«Mine was far from a traditional path. As an artform, photography in Italy wasn’t formally taught when I was a young boy, nonetheless, I still managed to developed a passion for it in my youth.
As a high-school student in Siena, I would traipse up and down Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia countryside countless times each year. As nature willed it, limitless expanses of fields would completely transform in rhythm with the seasons and the prevailing light. During these enchanting periods, a seemingly endless mix of colors, light and form combined to offer a result that was at once surprising and wondrous. The experience was dazzling…and so was its effect on me. This, I’m sure, marked the beginning of my passion for photography.
I would spend countless hours poring over images created by the Grand Masters and the luminaries of photography at the time. I devoured any interviews or critiques I could find on them in books, monographs and magazines. I still keep many of them to this day. Over the years, photography has changed, but the content has of course remained the same, so lots of earlier magazines are still extremely relevant.
If we were to talk about photographers I look up to and those who’ve inspired me, chief among these would have to be Weston for his pure aesthetic, his study of forms and his uncanny ability to find sheer beauty in practically anything.
For color, it would have to be Ernst Haas. He is perhaps the first great photographer able to fully express himself using color. He was gifted with a rare sense of elegance and finely tuned sensitivity.
Alongside him, I would place friend and mentor Jay Maisel. Responsible perhaps for inspiring an entire generation of photographers working in color, he has had an extensive career and even today possesses a strong desire to carry on creating images.
Among Italian photographers, as an enormous fan of his, I would single out Franco Fontana – he created an almost trademark style within landscape photography.
Looking over towards Mario Giacomelli, I especially admire his clean-cut, rigorous and candid style. This artist would spend entire years on individual projects. This worked magnificently for him, as he appeared to enter a state of complete harmony with his subjects. He loved dialogue and worked hard to maintain the profound relationships he created along the way. Far from just a photographer, he was a poet and a humble man.
This list, however, should be far longer…»