ABOUT

I am a postdoctoral fellow in economics and econometrics at the University of Verona. Before devoting my life to academic research, I was an attorney and international consultant for the ILO and UNESCO. I hold a PhD in comparative analysis of institutions, economics, and law from Collegio Carlo Alberto. Before becoming a lawyer, I graduated in law in Italy and, simultaneously, in international law and political science in France. Although I love the city of Romeo and Juliet, where I work as a post-doc in economics, my heart is still in Paris. A selection of my academic contributions and working papers can be found here. Speaking strictly about photography, I have some collaborations and appearances in local Italian newspapers in my CV. I participated in a seminar at the International Center of Photography and presented my works in France, Italy, and Germany. I always print my pictures with fine art techniques and use a Canon EOS 1VHS, a Zenza Bronica Sq-A, and a digital EOS 1Ds MkIII/ EOS 5DR. My favorite films are ILFORD Delta for black and white, and PORTRA, VELVIA, EKTAR, and PROVIA for color. I still use my Zenit-ES sometimes.

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To access the photographic galleries, click on the links below.

PORTRAITS

PLACES

COLOUR

To find out more about my academic life and grasp what I do, click here.

To know something more about my photographic roots, read below.

Most of my pictures are in black and white. This was my way of capturing reality from the very beginning of shooting on analogue cameras and films. That modus operandi has profoundly affected my way of seeing things, even today. In the academic field, most areas of inquiry are grey, so it is fundamental to be curious and open-minded to achieve significant black or white results. Nonetheless, in day-to-day reality, not everything is crystal clear, and most pictures are blurred. It is, therefore, my duty to be steady and get good portraits done, both in photographic and research terms.

My story goes back to when I was 13 years old. I used to shoot with a Zenit-ES, on Fuji films. It was love at first sight. My first pictures were overexposed, crooked, and sometimes slightly out of focus, but I was the happiest kid with that camera! Summers passed, and I have never left my passion for argentic photography and for chemicals and cameras. At some point, when I was more into professional photography, I switched to a digital camera for photojournalism, keeping the pleasure of slow photo processing and no rush photography for portraits and personal projects.

My photographic mantra may be resumed in three different bases: composition, patience, and research. Concerning the first one, it should be stressed that I like to think a lot about the ideal shot, asking myself already in this conceptual phase how it will look printed on paper. I always wonder what could be the best use of light and which contrast to set. Sometimes I would like to be like Gregory Crewdson and make an entire set for one single picture, putting everything at the right place, at the right time for the shot. Nevertheless, in reality, all these mental efforts remain just in my mind, taking just a momentary lapse of reason, and they get solved in a matter of a second. Despite some recent digital rush, analog photography has taught me a kind of patience and an eye that is only for slow processors lovers. Sometimes you feel that the spot or the light or the frame could be right, but then you realize that is not how you imagined that right moment in your head. And then you wonder: why should I start taking some random shots when I want something else? And then you realize you need some time and to wait for some seconds, minutes, or even hours. The light will change, the weather conditions will also change, and the right timing will come. It’s a sensation that only with analog cameras I have. Like the one you have when you turn your vinyl on a phonograph. You don’t feel the same emotion asking Siri to go to the next song. I use to note in my agenda places I’d like to capture, waiting for the right moment. Surprisingly, this results in travels with my camera and not for my camera. Sometimes, I prefer to stimulate my perceptions and visual sensations instead of taking pictures and waiting for the right moment. I remember spending 6 hours in the Polar Circle just to take a picture worth the wait. Or the day I spent from midnight to midnight in the underground of NY. Super worth it, but also super exhausting.

Therefore, what about my photographic agenda? As a black and white photographer, my eternal guide is light. As Vittorio Storaro taught me, we can always tell a story with light. It stimulates us to look for shadows, contrasts, and unconventional perceptions, to research the best composition and frame, and to capture a single moment in time with a single click. And that’s a hell of a true story, indeed.

I never take myself too seriously.

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