What is photography to me? What is it that I am striving for in my photography? What is my approach to the photographic language? What kind of images could I possibly make for you?
Well, I am not answering any of these questions here (frankly, I don’t think I’d be able to, even if I try), but below you will find some selected images from my archive, accompanied by some words, aiming to provide some context and possibly give you an idea of what I aim for as a photographer. This short selection includes both personal projects, paid assignments, self-assignment, and commissioned works, in no particular order*.
*This place is a total mess. I am sorry. I’ve been trying to tidy up countless times, without success, and I finally decided to give up and simply publish the stuff that I like to share with you, in an unorganized, uncategorized, unsweetened fashion.
I am an eclectic photographer, and I do like to explore photography and express my vision through different routes and so-called genres. To be honest, I am not very fond of strict genre definition, but, if I have to define the area in which I am most active photographically speaking, I would say that it is undoubtedly portrait photography.
My objective is to capture what I perceive to be the essence of what’s in front of my lens in that particular moment, whether it is a person, a tree or an inanimate thing, in a constant process of observation, study and ultimately understanding of what my camera sees, in all its manifest nuances.
To captures the personality of your subject into a photograph is quite a big challenge, especially if you don’t even get to know the person you are about to photograph. Often photographers can only observe what barely emerges on the surface, beneath the masks we all wear every day, behind every single fold of skin, a sudden movement of an eyebrow, a hint of a smile, a slight twinkle of the eyes, a micro gesture of a hand, and so they get to base their decisional process on their intuition in order to get the shot that matters: the one that conveys a persistent image of the subject being portrayed. But, in the end, what the photographer gets is what the subject (consciously or unconsciously) is willing to give. So I consider each worthwhile photographic portrait to be a gift. And, to collect that gift, first you need to be willing to give something: your attention, your openness, your acceptance, your understanding; you’ve got to recognize yourself in the other. And that, to me, is the most important gift Photography has given me.
Several years ago, I began to assiduously photograph strangers on the street to develop my photographic sense for people and improve my sociability. If you are quite a loner, as I am, initially it could be hard but Street Photography is indeed an amazing playground for photographers willing to exit their comfort zone and embrace the unexpected. It allows to connect with the urban environment and its people in a very particular way and that’s why I’ve always found it so challenging and stimulating. Every street demands you to find its own rhythm at that particular moment and flow with it.
Street Portraiture, in particular, is very fascinating to me. For my long-term personal project “Lumafaces“, so far, I collected nearly a thousand photographic portraits of people I casually encountered through the streets of my hometown: Lucca, Italy.
I love black and white photography. When not necessary, avoiding the extra layer of content consisting of colors lets the viewer focus more on the shape and form of the elements in the frame. And that, I think, is particularly important when it comes to portrait photography, where I find that the essentiality of black and white sometimes allows the viewer a more essential, stripped down, emotional connection with the subject portrayed in the picture.
When I work with colors, if possible, I like to play with a quite limited palette, to use all their leverage most clearly and coherently possible. To drive visual energy through the frame and to better convey the message within. Color does not always benefit the composition, though, as one of the greatest pioneers of color photography, Ernst Hass, once wrote: “it can even go against it, in which case it has to be overcome. To translate a world of Color into black and white is much easier than to overcome the Color, which so often runs contrary to its subject matter”…”Color does not mean black and white plus color. Nor is black and white just a picture without color. Each needs a different awareness in seeing and, because of this, a different discipline. The decisive moments in black and white and color are not identical.”
As a commercial photographer, my primary business mainly consists of corporate photography: headshots, environmental portraits, workplace views. Aside from that, I also like very much to shoot editorials: telling compelling visual stories possibly in always creative, original ways.
Extensive/Specific portfolios are also available upon request. For more info, for collaborations and assignments, please do not hesitate to contact me, I’ll be happy to get in touch with you!
