The Mount Etna Eruption Photo that Gained $200,000 at HIPA 2025

HIPA, the world’s most worthwhile photograph contest, introduced its 2025 winners with the theme Power on 11^th November in Dubai, probably the most populous metropolis within the United Arab Emirates.

The high award of $200,000 was claimed by Italian photographer Gianluca Gianferrari for his photograph Etna’s Paroxysm, submitted to the Power class. A paroxysm is a volcanic explosion of quick, however intense length, characterised by lava, fuel, and ash emissions inside minutes or hours.

This is the 14^th season of the yearly photograph contest, which during the last two years has yearly awarded a staggering $1 million in prize cash throughout six classes, with the bottom prize being 5 $20,000 prizes and the highest prize netting $200,000. There have been 15 different awards starting from $30,000 to $100,000 to have fun a complete of twenty-two delighted prize winners attending in individual from world wide.

PetaPixel sat down with grand winner, beginner Italian photographer Gianluca Gianferrari, as the fact that he had gained almost 1 / 4 of 1,000,000 {dollars} slowly sank in.

Getting to Photograph an Active Volcano

Gianferrari was house, sick with fever, when his pal from Tuscany referred to as. There was an eruption on Mount Etna, and he was excited by photographing it. Now, Etna on the coast of Sicily, Italy, is without doubt one of the world’s most energetic volcanoes and is in virtually fixed eruption, so eruptions are unlikely to be very robust or visually rewarding.

Being a passionate panorama photographer, he determined to tackle the problem and fly to Sicily from his hometown of Correggio, Italy (about 100 miles southeast of Milan), together with a neighborhood pal.

“Every time there is an eruption, it lasts two to three hours maximum,” says Gianferrari, explaining the conduct of the volcano. “So, I cannot go, take a plane, take a car. It’s impossible. This time, it was a strange paroxysm that lasted one week because it was not with peaks but was slow.

“Okay, even if it’s a small eruption, no problem. We stay together and have fun with the other third friend.”

The first two days, beginning with the 1^st of December 2023, have been the same old lackluster, small routine eruptions, even main them to wonder if that they had made the appropriate resolution.

“On the third day we were there, everything changed,” says Gianferrari because the volcano erupted with violent paroxysms. “So brutal, very lucky. We went down to eat something, and then saw it was exploding. Grabbed the camera and ran back.”

Mount Etna, the biggest volcano in continental Europe at 11,165 toes, was placing on an unique efficiency for 3 Italian associates, as there have been solely 4 or 5 different photographers current at round 9 pm when Etna blew its high, with golden lava streams flowing down its flank.

Gianferrari captured round 1,000 plus frames on these three fateful days on his Sony A7R IV, with a Sony FE 200–600 mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS utilizing his Italian Gitzo Traveler Series 2 tripod. The successful shot of Etna’s Paroxysm at 236mm was recorded at f/9, 1.3 sec, and ISO 640.

The photographer was saved at a distance of over 1 kilometer by the police, so the 200-600mm tremendous telephoto zoom got here in helpful for getting a close-up of the exploding beast.

“It was so windy, so I had to find a place near a small wall to stay down[low] and to cover from the wind,” remembers Gianferrari.

“I was excited, really excited, because it was a dream. I didn’t expect to find a nice eruption. And I was also emotional by the sound that I heard, so brutal. It was my first. The sound is loud, like an earthquake.

“Before we were really near the volcano. This is funny: we started taking [photographs] of some peaks, and at a certain point I said to my friend who lives there, ‘It’s starting to rain.’ And he said, ‘It’s not rain, let’s go away immediately,’ because there were the drops of lava, drops small that could ruin the camera and the dress, because I felt, tink, tink, tink [he simulates the sound]. I thought it was raining.”

These are the photographer’s solely photographs of an erupting volcano, as his earlier journeys to Iceland and the Canary Islands in Spain have been unsuccessful.

“In the first picture we took when the lava ash [was] falling on our heads, we felt some warmth…

“We were dressed for the mountain, because it’s a high mountain, so there, I didn’t feel [hot] because we were far and there was a lot of wind. And Sicily is a cold place.”

