy used to be considered someone who was
generally not good enough to work for magazines. Maybe now it's different; this was then. So I never paid any
attention at all to this kind of photography.
 That was until a wedding photographer friend of mine got
sick and could not shoot a wedding the following Saturday.
I approached this wedding from a
distance, but during the day I was actually having a lot of fun!
I could shoot anything I wanted,
whenever I wanted, using all of my creativity and nobody was telling me what to do... and I could even have a drink
between shots!
Not only that, but also everything
looked and felt so beautiful.
Everyone looked at their very best...
and everyone was so happy! Then I thought: is this really wedding photography? Or am I just having a good day? I
had never imagined that being a wedding photographer could have been so much fun!
This is how and why I became a wedding
photographer: because I loved it! Now I could not think of any other field in photography that would be more
rewarding. Maybe travel photography would be slightly more rewarding (since I love travelling so much), but then I
would never be at home spending time with my children.
So after all I believe being a wedding
photographer is the most rewarding and enjoyable form of photography. Want to become a wedding photographer? Just
read my Wedding Photographer Guide to
help you start in the business.
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