Autore: upandcomingstyle

Interview by SARA GIANGUZZA — Photos by SILVA+CEMIN

90’s style with a dirty taste, colourful images and sharp textures – that’s how Silva+Cemin work. Finding the perfect balance between the shape of the body and the scene behind it, in their photos, S+C express the soul of Brazil. Simplicity and spontaneity are key to their work, block colours, flash and people in unconventional settings make up the grounds for their creativity to thrive. Inspired by their country, they tell stories of unordinary life through people and objects. How can ugliness and poorness become art at a click? How can trashiness inspire? Let’s meet the eye of this Brazilian photographer duo and have a chat with them.

SARA G. — Hi guys, so… let’s break the ice! Tell us: where are you from? Where do you live? How old are you? Tell us something about your life.
SILVA+CEMIN — Hello, we’re Guilherme Silva, 22, and Rodolfo Cemin, 20. We live in the South of Brazil. Silva studies Fashion, but he also studied Arts. He’s a weirdo since he was a baby: he didn’t like toys, but he loved to draw on the walls. Cemin studies Advertising but some years ago he wanted to become a dentist (he doesn’t know why) and he’s a scout since 2004. We met in October 2011 and since then we can’t stop taking pictures together.

SARA G. — Brazil is such a ‘colourful’ country. Do you think your pictures are somehow inspired or related to your origins?
SILVA+CEMIN — Totally! Actually the country we live in, Brazil, is full of European influences, like architecture. Even people have foreign origins (for example, we have an Italian heritage). We always try to put some Brazilian influences in our pictures, to escape from an identity the viewer is tired to see. You know, most of the fashion photographers want clean pictures, full of glamour and beauty. We instead want dirt, poorness and ugliness, simplicity and different (or even strange) people.

SARA G. — What does usually inspire you? Is there a particular kind of photography you are influenced by?
SILVA+CEMIN — As we had answered before, the Brazilian culture inspires us like crazy. Some locations from our pictures you will find only in Brazil. Actually, since we came back from Rio de Janeiro for a mini-documentary about our work for Crane.tv (UK) we are even more inspired by the soul of our country. For example, the ‘R$ 1,99 stores’ (like the ’99 Cents Only Stores’ in USA) in Brazil are places full of trashiness and textures which have been influencing us a lot.
Furthermore, as young people, we can’t escape the influence that art, fashion, music and movie icons have on us. We love pictures with a 90s style, like Corinne Day’s and Juergen Teller’s, for example.

SARA G. — How is your work integrated in the cultural scene of your country? Do you have fun working there or would you rather move to see how your work could fit in other countries?
SILVA+CEMIN — Our works were published mostly on international media, so we think it would be better for us to move to Europe.
The people and government in Brazil are not so interested in Art and Fashion, so we think that if we want to get some notoriety we have to move out and try to find all the trashiness in Europe.

SARA G. — Some of your photos look really spontaneous, is it really like that? How do you usually work?
SILVA+CEMIN — It’s like ‘think it and do it’. We don’t care much about whether it looks spontaneous or artificial. We just want to make our ideas work out.

SARA G. — Four eyes and one lens, or do you work separately and mix the photos of the two of you as if it were one mind?
SILVA+CEMIN — We always work together.

SARA G. — Which camera do you use? Is it only one camera or do you use more than one? Could you tell us which is your favorite?
SILVA+CEMIN — We have a Canon EOS 3000 and a powerful vintage flash which we have bought in Rio. Sometimes we like to use a Kodak disposable camera as well.

SARA G. — Are you fascinated by the human body? Does it inspire your pictures? I see lots of ‘sections of the body’, like naked legs, or shoulders, of faces, but never an entire body, why?
SILVA+CEMIN — Yes! As artists, we love to explore the human body. People always ‘have a crush’ on other people bodies (like, ‘I love your hands’, ‘I love your legs’…). We even have an exclusive set on our Flickr for this kind of pictures, called pieces of meat, where we want to show how much people can be interesting looking at the parts of their body.

SARA G. — What about textures? I feel like I could touch your pictures.
SILVA+CEMIN — Thank you, that’s a compliment for us. But we don’t know exactly why people say this to us. Maybe it is because we like to work with sharped, well focused, colourful images full of objects and patterns.

SARA G. — I’m really fascinated by this giant red sofa/mattress – it looks very interesting. What is it exactly? Did you like the relationship between color and size? Was it planned or did you find it by chance?
SILVA+CEMIN — That sofa is awesome and there’s a king (or kingdom) size bed too, which is much bigger than the sofa!
Actually it belongs to a museum where we took some pictures. An artist made it but we can’t remember the name. It’s funny because we found that sofa in other places before, in Porto Alegre. We think it’s chasing us! We found it by chance in that museum and that was the right moment to take those pictures on our big, red friends.

SARA G. — What are you working on for now? Do you have any plans?
SILVA+CEMIN — This is like a new era of our work for us: it’s like when a music artist is working on a new album. We always like to change something, searching for new influences, making our work different, without change our identity. Our images are like songs for us. We also met a great Brazilian designer with Italian heritage (by the way, he has the Italian flag on his arm), Jonathan Scarpari, and we hope great things are about to come.

facebook.com/guilhermeslvpht
facebook.com/rodolfocemin

June 2013

Interview by SARA ALFIERI — Photos by ROBERTA RIDOLFI

Fragile female figures on the verge of adulthood, dreamy landscapes and daily scenarios are portrayed with blunt honesty and disarming beauty by the quicksilver lens of Roberta Ridolfi. Italian-born photographer who decided to pack up her dreams and talent and to move to London in 1999. She has shot for Diesel, Stella McCartney, Urban Outfitters and was published in Elle, I Love Fake and Vice, just to name a few.
Her pictures are bathed in crisp daylight, yet never indulging in sticky romanticism but rather offering us a fresh glimpse on a youthful world, reminding us a bit of Corinne Day’s 90’s portraits. Her images tell of intimate stories but never shout, they’re raw but never crude. Beauty, composure and freshness are perhaps three adjectives we could use to best describe her imagery. But let’s see what she has to tell us about her work and her life

SARA A. — Back in 1999, what made you, a young recently graduated woman, decide to pack up all your creativity in a suitcase and fly to London?
ROBERTA R. — I decided I would move to London after I finished school when I was 14 and first visited. It was love at first sight. I always felt I wanted to move abroad and speak another language, so as soon as I could I moved here.