The Quality of the RAW Image

The RAW picture file was processed in Capture One, which he has been utilizing for the previous 7 years. The photographer believes that Adobe Lightroom is now equally good, with no actual distinction. He makes use of Affinity, nevertheless it was not used on this successful picture. Topaz Labs was used for noise discount, however now he’s utilizing much less of it and extra of DxO.

The photographer shot Etna’s Paroxysm in Uncompressed [he emphasizes the word] RAW to win the top prize of Hamdan International Photography Award (HIPA), founded in 2011 under the patronage of the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

“So, 61 megapixels. Now I have the Five (Sony a7R V) and I shoot lossless compressed. I want the maximum quality, because I make prints two meters [6.6 feet] wide,” says the panorama artist.

“[It is the] best sensor along with an R5 [Sony a7R V]. It’s the same sensor as the a7RV, and this is the best sensor in terms of image quality and sharpness. And despite what everyone says, that the ISO is noisy, I think it’s not so noisy for me.”

Gianferrari feels that even a Sony a7 IV with 33 megapixels may have taken an equally good photograph.

“My pal who lives right here has taken a number of photographs with a Canon. Every time now there’s a paroxysm, he goes and makes use of a Micro Four Thirds [camera].

I believe there is no such thing as a want for a 61-megapixel digicam, however in case you have one, it’s higher. It is extra helpful while you shoot one thing like animals [with] a number of element. But for this photograph, I believe that APS-C or Micro Four Thirds is enough.

He makes use of a 32-inch monitor on a Mac and is proud to be referred to as a pixel peeper. In this successful picture, the highlights have been extra essential to the photographer than the shadows, as he didn’t wish to lose any particulars. He didn’t bracket the publicity and used a distant to fireplace the digicam whereas shielding it together with his physique from the wind.

The photographer sees a double V formation within the picture. The first inverted V is of the mountain, and beneath it’s one other V formation.

“It converges [into] the double V. Everybody says about order. My photographs are order, every detail in the right place, at the right point. Otherwise, I’m not satisfied.”

From Photographing Motorcycles to Landscapes

“I started to make photographs in the 70s because my older brother, 12 years older than me, had a passion for photography, doing some contests, models, and motor sport,” recollects the award winner. So, he takes me to Imola [racetrack] someday, possibly 1982. I keep in mind it prefer it was yesterday. Then I used to be sure 10 years outdated, 11 years outdated, and he taught me methods to do panning on bike [racers].

Gianferrari has labored at one of many oldest banks on the earth, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, based in 1472, for 35 years as an officer servicing company purchasers.

The banker prefers landscapes however has additionally shot animals.

“I’m a naturalist, and [photograph] landscape possibly without house or building [maybe] sometime, yes, but I prefer only nature. Three or four years ago, I started making a bit of animals, birds, and so on. I went to Kenya last year and did some astrophotography. I like the main landscape with the Milky Way.

“Recently, I photographed the comet, C/2025 A6 (Lemmon). There is a famous mountain one hour from my house, and I planned this shot for three or four years, spending a lot of time studying it. Getting the right position, right time, and photographing the comet is difficult using an astro tracker.”

A Winning Dream

Signore Gianferrari didn’t anticipate to win a prize in Dubai.

“No, no, as a result of final yr there have been 5 winners, right? The fourth and the fifth don’t achieve nothing. So I mentioned, ‘Okay, I’ll go.’ It’s an expertise. I discover some new associates.

“But I positive can be fifth or fourth. Then in a name, they informed me that there have been solely three, solely third, second, and first, and I mentioned, Oh, wow. So, third, unbelievable. Everything greater than the third for me was successful at the moment. I by no means anticipated [to win the top prize.]

Even now, I can’t completely understand what is occurring. And if it’s actuality or a dream. Everybody, I say, ‘Please don’t wake me up’.”

About the writer: Phil Mistry is a photographer and instructor based mostly in Atlanta, GA. He began one of many first digital digicam courses in New York City at The International Center of Photography within the 90s. He was the director and instructor for Sony/Popular Photography journal’s Digital Days Workshops. You can attain him right here.