‘‘To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.‘‘
— Elliot Erwitt
My name is Dino Ilaria, and I created this website largely to learn how to do it. Belatedly, in 2026. The web has existed for most of my life, so it felt like I should finally work out how to build a website as an elemental first step in becoming digitally literate.
I’m not a ‘photographer’, but I’ve always enjoyed photography as a form of expression. So the images I’ve collected here are merely personal. They also felt like a reasonable subject for my first website. Start with what you’re interested in.
All photographs have been taken using only mobile phones. I’ve never lusted after a dedicated camera (I have enough redundant tech) as I enjoy the serendipity of taking photographs at any time and in any place. So having a versatile tool, always in my pocket, that can achieve good enough results, is all that I need.
I currently use a Xiaomi 14 Ultra (2024-2026). For post processing I use Adobe Lightroom or Snapseed on Android. I’m not a purist. If editing a photo allows me to create an image I prefer to look at – accurate or not – and compensate for any deficit to capture it in the first place, then I am fine with that.
“All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”
— Susan Sontag