The author - Thoughts
The first time I held a camera in my hands I was probably younger than 10. I was in Venice with my family and a friend that owned a nice Pentax. He taught me how to use the light meter inside the viewfinder and gave me permission to take all the pictures I wanted. I don't know what happened to those rolls of film but I was able to save one photo, which happened to be the one I took with so much care and awareness. I still remember the entire process that went on during the making of that shot: I remember my attention being captured by the scene, the subject and the background, the wonderful contrast of light and shadow and the delightful movement of the water. I remember carefully positioning the subject (a seagull) over the diagonal line created by the contrast of light and shadow and how I visualized the final result in the viewfinder before I released the shutter... At that moment, and for the first time, I was instinctively doing what I consider the most important part of the process of creating a photograph: making sure the fleeting essence and source of inspiration of a special moment gets caught on film. I believe a great photograph is born at shutter release: a special moment doesn't need special editing if captured well, and there is no editing that can make great something that's not.
A few years later I found a functioning Kodak automatic camera in the woods, which I used to take pictures for a long time and that I still own today. I remember bringing that little plastic box anywhere I went and having so much fun using it. Photography naturally entered my life and it followed me everywhere. However, during my late adolescence for some reason I stopped taking pictures and I have forgotten about photography. Until 2005. One night, a colleague of mine was performing a concert and asked me to fill in for the official photographer that was sick: he set up his reflex, put it in my hands, and there I was shooting like it was my first time. Well, the photos turned out quite good for a first timer! After a few shots, my memory came back and I suddenly remembered how much fun I used to have with cameras and how many photos I had already taken when I was little.
This is pretty much my entire history as a photographer. This being said, photography is for me just another way to discover myself.
I would like to say a few words about my work and photography in general. I have always tried to figure out what exactly is photography and what is its purpose. What is the essence of photography? It's fascinating how a photograph can capture a moment of existence that a fraction of a second later doesn't exist anymore. Under this perspective, photography is for me a certification of existence, a proof of presence. Roland Barthes relates to this concept very well in his book "Camera Lucida". It is quite an extraordinary experience to be able to see the face and, possibly, the personality of a person that lived in the XIX Century. It's like looking at the stars, or traveling with a time machine.
I have also been wondering about the differences between photography and painting and questioned myself whether photography can or cannot be considered an art form. The source of inspiration for both painter and photographer can be the same, however, the painter’s inspiration mutates and evolves continuously during the making of the art work, while the photographer has only the split of a second to capture the essence of that inspiration and impress it on film. In painting, the inspiration endures in time and it evolves, while in photography it lasts until the release of the shutter. I believe photography is a very strange medium, that can be used for many different purposes, including art, but it is not necessarily a form of art. It becomes art at the hands of man.
Another interesting aspect about photography is its power of modifying the state of conscience of its subjects. In front of a camera, a person changes and enters a sort of emotional limb, half way between the original personality and something else. The subject being photographed tries to show a different personality but he fails and gets trapped in a limb that is a very uncomfortable non-presence state. I need to be unnoticed when I photograph my human subjects, in order to preserve and capture real emotions.
I sometimes use photography to produce what I call visual art. The concept is to use unedited photographs and put them together like a puzzle to find the perfect form that is hidden among the different frames. I use unedited photographs to create something that goes beyond photography, without the use of digital tricks. It is an ensemble of photographs but it becomes something different and the single shots loose importance to the whole. I don’t want to say more in order to let the viewer formulate his own thinking. This series of works is called Sequences and is visible in my gallery.
Enjoy my works.
