Gian Marco Sivieri
Photography critic for
Alleyoop-Sole 24ORE
and editor at 24ORE Cultura
speak about
"How to make your photographs distinctive"
https://www.internationalphotoproject...
https://www.photoprojectpro.com/
"The question that many photographers ask themselves is: how to make photographs that leave a mark and therefore be judged worthy of publication? The main element to keep in mind is that your photographs must have their own identity, which is not originality, the search for originality at all costs, identity is something that we can assimilate to our own voice. Just as each of us has his own characteristic and individual voice that identifies him, in the same way your photos must have their own identity that makes them recognizable. Today, in the digital world in which we live, any young person, those belonging to the Z generation or even younger, are digital natives, they have grown up with technology, they dominate it, it's their natural environment, so the old barrier of entry, the technical knowledge that only professional photographers had in using technical equipment in a professional way no longer exists, because young people have the possibility, and will have more and more in the future, to master technology in the best way, probably superior to any professional photographer, so that's not the way. The road of one's identity passes through other elements, which are: to choose carefully one's story, to identify exactly what we want to talk about, and to choose the way, one's voice, one's way of telling that story. These two elements are obviously closely linked together, since we are talking about a visual discourse. Every photo needs a caption that tells and explains it, but if I, reading the caption, take in all the information and once I go to see the image I have almost nothing more, well that's the signal that it's definitely not a good photo: the photo must communicate from the visual point of view as the first thing, otherwise it will be nothing but one of the various thousands and thousands of photos we see on social, on Instagram, which are made according to the characteristics of the dominant visual mainstream, that is, photos made well, probably elegant, that we like, that we find pleasing, and after a few minutes we have completely forgotten them. On the other hand, if you look at the photo I'm showing you now, you'll immediately recognize it: this photo has become the symbol, in Italy, of COVID. It is a photo taken by Francesca Mangiatordi, not a professional but a doctor who, in the early days of March 2020 at the hospital of Cremona, during the night shift, saw her nurse colleague collapsed asleep on her desk. Mangiatordi tells that she would have liked, on impulse to embrace her colleague, but she stopped and took this photo. If we look at it carefully it is not perfect: the framing is not exactly in the center, the light and that effect of white on the keyboard and in front of the computer screen are a bit too strong: a professional would have taken it differently. But this photo has a strength that most of the photos of professional photographers do not have, it stays with us and we recognize it, because it is a photo in which the personal situation, that reality of the hospital ward in that moment is closely linked to its image. Photography gives us a sense of truth, it communicates something sincere, and it is this element that touches us on a personal level, it reaches our feelings. This means having our own voice, having found a way in which our image remains imprinted and affects us and stays in our memory. Another example I show you is by a young professional photographer, Fabrizio Spucches, also dedicated to the storytelling of the pandemic. I show you images of the pandemic because for a year and a half all the media have been dominated by images of COVID-19, so it is becoming increasingly difficult to tell the story in a new, original way. We've seen pictures in all manner, from every country. Spucches started from his own city, Milan, and very clearly identified his subject: two categories of people: the rich and the poor. He went down to the street, put up a white screen, and stopped the people passing by belonging to these two categories, asking to be allowed to photograph them (Spucches is a pupil of Oliviero Toscani, as you can see from his approach). Why did he choose these two categories? Because they are the two categories that, for opposite reasons, were least affected by COVID: the rich had no economic problems, they were not in danger of losing their jobs, they did not have to lower their standard of living, therefore they could remain in their comfortable homes in a fairly peaceful manner; the poor, the real poor, the homeless, for the opposite reason: they are people with a difficult life, in fact they said "my life is already a mess, what more can happen to me?
TAG: Gian Marco Sivieri, International Photo Project, Photography, Milan, Italy
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