SARA A. — We know you only shoot with film cameras, why do you prefer analog over digital? Maybe because of its uniqueness and the feeling that you can’t make a mistake?
ROBERTA R. — I don’t really think about it that way. I think it has more to do with my approach and the fact that I’m so used to shooting film. I just can’t get the same excitement with digital. I only use it when I have to. I still think there’s not better feeling than going to the lab and pick up your pictures.

SARA A. — You enrolled in Philosophy, but far ‘too many suppositions’. How did the concreteness of photography help you in your life?
ROBERTA R. — I studied philosophy for 2 years because my background was in Humanities and I loved history and philosophy back then. I didn’t think that I could do anything else, really.
Photography definitely helped me keep my feet on the ground.

SARA A. — Your favorite subjects are young girls captured in their natural beauty. They remind us of Corinne Day’s pictures, what’s the reason for this choice? Have you been inspired by her?
ROBERTA R. — That’s a nice compliment. I remember when I discovered her at college she had such an impact on me and has always been a reference in my work.
Sad she passed away too soon. Yes, young girls are definitely one of my favourite subjects. It’s a bit of an obsession.

SARA A. — What about the animals that you portray?
ROBERTA R. — I don’t plan my personal photos too much so what you see it’s normally what catches my attention.

SARA A. — What’s your typical day like?
ROBERTA R. — Unfortunately it involves a lot of emails, for the rest it is always different. It depends on the projects. It could be working at the computer in my studio for hours editing pictures or out shooting somewhere

SARA A. — In this digital era, photography is now available to everyone. Can you make a living as a professional photographer?
ROBERTA R. — Just about, but I do!

SARA A. — Being a photographer and working as a photographer. Which definition fits you better?
ROBERTA R. — Being a photographer

SARA A. — Diesel, Juke Magazine, Vice, just to mention a few. Which projects gave you more satisfaction?
ROBERTA R. — The ones where I can follow my ideas from start to finish. They are hard to come by, but when they do, it feels like everything makes sense.

SARA A. — What’s next? Can we peek into your agenda?
ROBERTA R. — I’m shooting two portraits and a look book next week and then off to Iceland on a road trip which I’ve been wanting to do for a while.

SARA A. — What do you do when you don’t shoot?
ROBERTA R. — I play tennis. It gives my mind a break.

SARA A. — 3 things you cannot live without.
ROBERTA R. — Sleeping, my boyfriend and my dogs.

SARA A. — The picture you haven’t taken yet. That secret wish you want to come true.
ROBERTA R. — I have far too many…

robertaridolfi.com

June 2013

Interview by ANDREA QUARANTOTTO — Photos by MATT COLOMBO

As you’ll probably notice by reading this interview, Matt Colombo is certainly not the kind of photographer who likes to make much of an ideological fuss around its work. His photos speak enough for themselves, though: pure form. They tell about a subconscious that doesn’t want to be unveiled. You’ll notice his crisp black and whites, free from those tedious, fictionalised, and pompous scenarios that glossy magazines have been proposing for a century. Matt is an Italian photographer, constantly traveling around the world, portraying ‘randomness’ some would say, or a fond women-lover other would say – I simply think he’s just not really interested in promoting fake morality, but rather focused on photographing what he loves at its best: wether that is a sensuous body, a street sign, or a nice pair of legs.

ANDREA Q. — By looking at your photos, I can tell that there are some recurring elements – more precisely: street signs, details overcast by the sky, mirrors, decontextualised political or religious icons, artificial beings and… hot girls. Is any of this intentional? If so, which ones and why? Or on the contrary, do you think photography is something purely formal and unconscious?
MATT C. — Mostly, what I look for is what I find. I do photography just not to ask myself too many questions. By doing this I get straight to the answers.

ANDREA Q. — Do you have any moral restraints preventing you from shooting anything specific? Or do you rather feel free to photograph anything you like?
MATT C. — The only filter is my curiosity. And I can assure you that this filter doesn’t imply any moral restraints at all!

ANDREA Q. — Your latest photos in Los Angeles remind me of the best of Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver. Speaking of cinema, do you believe that the ‘seventh art’ has partly influenced your way of photographing?
MATT C. — I like those artists who have a tense and nervous way of communicating, like a certain type of music: coming straight from your guts. Despite the fact that then their images remain stuck in my head like a chewing-gum under your best pair of shoes, creating in me a latent uneasiness.

ANDREA Q. — Which camera do you use? What’s your daily dose of film rolls? I imagine you always keep your camera at hand, judging from the ‘freshness’ of your photos.
MATT C. — I have an Olympus AF 10. Now it’s broken though! I don’t use it all the time anyways. Film rolls are expensive and moreover, I am quite lazy.

ANDREA Q. — Are there any photographers that you look up to in particular? Do you follow any of their current of thought?
MATT C. — I don’t think the photographers I admire ever felt the need of founding a photo-club! And anyhow I’d admire them less if they gave me a membership card.

ANDREA Q. — I know you are always around the world; which place has been visually more exciting so far from a photographic point of view?
MATT C. — Las Vegas.

ANDREA Q. — Now you live in LA, what brought you there? What keeps you there?
MATT C. — Pussy, together with its peculiar entourage of scum and coloured lights.

ANDREA Q. — You’re in LA, the capital of the Western porn industry. You happened to take some beautiful shots of Veruca James, known porn-actress; would you ever like to take pictures on the set of a porn movie? I think there is a lack of good photography on those sets and that’s a shame, because it is a kind of cinematography which is underestimated by the artistic intellighenzia. Think about it, I think you’ll have a blast!
MATT C. — Boy, everyone has his own preferences!

