The Gentleman Amateur

Avete mai visto qualcosa del genere?  

Questo è il suo flickr. Buona visione!

Guest of the week: margot_pandone

Ho cambiato il mio nome in Margot, dopo aver letto “il Maestro e Margherita”, come se la necessità di andare oltre la realtà fosse diventata ormai una consapevolezza. Nei miei ventisei anni, vissuti tra il sud Italia e Bologna, l'unica cosa che è rimasta costante, è stata la ricerca quasi ossessiva di una forma di espressione che mi permettesse di canalizzare le mie emozioni. Ho iniziato da piccola disegnando , vedendo mio padre che nel tempo libero dipingeva su tela, a dieci anni ho preso in mano la mia prima macchina fotografica, una Ricoh degli anni settanta di mio padre, con la batteria dell'esposimetro scarica, e troppo pesante per una bambina, ma nonostante questo, per astrazione, riuscii a capirne il funzionamento.

La svolta venne poco dopo, con la polaroid delle Spice Girls, fotografavo tutti con fare maniacale e conservo ancora un vastissimo archivio di ritratti pre-adolescenziali.

Ho ricominciato a fotografare quattro anni fa, sulla scia di un amico che era ossessionato come me da bambina, e da allora non ho più smesso. Ho capito dopo poco tempo, che far foto, nello specifico ritratti più o meno espliciti, è per me una forma di raccontare un mio stato d'animo, per questo preferisco ritrarre ragazze, preferibilmente con cui ho un qualche tipo di sintonia. 

Grazie alla fotografia, mi sono avvicinata alla grafica, che da passione è diventato un lavoro , mentre ho preferito che la fotografia restasse sempre una cosa molto personale e mai un lavoro vero e proprio, ma più un rifugio e un sollievo. Mi piace immaginare un mondo dall'atmosfera rarefatta, a volte non comprensibile, luoghi oscuri dove filtra un po di luce, colori molto desaturati e visioni soprannaturali.

 Attraverso queste visioni, sto cercando di costruire un racconto che contenga grafica e fotografia. E' un progetto molto ambizioso per me, perchè come sempre, è legato ai miei stati d'animo e a quello che alcune persone rappresentano per me.

More on: Flickr -  Carbonmade

Guest of the week: David Terrazas

 Per me David Terrazas, assieme a Daniel Griffin aka falsama, è uno dei big di flickr. Il motivo? I suoi ritratti non sono mai banali, sono dei pezzi unici la cui impronta è la sua capacità di estirpare dai volti un'intensità e una forza senza pari. Godetevi le sue foto e visitate assolutamente il suo sito. Ne vale la pena!  

My name is David Terrazas, thirty one years old photographer from Pamplona, small city in the north of Spain. I spent most of my twenties in Madrid and now I am based in Bangkok, Thailand. 

I became interested in photography at an early age through my father, an avid book collector. We used to visit fascinating exhibitions around Spain and France. Sometimes even driving seven hundred kilometres in one day to watch Bresson, Newton or Erwitt's works. So I started to admire the greatest photographers in the history. I decided to take my first black and white photos on film when I was eighteen, but I took it seriously in recent years. Right now I feel like the photography is the base of my life and I have to say, it's a good feeling.

Most of my photos are strongly connected to my daily life: family, friends, strangers I met in my journeys, or a simple view from my window. This is me and somehow is how the people see myself through the eyes of my models or in a cloudy landscape. I express myself subconsciously in my pictures, mostly not in what they say, but in how it is said. Personally interested in expressions, tones, color combinations, compositions... details which help me to find what I am looking for. Sometimes I feel that take the picture is just the 50% of the work, a good contribution can be given in the post production. In my case trying not losing the sense of reality.

If you ask me what kind or style of photography I take, I wouldn't know what to say. I guess 

that I look for “that” that makes me feel how intense, peaceful, beautiful, sad, magical and full of energy the life can be. Whatever makes me feel alive as human, not just being alive, but feel it; and then try to express it in one single photo.

More on: Website - Flickr 

Guest of the week: Charlotte Boeyden

It took me 20 years to discover the medium of photography. Now, at age 22, it has become the most important part of my life. I was born and raised in Belgium but I am currently living in the Netherlands. Not for long though, because I will start a course in photography in Belgium this September. 

My fascination for natural light is what lead me to photography whilst studying interior architecture. And even now I only photograph under natural lighting settings.
The photographs I take are analog, because I believe in the honesty of this medium. I love being able to capture a moment on film and having something tangible as a result. 

I am mostly inspired by things that are true. The pure and raw beauty of a girl, real emotions, untouched settings. I want to convey the emotion of a certain moment. I don't really like staging things, which is why I never prepare much for a shoot. I let things happen naturally and see what happens. I never strive for perfection in a photo, the beauty of the imperfect is far more interesting to me.

