1. What sparked your interest in photography, and when did you know you would pursue being an artist?

My interest in photography did not really sparkle, it rather feels like it’s always been there. Maybe dormient, but there. When I was very young I used to take photos, but I couldn’t afford a SLR camera. Once somebody lent me one and I fell in love with it, so I used my savings to buy a similar one. Later on, in 2008, on the occasion of a trip to Paris, I started taking photos down the streets and I finally fell in love with street photography.

 

2. What other artists and art forms have influenced you and your work?

Of course I greatly appreciate the masters of street photography, such as Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Ronis, Erwitt…but I am also an architect, it is my job, and certainly architecture influences my photography style. I am fond of the french impressionist painters work: their style is very much graphic, and usually who loves architectures and geometries, appreciates graphic works. Looking at my photos you can tell that I am drawn by geometries and lines.

 

3. Can you describe your current artistic process, habits, techniques you have formed?

My first approach was with landscape photography, but soon I fell in love with street photography. The street is an ever-changing stage: you can find interesting scenes everywhere at any moment. I always carry with me a compact camera, even when I don’t carry a SLR one, so to be ready to seize the moment whenever it happens.

There are instants where people and things, for stance or situation, form a special alchemy. Moments of poetry, of irony, of absurdity, out of the ordinary moments. Situations that last for an instant only. These instants, these situations, capturing and freezing them in a photo, this is the essence of Street Photography.

I love the images that are able to catch a decisive moment, especially if there is poetry in it, especially if the author was able to see something that everybody else would bypass. I generally prefer neat compositions, images that strike you with their harmony rather than because of extraordinary coincidences or characters in them.

 

4. Is storytelling important in your photography? 

I think that narrative is important in an image. Although not essential, a narrative enriches the image and it is able to stir stronger emotions. At the same time I love neat compositions and even without a story they are able to pass me strong sensations. Images that have both, a beautiful form and an interesting storytelling, usually are the most complete, and the ones I appreciate the most.

 

5. What are some of your favorite books, poems, authors?

I am particularly fond of an italian author, Luca Goldoni, journalist and writer, wry and brilliant, deep connoisseur of the human nature. Reading what he writes is like traveling inside the human soul, he observes the human behavior in the same way I like to observe it down the streets.

I love classics of literature like The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, The Catcher in the Rye by Jerome David Salinger, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Reunion by Fred Uhlman.

Amongst the poems, I’d like to remember some by Salvatore Quasimodo, an italian poet, in particular the ones against the war.

 

6. Can you put into words the way you have evolved over time as a photographer? 

I think that evolution is possible if you try to do something new everyday. The will to not repeat yourself makes you pay more attention to your surroundings. As a beginner you see a beautiful scene and you photograph it, but then you start to realize that everybody could take that photo. A special photo captures a special scene, something that not everybody is able to see, so you have to look more carefully. Who said that street photography is a way of life is right: I only feel safe when I carry at least a compact camera on me, I constantly look around, I try to imagine in 2D what I am seeing in 3D, I try to foresee what is about to happen…My current way to photograph is more aware and conscious than in the past: I try to look under the surface and dig deep into the scenes, to capture the extraordinary that is hidden in the ordinary scenes.

 

7. Where do you turn for motivation and new sources of inspiration?

I often browse photography websites, italians ones (like www.maxartis.it) or international ones (like www.deviantart.com and www.1x.com). I am part of an italian street photography collective, SPontanea (www.spontanea.org), where the sharing of photos and thoughts is important and interesting to me. And I believe that it is important to look at what the others do, the ones that are better than us, of course, but not only them: everybody can teach you something new.

 

8. Discuss the role of community and gallery showings, etc to your growth as an artist.

I wish to specify that to me ‘artist’ is a too binding word to apply to myself. Very few people are real artists. Artists have a mix of skills, intuition, genius, innovation…and all of the above to the highest degree. I think that communities are fundamental for the individual growth, because they allow you a constant contact with that is innovation and avant-garde in each artistic form of expression. Galleries are important because they let you see printed photographs, and the true photograph is the printed one. The impact and the sensations a printed photo give you are stronger and deeper. The true photograph, the original, is the one in the exhibition, not the one reproduced on catalogs, books and monitors.

 

9. What do you think is more important for your craft: passion,  dedication, or raw talent and can you elaborate on why?

With the talent you can reach to excellence, to art, but what really matters is passion and dedication. I don’t think that dedication can exist without passion for what you are doing. When there is passion, then there is dedication too, and even without a unique talent you can do good things. Passion and dedication to me are the primary pathway to reach a good level. To really reach the top instead you need talent. The one who’s got it, is able to innovate, and this is something rare. Innovators are not always recognized or appreciated. This usually triggers the discussion on who is really capable of appreciating art, and wether something that not everybody likes can be considered art. But that’s another story…

 

10. What is a project, or theme you are currently working on, or something that is currently taking your attention, that you are aiming to explore in your work?

I’m working on two different projects right now, one is about reflections, the other instead has to do with cars. They are work in progress and still open to changes of direction. Lately I’m working with projects rather than on taking single images: a complete body of work, with a graphic homogeneity and an accompanying text. I hope to come up with something good…we’ll see!