ANDREA Q. — Which other porn-star would you like to photograph?
MATT C. — Anyone with a soul, that’s to say all of them.

ANDREA Q. — The fact that both humans and animals have sexual needs is expressed in biology by supposing the existence of a so-called ‘sexual drive’. Proceeding by way of an analogy, we designate the desire for food as hunger. In everyday language, however, there is a lack of terminology for the word ‘hunger’ as applied to sexuality. Science resorts to the word ‘libido’, as for Sigmund Freud. By observing your photos of faces and female bodies, I’d like to ask: how does your hunger get satisfied through photography?
MATT C. — It doesn’t. Why should it?

ANDREA Q. — Let’s come to the final question in this interview. Is there at least one ‘curious and intriguing’ scene that you jest can’t take out of your head and that you would like to express in photography?
MATT C. — I regret not to be able to satisfy your curiosity. I am a guilty photographer… but never culpable of premeditation!

mattcolombo.com
instagram.com/mattcolombo

June 2013

 

Interview by CHIARA CAPUTO — Photos by ALICE ROSATI

There are photos that talk, photos that tell a story. That is the case of Alice Rosati, excellence of Italian fashion photography who has achieved remarkable results in just a few years. Born in 1985, an extraordinary talent, an instinctive, almost physiological attitude towards photography. Aware of the ephemerality of fashion, Alice succeeds in highlighting its most charming side by capturing ‘living’ images, capable of evoking emotions. Film-photography-lover, which she uses for her portraits, Alice lives in a world made of images in motion, ultimately revealing a clear cinematographic inspiration. Motel signs on dark and desolated highways, flaming red cars, Eighties atmospheres…. but also a use of dreamlike suggestions, distressing sequences, which we can find for instance in the huge puppets, the animals sculptures and in apparently banal details which, all of a sudden, seem to come alive just for announcing some catastrophe. Her photos unveil the dark side of fashion and of American cityscapes as much as a David Lynch’s movie. Eerie images, possibly symbols for the so-called ‘Unheimlich’ theorised by Freud, but also echoes of Fellini’s imagery, opposed to scenarios set in a surreal and plastic-coated Las Vegas. Alice tells us about her cinematographic quotes, such as the references to ‘Carrie’ – Brian de Palma’s 1976 masterpiece from an adaptation of Stephen King’s homonymous horror novel which became a Seventies cult movie. Blood had never looked as glamorous as in Alice’s photos!

Alice Rosati’s women are often charged with a clear eroticism: teenagers who like to provoke, between alcohol and sex, floating in atmospheres recalling Sofia Coppola’s ‘Virgin Suicides’. Her settings vary from the all-American movie-like scenarios to the sophisticated atmospheres of French essai cinema. Alice Rosati tells us about the child she used to be: barely 4 years old yet perfectly at ease with a camera in her hands, ‘my dad’s present’. I believe real talent doesn’t need any school. This happens to be Alice’s case who’s entirely self-taught. After the achievement of a BA in Art Criticism from IULM, Alice sparkling career begun, managing to get her photos on the pages of some of the most important glossy magazines, from Elle France and Elle Germany to Glamour and MarieClaire Spain; from IoDonna to Velvet, Grazia and Madame Figaro, just to mention a few.

CHIARA C. — Your photos draw from a nearly-cinematographic imagery. Is it an unconscious mechanism or are you aware of it?
ALICE R. — I like starting from the creation of a mood, so that I may get inspired by an atmosphere to tell a story. Be it a love affair or a journey, I’m interested in communicating an emotion. So it follows that my photos originate from sequences on the move. I adore recreating cult movies scenes, from Lynch to Kubrik, but also Antonioni, Tarantino, Brian de Palma, Fellini and Sofia Coppola.

CHIARA C. — With reference to photography and visual arts in general, which are your favourite artists?
ALICE R. — Guy Bourdin and Helmut Newton. But lately I like also Sylvie Fleury, Martin Parr, Anish Kapoor. They’re all artists that, though in different fields, have proven to have a great personality.

CHIARA C. — What have your favourite subjects been so far?
ALICE R. — I’m very fetishistic, of course high heels and red nail polish. Mine is a very sophisticated and self-confident woman, such as the great French icons, for instance Anouk Aiméè.

CHIARA C. — What is beauty in your opinion?
ALICE R. — I believe that nowadays if we don’t recall the Greek Apollonian concept of beauty, it has lost its original meaning. In order to be beautiful something has to draw my attention, and it may be even an imperfection in a face, a parking in the twilight, an empty supermarket or just a neon light in which a letter turns on just sometimes.

CHIARA C. — How may you define your personality?
ALICE R. — Chaotic and extremely self-critical. I tend not to be satisfied easily, while I always go on testing.

CHIARA C. — What has been your greatest satisfaction so far, considering the several praises achieved?
ALICE R. — The Art Issue which I’m creating with my husband, SANSSOUCIMAGAZINE.com, a brand new artistic project which will be presented next October during Fiac in Paris.

CHIARA C. — What is elegance for you today?
ALICE R. — Elegance is something innate, in my opinion it may never be flaunted. There may be elegance even in silk pyjamas dressed in an intimate atmosphere.

CHIARA C. — Your photos represent extremely sophisticated women, but there’s also a great pathos lying beneath them. The ataraxia of an unattainable perfection is not shown anymore, but, on the contrary, there are now figures who feel emotions, despite models’ physical perfection. Does physical perfection exist according to you?
ALICE R. — I think they’re just abstract categories, especially in a period like this, in which a great confusion reigns. I may say that my perfection ideal is surely that of an imperfect beauty, which makes me feel something, and God bless imperfection as long as it may be still able to express something.

CHIARA C. — How would you define the concept of femininity?
ALICE R. — I find a great femininity even in very simple gestures, such as playing with a lock of hair in order to draw a man’s attention starting that particular role play which is seduction.

