Where did you grow up and did that place influence your work?
I was born and grew up in Trieste, a pretty coastal town in Northeast Italy. I always believed that where I was born was merely responsible for my constant daydreaming and desire for adventure, rather than an influence in my photography. However, over the years I started to get into nostalgic hometown moods when shooting certain locations and that comes across vividly.
How did you get into photography?
I have been photographing since my late teens (first mobile phone, then point-and-shoot, then DLSR) but was obsessed with my film career to the point that photography always stood aside as hobby, for nearly a decade.
At some point I had a serious creative identity crisis. Long story short: I needed to be a photographer as much as a film director, the hobby excuse couldn’t last any longer. I embraced photography with serious intentions for the first time and life turned around for good. Never looked back since, and it’s safe to say I never will.
What’s been the biggest highlight in your career so far?
I was hired to renew the visual identity of a spectacular South Atlantic island after long hardworking months spent seeking remote projects. Unique opportunity, unforgettable experience.
On the event side, I was chosen to capture William & Harry for an exclusive Royal event where I was the only junior photographer (and only European!) in a fistful of seasoned British professionals. That felt very special.
Is there a project you’ve been wanting to shoot but not had a chance to yet? Dream subject?
Nepal and Amazonia. Mysticism and wilderness. It needs to happen. It's going to happen.
Which photographer has most influenced your work and why? Which photography book do you keep returning to?
Confession: I don’t really have a huge photography culture beyond classic masters (Leibovitz, Cartier-Bresson, Frank are my favourites). Film is my source of inspiration. I grew up on movies spanning all genres, decades, authors, and my photography ended up being influenced by my favourite directors’ vision and style: Michael Mann, Buster Keaton, Peter Weir, David Lynch, Terrence Malick to name a few.
Do you have a significant failure in your career that has helped drive your subsequent success?
I was a film production manager for over a year: commercials, short films, even a feature film. Every project got made, many went global and had very successful festival runs. Directing was my only goal already back then, and I was repeating to myself that I would have left production management soon. Nevertheless, I sticked to it because very rewarding and easier than facing my real life challenge. Until one day, reality hit me: I was doing absolutely nothing creative, nothing supporting my true ambition, and zero progress on what really matters. I dropped production management on that very same day and have been exclusively focusing on film directing & photography since. For long time I looked at that year as a sort of failure, but in retrospective it's been a key formation period which pushed quicker than any other experiences towards future success.
In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?
Starting to practice transcendental meditation last year came with a long overdue life change: more clarity, more creativity, stress evaporating, benefits everywhere. You start watching life getting better and better. Full credit to one of my favourite directors and TM advocate David Lynch.
What recommendations do you have for someone wanting to become a photographer? Or what advice do you wish you’d heard before starting out?
Spend the early days discovering your identity as a photographer and everything else will naturally fall into place: passion, creativity, craft, clients, and rewards. Make this your number one priority and allow yourself as much time as needed.
When you are feeling creatively stuck, what do you do or what do you ask yourself?
I treat myself to something challenging, pure relaxation, or new experiences, anything I feel like doing in the moment. OK let’s be honest, 99% of the times I end up watching new films…
What is unique in your work or approach that separates you from other photographers?
I photograph with my film director eyes. I noticed that clients call me up when they need “special” shots because I strive to find new perspectives even on the most classic corporate event. This comes straight from film directing approach.
How important do you think social media output and engagement is in the creative industry? Has the impact been positive or negative?
Social media can be incredibly useful as a tool, but can also have devastating effects if one gets too obsessed with engagement. We should remember that social media is there to serve us - not the other way around - and treat it accordingly. I still engage with new clients offline, but have also leveraged facebook to put together many of my film projects, and instagram to discover awesome photographers. Let's just remember that life is too short to be lost behind algorithms as long as there’s a world to be filmed and photographed out there.
If you weren’t a photographer or film director - what would you be?
I would run a cool vintage cinema in New York serving great food before and after screenings. This could actually still work as retirement plan…