More on: Website -  Flickr

Guest of the week: Raisa Christina

 Scusate per l'assenza ma per un tempo indeterminato mi limiterò a un solo post la settimana, naturalmente l'appuntamento settimanale sarà con "Guest of the week". Non solo fotografia. In queste ultime settimane mi sono imbattuta in moltissimi giovani e non che si dedicano al disegno e alla pittura. Una delle prime  a cui mi sono rivolta è stata la talentuosa Raisa Christina  che ci parla di sè in questo modo: 

Sometimes I feel that my memory is structured by portraits of people. When I remember the places where I went, in fact I first see the people I met in these places, not architectures or landscapes. I grew up enjoying the exercise of just looking at some human figures, observing their face details, body movements and accidentally falling in love with them. That’s why I only can draw and paint people. 

I was born in Quixadá, a small city located in Ceará, northeast of Brazil. Now I’m 24 years old and live in Fortaleza, where I graduated in Visual Arts and started to study audiovisual. I work occasionally as illustrator and also maintain the blog enquantocorposonoro.blogspot.com, in which I propose dialogues between my little texts and drawings. 

My dad is a great storyteller and I think his taste for stories influenced me a lot. This interest about narrative questions may be present someway in my work. I also realize that the musician is a constant character in the scenes I create. Music in itself is clearly a special inspiration that moves me to play with colors.

More on: Flickr - blog

Guest of the week: Daniel Griffin

Sono elettrizzata al fatto di presentarvi Daniel Griffin aka falsalama. Da leggere tutto d'un fiato. Buona giornata!

I have been sharing my photos on the web under the nickname falsalama, my real name is Daniel Griffin. I am English and travel a lot, and lived abroad for a chunk of my life, mainly in Asia. I remember making a pin hole camera as a boy scout and feeling really inspired. I went on to art school and ran an art and framing gallery in Oxford in the early 90's between travels to India, Nepal and Tibet where I studied Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and meditation. I have always loved photography. In the last 4 or 5 years with websites like flickr and blogs gaining popularity it has become easier and more enjoyable to share work so i have definitely spent more time with it. I have made some good friends and been really inspired and motivated from being more connected in a large community of creative people. 

I am currently printing some of my pictures, selling prints and working towards another exhibition and a book. I'm also going to renew my website and improve my portfolio and will take on some slightly more commercial assignments, as well as continuing with my own personal projects. 

I enjoy the feelings of creativity and inspiration that I get from photography, and see it as a valuable outlet to try express certain things that cannot be so easily put into words. 
I don't take myself very seriously at all, but there are elements of my life, travels and experiences that do filter into my work, and there are definite ideas that I strive to sum up in my pictures, or at least they represent something to me about my life, and the bigger picture, if that makes sense. 

I think my style varies a lot and I'm really changing and trying new things at the moment, but i have always loved classic black and white, grainy candid portraits like back stage scenes, and gritty black and white street and documentary styles, but I also love fine art and the more cool, artistic and alternative side of fashion.

I can be quite critical about my own photos, and always looking for ways to improve them. I am currently making efforts in technical areas to achieve more finesse in processing and better exposure, and tonal ranges, basically to produce higher quality images.  

Guest of the week: Matthew Fry aka frybros.com

I am Matt Fry and I live in Echo Park, California, in the United States with my beautiful wife Kenz. I grew up mostly in Dallas, Texas but I have lived all over and worked many jobs. I had never even thought much about photography until about 2 or 3 years ago when I started the blog, The Heroines Project (www.theheroinesproject.com) with Heroines I began to understand the effect that photography could have and how much it could mean and I wanted to create those images, not the typical photos of perfect women but of women as they are. That’s what I find beautiful. 

I would say that my photography is raw and natural. I rarely take more than just a camera or two and almost always use natural light. I shoot film only not because I am a film snob but because when I started getting into photography about three years ago I couldn't afford a nice digital, soI bought an old minolta instead and started shooting.  ever since then i just fell in love with film.

My inspiration comes from people. I love people. I want to know all about them. I want to see them as they are. I want to see beauty in reality, and that's what I want to show. My work isn't all about me, I don't try to mold the model into what I want. yes, there is always a bit of manipulation from a photographer, but I  try to bring out what is already there. And when i see it, that one moment, that one fraction of a second is saved. That one moment, can be held and shared, and that one moment with nowhere to hide is simply you. Not you now, Not you before, just you in that moment and that's what I love about photography.

I found this quote, which is posted atop the Heroines site, and it has guided my work ever since

“I dont get it.

Women are gorgeous. the female body a feast.

Why do people shoot women with the intention to delete all imaginary possible flaws?

Why not shoot them in such a way the result looks like a celebration of women? 

A picture that looks like a party for your eyes and everyone is invited!

I tried to practice what i preach today.

Shoot women.

Bites lip.

Can't wait to get those pics developed.”

— 

La fille d’O

What is the greatest recognition that I have had? It might sound stupid, but I would have to say that when a model tells me they love their photos and I see them posting and using them. I would say that is my greatest recognition, that they loved what we created. It seems odd, but I care more about the person I am photographing and what they think than anything else.

More on:  Website - Flickr -  Facebook - Tumblr