CHIARA C. — You have defined photography as a metaphor for sexual intercourse. How would you define eroticism?
ALICE R. — When we are on the set there’s every time a different kind of erotic tension, depending on the model’s sex. In the game of seduction, I have to distinguish between a male or a female model, because everyone has a different kind of sensuality, being male’s seduction much more immediate and less sharp and cerebral than female’s. In every case, when a model has to get undressed, it always bursts out an erotic tension and it establishes even a trust relationship between the photographer and the model.

CHIARA C. — Where does Alice Rosati want to arrive?
ALICE R. — To Vogue Italy’s cover. Where else?

CHIARA C. — …and we believe it won’t take her long to get there!

alicerosati.com
instagram.com/alicerosatistudio

May 2013

Interview by GIULIA BERSANI — Images by MATE MORO

Fragmented spaces, floating bodies, interrupted surfaces. Máté Moro’s images seem to work like origami paper. The surface is ruled by lines and shapes, bodies fold and collapse onto themselves to create human hybrids. Colour is solid and vibrant, the images sharp and powerful. This is Máté Moro. The young Hungarian artist combines photography, fashion and graphic design, with the help of his precious creative partners, creating hyperreal and striking images. Here is what he told us about his work and creative process.

GIULIA B. — Hi Máté, let’s start from the basis: where are you from? How old are you? Tell us something curious about your daily life.
MÁTÉ M. — I was born in Hungary. I live and work in Budapest, but currently I’m in Zurich, doing a scholarship program. Life in Zurich is not so vibrant, so I’m making moodboards, preparing for two new shootings… In general I’m wondering on new ideas and trying to build up the brand of our new creative group together with two of my creative partners, Aron Filkey and Nora Gyenge.

GIULIA B. — The first spontaneous question I would like to ask you is: Do you have fun while shooting (or while planning on your photos)?
MÁTÉ M. — Shooting is the final step of the creative process, of course I love that period. To be on set is always a special uplifting time. But I also love figuring out the concept, the set, the props, the movements with our group. We always work as a team, organise brainstromings, share our sketches and ideas.

GIULIA B. — Is there a reflection (maybe about the human condition or about space and matter) in your photos or is the main subject rather aesthetics itself?
MÁTÉ M. — It depends on the work or request. If I create some kind of applied stuff the crucial issue is smart creativity and aesthetics, and of course to pay respect to the client’s expectations.

GIULIA B. — What about graphics? How important is the graphic component in your photos?
MÁTÉ M. — More than important! Áron Filkey is a really talented graphic designer, sharing ideas with each other is always a source of inspiration to me, and it influences the space of the image. Moreover, I love his visual style.

GIULIA B. — What about the fashion component? How do trends influence your work?
MÁTÉ M. — If I come across some inspiring piece of clothing or talented designer, I usually have a new image idea to go with it. But Nora is really the one who’s into clothes and trends. More than me. She has a really sensible view on clothes and on how they can work well in the concept.

GIULIA B. — What is the role of colours? Have you ever had a ‘black and white period’?
MÁTÉ M. — Yes, I have. If I run back over that period, I realise that it was just an attempt to find my way in the visual world. I like B&W pictures, but now I think more in color than in B&W. I feel that using colours gives much greater possibilities to create pretty nice stuff.

GIULIA B. — Is it possible, in your opinion, to conciliate work and personal passion in photography?
MÁTÉ M. — Totally. That’s what we do day by day… It’s kind of the key to success, I think.

GIULIA B. — Who or what influences you?
MÁTÉ M. — The biggest inspiration is always the new challenge of a new work request.

GIULIA B. — Now, here is my last curiosity: how much are your shootings controlled by your initial plan? What about improvisation?
MÁTÉ M. — I prefer to plan well everything before the shooting. When we are on set, we always have a tiny storyboard about the shooting, movements, space etc.. It makes the work faster and more efficient. And by the way these kind of sketches can be a springboard for improvisation…

matemoro.com
instagram.com/matemoro

May 2013

Interview by SARA SCIALPI — Photos by ANTOINE HARINTHE

If I had to recommend the next few paragraphs to someone in particular, I’d pick the disillusioned ones who sneer at the the thought of the photographer-child, the creature wandering around with eyes wide open, looking at their surroundings as if it were the first time, analysing every bit of movement – or lack thereof – with naive awe, ready to catch those sparks of surprise that most of the times remain unnoticed. Antoine Harinthe’s photography is born in the streets, and from the streets it blooms, enthusiastic and genuine, even when approaching fashion. The trick, he says, is to keep things subtle and raw – ‘understated’ – and of course, to never lose one’s own personal vision of beauty.

SARA S. — When did you discover photography and what was the occasion?
ANTOINE H. — I’ve been taking pictures for five years now, I’m self taught. I pretty much just discovered photography as an art by myself, playing with cameras. I immediately thought that I wanted to try and share my own vision of things. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to share as much as I could of what I saw around me. So, even now, I always carry my camera in my pocket, all the time.

SARA S. — Your point of view is pretty raw. You seem to be very much attracted by the streets and all their peculiar characters. How do you select what to filter through your lens when you’re walking around?
ANTOINE H. — Yes absolutely, a lot of my pictures are taken on the streets. Street life is very inspiring to me, you can always meet different people, witness weird things and funny situations… For me going outside is the richest experience; walking in the streets is a bit like opening a Cracker Jack, there’s always a surprise.

SARA S. — This kind of urban-journalism is a prevailing theme in your fashion shoots too. In some cases, some models fit so well in the environment you pick that they could be mistaken for strangers you decided to capture. How do your photographic choices change from work to work?
ANTOINE H. — Of course, yes, my attitude changes a lot when I shoot, it depends on the project: for example if it’s personal or commercial… I love snap-shooting in a very spontaneous way, but when I work on assignment I usually care a lot about the details and the method, so it’s less direct. But I try to keep the pictures raw, as you said, even when I retouch them, the process is very subtle, I want it to be an understated modification.

