November 2, 2016

Portrait Session on Film: Silvia / Italy Film Photographer

A Film Portrait Session: Silvia

As wedding photographer I’m actually spending a lot of time in front of my computer screen feeling tired and overwhelmed. Working hard isn’t a problem for me but to be closed in my studio day after day with the only purpose to deliver weddings before Christmas could be very stressful, specially if you love the action side of photography.

I started to miss the act of taking photos, the excitement of meet people and look at the world around me in search of something beautiful to portray.
In the latest weeks I realized that I need to do something different just to keep my inspiration alive without accumulate other thousands of photos to work in future.

So I start to shoot film.

I asked to my lovely friend Silvia to pose for a film portrait session and she was very enthusiast about. It could be also a great opportunity to spend some time together too!
She is a librarian and a very special friend for me, she’s that kind of person that inspire you to do your best every day.
Thanks to her many years ago I discover the world of illustrated books that are one of my favorite inspiration source for my work.
I couldn’t believe that a little time in a wood with a lovely friend could be so helpful, even therapeutic.
Shooting film means that you need to take your time and think about what you really want to communicate, to say with your photos.
It means that you need to stop and breath before every shoot. It means to slow down.

All things that I desperately need before that morning. After spending those time experimenting and having fun I felt deeply reconnected with myself and my passion for what I do.

While my rolls were on the way to the lab my excitement grows and I loved the feeling of wait too, where expectations of results grow day by day.
In a world of digital photography where you can see what you do here and now, I enjoyed the pleasure to wait.

When I received the scans back from the lab I was speechless. I absolutely loved the tones and I can’t believe that they reflect perfectly the mood of the day.
Shooting film means to enjoy the moment of shoot purely, without the process of editing. No frustrations, no stress. Just pure photography.
This first serie is taken with my little Nikon F75 on Kodak Portra 400.
All the photos are developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab.

I also try my new Yashica Mat with a black and white roll and a lomography redscale one. They are far from my current vision and style but I loved to experiment with them and some results are interesting for me.