Tag: photography community

The first photo I remember being part of

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My parents flat is loaded with photos. On the walls and on the furniture, there are framed portraits showing the different stages of my childhood. Photos of their youth & wedding, and there are also images of old members of our family, who are no longer with us. I have always seen pictures floating around me, since I have memory. They were something that was impressed in my mind while I was growing up. As of today, when I go to somebody’s house, if I don’t see pictures around, for me there is a “hole”, a sort of “empty” place where somebody or something is missing. In the late 80’s, early 90’s, when I was a child, my dad would enjoy playing with the camera in his hands, more to play with me rather than taking pictures, and my mother was committed to document and to keep our family memory alive.

Have you ever asked yourself : “Which is the first photo that I remember being part of? Which is the first portrait where I was aware being the protagonist?”. In my case, it is a shot dated late spring 1988, I was almost five years old at that time. My mother had asked her boss, Franco, who was a passionate amateur photographer, to take some portraits of me. For the first 5 years of my life, he was my “official” photographer.

I can’t recall the whole afternoon but I have recalled some details of it :

– I remember it was a sunny afternoon and that our gathering was at a park close to our home ;

– My mother made me wear a dress that she loved ;

– We went to the park by bike and I was sitting behind of her ;

– I remember feeling observed, running, jumping and going on the swing ;

– He asked me to look into the camera.

It is strange. Somehow I am surprised at having a partial memory of that episode that happened when I was such a tender age… but other times I ask myself how is it possible that I don’t remember pictures that were taken previously to this one, when I was even younger?

About portraits & the connection line between model & photographer

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To pose, or not to pose? That is the question. To this hamletic doubt, my opinion is that it is better to pose and, when in front of the camera, you need to know how to pose. A portrait photo session can be a pleasant treat that we can give ourselves and it can produce rewarding shots, but from my experience, this can be comparable to living a trauma. It may not be so easy or it may not come so natural to feel comfortable in front of the camera. This can be even harder if the session is taken in a studio : usually the room is not big, you are put under the lights and around you everything is dark…all this can be really intimidating.

As I have recently read on the web, posing is marketing. I agree with that. The way you pose, how you look into the camera, how you are dressed, your make-up and gestures : all those factors are transfered, viewers are registering and codifying them. You are sharing a message about yourself and who you are.

If you have a public profile on social media or just if you want people to know you, you need to present yourself visually, this becomes your signature, it is like a business card. You are how you show yourself and how you choose to appear.

To see the procedure from the photographer’s perspective, there are two possible scenarios : 1) taking spontaneous pictures ; 2) taking “posed” shots. It all depends on what your models or customers are asking, what kind of images they are looking for.

I frequently receive most requests from the first category. People prefer to be taken in a spontaneous, non-intrusive way, usually outdoors or in familiar surroundings where they feel more secure and relaxed. However if I could choose, the second category is my favorite. I love working in the studio because I have so much to learn while at the same time most things are under my control, such as the lighting, the setting, the posture, the expressions and the concept. It is usually up to the photographer to direct the subject(s) but prior to that, you might need to establish a connection with the model(s), otherwise it is unlikely to work. The “human touch” is key as well as communication.

The pictures I have added to this article were taken in Parma, back in 2015. It was the first time that Massimo came to the studio. He is shy. The most difficult piece of the journey is the start of any shoot and Massimo was feeling awkward. However after a short settling-in period (inclusive of a chat and a few jokes), he switched, and actually began to enjoy the whole experience and he became the protagonist.

I cherish these photos because I find them elegant and classy and he looks really good. I didn’t expect him to take the stage in the role of an actor! The results were unexpected & rewarding for both of us.

To where is our visual intelligence moving?

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One of the questions I asked myself, when I first started photography, was : “Why do some pictures easily capture our attention and stay in our mind while others are just labelled as banal and dull?”.

I realised that a photo is a relationship between the subject(s) and the surrounding space. The unicity of an image, apart from what can be its meaning or the sentimental value carried in it, is based on the spatial disposition of the subject(s) and how they appear in space. Maybe even more than the “What” is important the “How”.

I never liked maths as a subject at school. It has always been ditchwater for me. As my mother would say with regret, I am a “literate spirit”, without doubt. I knew that in photography the setting of the subject(s) is a vital element because our attention needs to be brought to a specific point. So when I started taking pictures, I feared that a lack of “geometrical sense” might be a handicap or a devalue when it comes about to prepare a shot and to take a portrait, for instance. But I eventually understood that I had confused “numerical” with “geometrical” and the two things are not the same.

In photography as well as in other fields, I consider myself a traditionalist but on the other hand I am not scared to experiment and I don’t dislike the lopsided, the wonky, the asymmetrical and the unbalanced.

The key is that our eyesight is selective in the way it sees what is around us and photography has rules that are quite clear about symmetry and geometry in a composition (for instance the rule of thirds, the positioning of the subject, the use & choice of light) and you can get yourself into trouble when you break the rules or take “extreme” shots. You can have fun and achieve success taking unbalanced shots but you will raise lots of criticism and somehow the eyes may not agree on the final results. Our visual pleasure needs to be satisfied by what is perceived as a positive equilibrium of the elements.

It shall also be added that we constantly live under rules of fashion that are changing. Talking specifically about portraits, I remember about 10-15 years ago, there was this tendency to cut the lines in a picture obliquely, to give a different shape to the subject, to look for a new perspective. At that time this looked so innovative and energetic. Now this trend is almost over. We are trying now new dirtections.

Having an original approach to the form to be given to the image is appreciable but, at the end of the day, our eyes are looking for a “peace of the senses” when we look at something. There are rules that need to be respected, a logical sense and discipline, in order to avoid to be kicked out of the game.

To finish this article, I am attaching below a beautiful, classic and symmetrical picture of one of my favorite photographers, Horst Horst (1906-1999), as well as some snap shots I took randomly with my mobile a few days ago in Edinburgh…