SARA S. — What does your artistic quest aim at, especially when it comes to fashion?
ANTOINE H. — I want to stay real. But it’s also important for me to show beauty, fragility and hardness too. I want to show how thin is the line between these two concepts, and capture the borderline vision. That’s the side of fashion that I want to share. When it’s about street photography, I basically try to avoid sterile and empty scenes (which are frequent, especially when over-retouching them). The final work needs to be alive, like reality.

SARA S. — What strikes you when browsing through other people’s pictures? What’s the fundamental element a picture should provide to the viewer in order to be considered out of the ordinary?
ANTOINE H. — My urban journalism’s eye is very inspired by some tricks that you can see in Robert Franck or Rennie Ellis’ works. I think the important thing is to catch the viewers’ attention, and this can be done in many ways: for example in a good picture there will always be something that makes you laugh, because it’s ironic, or something that touches your heart for its hardness. I try to work in this direction and keep a link with the viewers through the emotions I felt when I shot. But of course I know that everyone sees different sides of the same thing, so I really can’t say more.

SARA S. — You also seem very fond of youth subcultures. Is it easy to deal with them through your camera?
ANTOINE H. — These things are part of me. When I was a child I lived in the suburbs, and then I started hanging out in the street when I still was pretty young. I used to ride bikes with friends, we often preferred to explore deserted places, wastelands, and then get into fights with other boys from different areas… Then I discovered skateboarding and I started to travel and party. I have really fond memories of that and a great nostalgia of those times. Now I want to share all of this with my camera, because I feel like there are some aspects of urban life that really shaped me.

SARA S. — And then how’s your standard day like these days?
ANTOINE H. — I just wake up, have breakfast with music, check my emails and the news. It’s very relaxed. The rest of the day depends on the work I have to do. If I have to shoot, I stay out all day. If I don’t, I just work at home (mostly preparing projects and retouching), then I usually have lunch with a friend, go to some dates, meet people, and then work again a little bit. I also love going to the cinema. I spend the evening with my friends, having some drinks or just hanging around.

SARA S. — You already mentioned Robert Franck or Rennie Ellis. Do you have any other influences?
ANTOINE H. — I have a lot. I’m influenced by artists like Helmut Newton, Walter Pfeiffer, William Klein, Guy Bourdin, Harri Peccinotti… and then many more. But I try to keep a personal vision, anyway they helped me a lot, giving me this strong desire to take pictures.

SARA S. — How is it all looking right now?
ANTOINE H. — Good, and also a little busy. I’m working on many different projects, for brands and magazines. Then of course I have some travelling in program. I’ll keep working and working, so expect an exhibition from me very soon!

antoineharinthe.com
instagram.com/antoineharinthe

May 2013

Interview by GIULIA BERSANI — Photos by LVDOVICO MAGNO

Lvdovico Magno is a French photographic collective: Paul Arnaud, Thomas Cristiani, Hugo Denis-Queinec, Pablo Freda, Adrien Toubiana. You could spend hours browsing through their photos and never get bored. You might be looking for anything and you’ll find it on their Tumblr, somewhere, presented with their own distinctive touch.
It is incredible how these five young artists are able to juggle with so many different kinds of subjects at once, yet always preserving their distinctive originality – never disappointing the curiosity and taste of their followers.

GIULIA B. — Which are the connections between you all? I mean, do you live together? Are you all the same age?
LVDOVICO M. — We are in our 20’s and we’ve been friends for a while! We don’t live together but we all live in the same area in Paris.

GIULIA B. — How much and how do you control each other’s photos? This is the first time I interview a whole collective, so I’m not entirely sure on the way it works… I guess it is really important to trust one another.
LVDOVICO M. — We trust each other when it comes to posting images online, we do it separately most of the time. The rest of the group discovers the pictures once they are on the blog, like everybody else. The real deal is when we work on selecting images for a show, but it’s fun to do.

GIULIA B. — Would you say your work is somehow close to reportage photography?
LVDOVICO M. — We’ve been doing a few reportages all together (for Vice Magazine, for example), but we don’t particularly try to adopt a realistic point of view. Sometimes it’s daily routine, but it also can be something extracted from commissioned work.

GIULIA B. — What importance do you give to the story as opposed to aesthetics?
LVDOVICO M. — The story, if there is one, comes after the photo has been posted. It’s mostly a selection process, where colour and composition are the main guidelines.

GIULIA B. — Do you ever tell people what to do before taking photos of them? How often?
LVDOVICO M. — We all work differently, so it’s hard to tell, but most of the time people don’t realise they’ve been photographed. On the contrary, our friends know that they might end up on the blog anytime and they are ok with that.

GIULIA B. — Could you recognise, without knowing it, which photos belong to whom? Which are the common traits between your photos and which the differences?
LVDOVICO M. — We are really surprised that even after 2 years we are unable to recognise with 100% certainty which photo belong to whom. Of course each one of us has got their own speciality (portrait, snapshot, still life), but we are all influenced by others’ work and it becomes more and more difficult to know who did what

GIULIA B. — Where do you wish your work will lead you to?
LVDOVICO M. — We don’t plan on going anywhere, we all have our own work, Lvdovico Magno is mostly fun, and once a year we do a show. It happens that we are commissioned to work for a magazine or a brand, but it’s mostly publications and exhibitions.

GIULIA B. — Which is the main power of the flash?
LVDOVICO M. — The technical aspect proper to the flash allows us to work very fast in dark conditions, but it’s about pointing at something which is very simple and effective.

GIULIA B. — Is there something we will never see in your pictures?
LVDOVICO M. — Not really, we already posted studio pictures, pictures of ourselves, shitty pictures. We don’t see that much numerical images on the blog (except for a few Iphone hidden pictures).

lvdovicomagno.tumblr.com

April 2013

Interview by SARA SCIALPI — Photos by IGOR TERMENÓN

One day we will probably remember the twenty-tens as the years witnessing the most stubborn and overdue use of film cameras. But while for many grain just serves as a cool statement, Igor Termenón definitely belongs to that sentimental niche of photographers whose real bravery is turning analog hues into shades of feeling. When complimenting him on the contrasting moods his pictures irradiate – fresh but dense – he replies genuinely pleased and surprised with something along the lines of: ‘I hope other people get that too!’ Of course they do, Igor. Or else, they will.

SARA S. — How would you describe your photographic style in three words?
IGOR T. — Simple, relaxed and close… What I mean with ‘close’ is actually trying to look at the subjects (the models and also certain elements surrounding them in the environment) in some kind of intimate way. This helps me a lot to work on the general feeling of the picture.

SARA S. — Does film-grain help creating this raw feeling and contrasting softness surrounding the pictures? Are there any other ways through which you’re able to work on the mood?
IGOR T. — Yes, of course. That’s probably one of the main reasons why I work with film cameras, they allow me to get that characteristic mood in my work that I wouldn’t be able to get with digital. Although film helps to create that atmosphere, I think the way I see things through the view finder or maybe the way I tend to frame my subjects also affect this mood.

SARA S. — Your blog is organised in sections. Fashion, Music, Personal Works, Travelling Pictures. By numbers, you’re basically a fashion photographer. Is it indeed the prevailing photographic side in you?
IGOR T. — I usually say I’m a fashion photographer. Even though I’ve recently started to develop my personal work, I feel that ‘fashion photographer’ best describes what I am. When I started taking photos, the first thing I shot was fashion, so I think this has influenced the way I see things, and even if I’m shooting a normal portrait, it tends to have this kind of fashion element in it. Fashion is always fun to shoot, especially when you work with a great team and everyone is excited and committed to achieving something good! Some of my best memories include a fashion campaign that lasted for a whole weekend – I was shooting for around 12 hours each day, but I couldn’t be happier!

SARA S. — Now a simple one: indoors or outdoors? Most of your models seem kind of gloomy, there’s no hint of the typical alluring attitude. Almost like they’re looking around lost, trying to figure out where they are and why (I’m thinking about ‘Ragged Mountain’, ‘New Gold Dream’).
IGOR T. — I definitely prefer outdoors, I love shooting on location and I find it more inspiring than being constrained to four walls. I’m glad you noticed that ‘lost feeling’! It’s something planned – I like people to look at some of my editorials and wonder what model is doing there or why he/she seems lost. I think that sometimes the location of my shoots and everything that surrounds the model is actually more important than the model. I like to give importance to the location, whether it is a brutalist building or a mountain, and maybe that’s why my models tend to look lost.

SARA S. — You’re from Ponferrada, Spain, but now you live in Edinburgh. Did this change influenced your take on photography? I also noticed you created a zine exclusively about the places where you have lived. Can we spot a hint of melancholy there, or is it just plain and personal photojournalism?
IGOR T. — I’ve been living in the UK for a while now, and this has played an important role in the development of my photography style. When I was living in Glasgow, I fell in love with these massive concrete buildings that people used to define as ugly. They became an essential part of my work and style, along with the typical British suburban landscape. If I had stayed in Spain, I’m not sure if I would have been able to develop my work as much as I wanted.

The zine and photo series ‘I Used To Live Here’ documented all the places I lived in from 2009 until 2012. During that time, I felt that I really didn’t know what to call home, I was moving from one place to another without really knowing where I was going to end up. With that series, I wanted to document all these places and also the people I met throughout these years – the photographs are random memories that might not make much sense to the viewer but they all have some special meaning to me.

SARA S. — Are there any artists who had defining weight on your photographic growth? Do you think you’ve reached a static stylistic level, or would you rather say that you’re ready to shift to another photographic vision, let’s say, tomorrow?
IGOR T. — I love the work of fashion photographers like Tim Barber, Cass Bird and Venetia Scott. I always use them as a reference, but I don’t think my work is similar to theirs, although I wish it was! I think it is important to evolve but always keeping some kind of characteristic element that identifies your work. My photos have changed a lot since I shot my first editorials 5 or 6 years ago, there’s always a natural progression and when you try to do the same thing again and again it gets boring. It is important to experiment and try different things, but always keeping your vision at the same time.

SARA S. — So what would you say it’s the core of your point of view?
IGOR T. — [laughs] That’s a tough one. We’ve already spoken about the way my models look, I’d say that’s peculiar. That’s probably due to how I interact with them during the shootings, and of course to how I direct them, which is something I never change. I’d also add the choice of locations to this ‘characteristic elements’ list. For example, there are certain elements that are present in a few of my fashion editorials, like fences, or bushes, and they are of great help in the process of framing the subject and defining the vision I want to share.

SARA S. — How were the ideas behind ‘Boys on Film’ and ‘Girls on Film’ born? Would you say that their success lies in the direct simplicity of the projects?
IGOR T. — Since I started taking photos, I had always been interested in the editorial side of photography and selecting other people’s work. Girls and Boys on Film was a direct response to this and also an experiment. When I started the first issue, I contacted some people through Facebook without really knowing what was going to happen and if it was going to work. As you say, I think it is the simplicity of the idea that has made the project quite successful. I didn’t notice this until several people who wrote about Girls and Boys on Film talked about this simplicity, so I guess this has been a key aspect. I knew that I wanted to do something not overcomplicated, just focusing on photography and where the important part were the photos and photographers featured in the zines.

SARA S. — Do you plan on starting new projects, perhaps similar to Girls and Boys on Film?
IGOR T. — In a way, yeah. I’m part of a new project called Future Positive. It’s a website where we showcase the work of creative and entrepreneurial individuals via short documentaries, photo essays and interviews. We’re only two right now, Jakub Michalski and me. Jakub is the founder and is also in charge of the videos and interviews. I’m the Managing Editor, in charge of looking for new people to be featured. I also take the photos for the projects. The project is currently quite local, we’ve featured a couple of projects from Edinburgh but we want to start building a network of collaborators and feature projects from different places outside Scotland.

igortermenon.com
instagram.com/igortermenon

April 2013

Interview by SARA SCIALPI — Photos by FEDERICO FERRARI

The gaze that Federico Ferrari has chosen to look at the world is sharp and crystal clear. Defined by stinging intensity, it comes alive and draws its own life and colours from a playful use of blinding flash-lights and contrasting tones. There’s a happy-go-lucky vibe shining through the deliberately lopsided frames, which can actually remind the viewer of the self-confident style typical of many contemporary masters of photography. But Federico feels like clarifying some points.

SARA S. — Let’s start with the usual shabby question to break the ice. How did you develop a passion for photography? Was that a casual or thoughtful choice? 
FEDERICO F. — Nowadays anyone could easily fall under the category of ‘photographer’, as in ‘person with the possibility to produce pictures’. Everybody seems to have access to the right means to do that – just think about the mobile phones phenomenon. I started taking pictures in some kind of casual way; many Christmases ago I decided to buy myself a Canon camera, a digital compact one, ‘IXUS’ or something. Anyway, I remember not using it that much. After this first experience with digital photography, I immediately shifted to film. I bought and tried many cameras: I just checked out pictures on the web, trying to find a photographic style which could fit my personal taste, or just stimulate me artistically – that usually guided my choices when buying a camera. In a way, my photographic style has always progressed along with the mean I decided to use. Anyway, I labeled ‘photography’ my ‘profession‘ just a few months ago. Yes, that was a thoughtful choice, and to be perfectly honest, not an easy and painless one.

SARA S. — Would you define yourself as a full-time photographer? What I mean is: do you always carry your camera with you? Some of your pictures (I thinking about ‘Tangerine Punch’ and ‘Five Days in Belgrade’) seem to have been shot just hanging around, quite casually. Do you think that improvisation has a shaping weight on said pictures? 
FEDERICO F. — Well, once I was a ‘full-time photographer’, since I used to carry my camera around all the time. Lately, I take it with me just in particular occasions, when I have something well-defined to produce. With regard to the projects you mentioned… The first one was mainly an exploratory visit at Lake Cavazzo: I was supposed to shoot a commissioned work there (in the end it didn’t happen because of weather issues), so I took that chance to take some pictures with friends. ‘Five Days in Belgrade’ is basically about joining two photographer friends of mine there; we had fun shooting without a precise purpose. The only constant was some red smoke and the whole nature theme, all the rest was impromptu. I think photographers should also enjoy complete freedom and randomness. I’m personally always looking for occasions to train my eye – those are the only opportunities to experiment and try different things.

SARA S. — ‘Free as a bird’ really got my attention – I keep on reading ‘Free as a beard’, though. What’s the idea behind the whole set, where did it come from?
FEDERICO F. — Your interpretation of the title makes me smile. The idea was automatically born when some Art Director asked me to set up an editorial based on the ‘Freedom’ theme (said editorial was never published in the end). I tried to think about the first thing popping up in my mind thinking about freedom… In minutes, I was carried away by a lot of keywords, something similar to brainstorming: cages, birds, flying, white… So I started to look around for a birds breeder in my area, I contacted and then visited him. It was a really a nice experience, walking around cages and letting him list all the various species’ names, along with their peculiarities. The breeder himself was really enthusiastic about the idea, so he ‘lent’ me the white dove. I called Andrea (the bearded guy), and then we headed to a garage near his house. That was kind of similar to what I had imagined when thinking about shooting a freedom-themed editorial.

SARA S. — Which are your usual reactions to those who comment your pictures? You’ve often been compared to Juergen Teller, do you think he indeed inspired you so heavily, as they say.
FEDERICO F. — Yeah, I happen to receive positive feedback, and that’s always nice, but also negative comments can be useful and stimulating. I think it’s very important to accept the fact that when you decide to publish your pictures, you immediately become ‘naked’ in the eyes of the public. Definitely, yes, Juergen Teller has a big influence on my works, but if I browse through the pictures I’ve taken, beyond the colours and the overexposure, I still see them as really distant from Juergen’s style. When someone decides to take pictures with the same camera that made a big photographer popular, then it’s easy to get closer to his results, at least in a chromatic way. It’s important to play a lot with the cut of the pictures, the framing, and the subject, which in my opinion has the most weight on it all. We’re constantly bombarded with pictures and this is very inspiring for any photographer; I think that I’ve focused a lot on observing and studying Juergen’s works, so my eyes are always looking for those kind of pictures in the real world. That’s what Bruce Mau writes in his ‘Incomplete Manifesto for Growth’ (I warmly recommend it to everyone): ‘Imitate. Don’t be shy about it.‘

SARA S. — Any other influence?
FEDERICO F. — Well, I could mention Walter Pfeiffer, which  is really close to my visual ideals, but also Hedi Slimane and his black and white portraits. Venetia Scott, whom I had the pleasure to meet in London… and many more, which probably are less known. The internet is literally a goldmine of pictures – the ability basically lies in knowing where to look and what to pick. Of course, choosing the things and the people that are going to influence us is a very personal decision; picking a visual ‘master’ is something to be done very carefully.

SARA S. — Do you find it easy to adapt your personal style to the works that are being commissioned to you? Does your approach remain unchanged even when it’s not all about personal works?
FEDERICO F. — My style is nothing but what I’ve already done, my portfolio, the face I show to people when I take shots, that’s just me. There’s no ‘easy’ or ‘hard’, it’s just the only way it can be. The only thing swinging is the pressure you feel when you work, but it helps to reduce mistakes and things like that. And of course there’s the preparation for a commissioned work, the studying and planning. Regarding this one, I usually start from a basic idea and if the results reflect that starting point, then I’m satisfied. Most of the times, when it’s about personal works, the ideas just pop up while I’m taking pictures, so they’re not the main point of the whole shooting.

SARA S. — Let’s talk a bit about FM, which is not an acronym for ‘Frequency Modulation’ (as you point out on your website). How was the ‘pictures’ ping-pong’ idea born?
FEDERICO F. — This ping-pong idea is everything but pristine. I did develop it in the past as well, together with another photographer. I’ve always liked this idea to be honest, but it’s not easy to find someone who actually feels like spending a good deal of time (and neurons) on it, and also have as much fun as I do. As I said earlier, I met Marija (the girl I also photographed multiple times in the ‘Five Days in Belgrade’ series) and I mentioned this ‘game’ to her. She was eager to get into it, so we immediately got it started.  But it’s difficult to keep the interest high, both mine and my partner’s: of course there are some chunks of time during which it might even feel like something distracting us from more important projects. This is why sometimes it’s hard to constantly update the blog.

SARA S. — Is there a picture (from the ones you’ve already shot) that represents you the most as an artist?
FEDERICO F. — Uhm, this is a good question, actually. Just by instinct, I’d say that I still have to shoot that one picture, but maybe there are more than just one. It’s always hard to be selective and ‘fish out’ just one photo from all the material that has been produced. I have the tendency to fall in love with all the pictures that I show to the public. So yes, I’d say that there’s more than one picture representing me at the moment. Needless to say, as an aesthete, I’m always looking for beauty in the people I photograph, the vividness of colours and a sort of homogeneity in the palette-range.

SARA S. — What should we expect from this new portfolio?  ‘Love hurts, I choose Nutella’ — does photography help?
FEDERICO F. — Nothing more than the stuff that can already be seen on my website, really. This is only going to be a more selective collection of my most interesting projects. I’m going to set them carefully, with the undying taste of the graphic designer that I am. This ‘Love hurts’ idea was born while roaming in London, talking about this and that with a friend. I still have to think about the ‘I have chosen Nutella’ part. Does photography help? Hiding behind a camera helps, and it helps to witness the flash going on. I believe it releases endorphins, just like chocolate does. But of course it helps until you fall in love with the one you’re photographing.

SARA S. — Plans for the future?
FEDERICO F. — There’s a shooting session with a band coming up soon, and another one for a little fashion brand. Then, London.

models.com/people/federico-ferrari

March 2013

Interview by SARA BERSANI — Photos by SYNCHRODOGS

Synchrodogs is Tania Shcheglova and Roman Noven – a Ukrainian photography duo producing breath-taking and eccentric photos since 2008. Hovering between splendour and nature, tradition and avant-garde, East and West, they proceed with an extremely strong vitality. We’ve had the pleasure to interview them on the occasion of the release of ‘Byzantine’, their first monographic book.

GIULIA B. — You are a duo. How does it work? Do you always do everything together or are your tastes so similar you can completely trust each other? For example, who is answering my questions now?
SYNCHRODOGS — Now it’s Tania, but only because Roman’s answering the other interview sitting next to me. Synchrodogs base their work on pure interaction with each other. There is no thing in one’s mind which the other one of us could not read. So we just both do what we think is right.

GIULIA B. — How did you meet? Tell us about your first shooting together. When did the idea of the duo come about?
SYNCHRODOGS — On the Internet, as all people do. We both had accounts on some old school website like Deviantart. The cities we are from are 8 hours away from one another, so we arranged our first meeting in Lviv (which was situated just halfway). Roman took some pictures of me without me noticing, Tania shot only one photograph which appeared to be out of focus.

GIULIA B. — And what about the name ‘Synchrodogs’? 
SYNCHRODOGS — We have always been closely related to nature, behaving ourselves in a way that is somehow considered right for animals, not for humans. At the same time, we often read each other’s thoughts, like the same music, have the same friends. Taken all round we are Synchrodogs, and consider it literally.

GIULIA B. — I think in your photos we could find both richness and poorness, all in a really well-mixed balance. What do you think about that?
SYNCHRODOGS — Synchrodogs are all about mixing. We would like the viewer to feel some intrinsic power coming into the body when looking at our work. We don’t want to entertain anybody, but to influence the state of mind, to change people’s perceptions on what is right and what is wrong. Living in the country where nude equals porn, we have to fight for making difference between ‘glorious’ and ‘vulgar’ clear.

GIULIA B. — I even think your taste has something closely related to the Ukrainian traditional taste, even though your pictures are really contemporary. Can you feel that bond too, or is it just my imagination?
SYNCHRODOGS — Ukrainian taste is tasteless but it tends towards some specific elegance. We actually like it and we try to show its best to a foreign viewer.

GIULIA B. — Just a few weeks ago I discovered the ‘Internet Documentary’ project. I found it curious… how does it work?
SYNCHRODOGS — The projects included into ‘Internet Documentary’’’ are all screenshots or pictures we surf for on the Web. We just make up an idea and spend a sleepless night searching. The series (now) consists of the ‘Crippled Barbie’, ‘Wrinkled Table covers on Russian Television’, ‘‘’Woman selling cloths on Ebay’ and ‘Naked Mannequins’ projects. We like observing some ironical things that happen on Networks where thousands of people gather to interact. You can check it out here.

GIULIA B. — Now, tell us about ‘Byzantine’. What is it? How did it originate?
SYNCHRODOGS — Our first big monograph called Byzantine is published by Editions Du LIC: limited to just 460 copies, it consists of 116 pages, 29.0 cm x 29.5 cm, offset printing, embossed cloth covered hardcover. Synchrodogs find inspiration in nudity and people’s eccentricity, mixing in Western and Ukrainian/Byzantine tradition, with references to folklore and local naive art, so the name came up naturally.

GIULIA B. — What about the format and the cover?  They seem to be really eccentric.
SYNCHRODOGS — Roman is a Virgo, Tania is a Leo, his color is purple, mine is gold. But the story behind the cover goes deeper into the Byzantine’s history, whose people had their own hierarchy of imperial colours. Purple and gold were always on the top.

synchrodogs.com
instagram.com/synchrodogs_official

March 2013