If a picture speaks a thousand words, his speak a million! Meet the Italian photographer, Davide Cerati, who has been creating magic with his viewfinder for the last three decades.
His photographs have been published in the best known magazines in Europe. The jury of FEP (Federation of European Photographers) in 2009 recognised Davide as a Master QEP, the highest European qualification.
The art of photography is what life has taught me. But I could have been a chef, a director, a writer, a carpenter, a sculptor, a gardener; or a hatter, as was my father. I’m a curious and passionate person, who has found in photography and communication the opportunity to narrate and get excited, and I was lucky enough to transform this in my job. I started to play with photography when I was a teenager. Then, I fell in love with Cinema and I thought that this would become my job. But I learned to love the synthesis of the photographic story and this, along with the occasions of life, led me to photography.
For me a picture is perfect when the photographer puts the viewer into an active position; that is, when is the picture that opens some doors through which the viewer can enter and exit out of the photo with his thoughts, bringing something of his own into the image interpretation. Of course, the photographer has numerous tools to create this situation: the technical coherence, the cut, the tone management and the weights in the frame; a photograph must be technically flawless, but this is banal. What makes photography better is the ability to launch a story, an emotion, and then the viewer can ride on his own.
The camera is the least important instrument of photographic work. Of course one must know how to use, otherwise it is better to change jobs, but it’s really the last step of the process. First is the idea, the project, the sensitivity, the need to narrate. Then comes the light that, used consciously, determines the atmosphere and the sense of communication. In the case of photography of people, what is important is the ability of interpretation of the subject, and the ability to enter into communication with him. In the end, only to stop that moment, comes the fotocamera; but in that moment the picture is already done and is really little difference whether you use a Canon, Nikon, Leica or an Iphone.
Photography is the representation of small moments, split seconds. Try to put a person in front of the camera lens; tell him to look at the bottom of the lens and understand what to see down there. Take a burst of 5-6 pictures per second for 10 seconds. You will get 50-60 seemingly similar photos. But if analyzed calmly, you will see that you can get at least 5-6 very different pictures to each other, passing amazement, curiosity, and who knows what other attitude. The photographer has to decide which of these attitudes his view of the subject is.
The world through a viewfinder is as if it were seen through the peephole of the door, or through a window, is a partial and very limited reality. The photographer’s mission is to decide where to put the window, on which part of reality narrate their own story.
Some photos are perfect because a number of factors are put together in the frame. I think perfection does not exist, but there might be a moment when the photographer and the subject are in a magical time in which the images take their own autonomy. That is, in that moment, the picture is no longer the subject, but is an autonomous reality, a new entity, in part author representation, partly abandonment of the subject to photography.
My best moments in photography are those in which, on the set, we create an atmosphere of serenity among all: photographer, assistants, models, make-up artist, art director, etc…
My best moments in photography are those in which, on the set, we create an atmosphere of serenity among all: photographer, assistants, models, make-up artist, art director, etc…
I need to work in harmony, with a thousand problems to solve and control, but in a climate of tuning between people. Then, in certain jobs, especially for artistic research, the best moments are when we create a magical understanding and communication between the subject and the photographer.
The world of cinema, as well as the ability to manage complex sets, has taught me to narrate, that is, to see photography as a means of communication of emotions and feelings. It’s evident that photography is a synthetic medium compared to the cinema language as photography lacks the time. So the photographic communication is evocation; the photograph is a stimulus launched to the viewer. In my head, almost always, my photographs are frames taken from a film sequence. During the shooting I tell often, to my subject, the movie scene in which I wish they were at that time. Photography is great when somehow manages to also suggest the before and the after of the photo, or create curiosity about before and after the shoot, that is invisible, but imaginable.
Fashion photography is especially evocation. Through a gesture, a trick, an attitude, a location, of course an outfit, and through the combination of all these things, fashion photography must evoke a lifestyle, a taste, a trend. This is always a sham, a coup de theatre, this too much like the movies.
When I start shooting a commercial I want everything clarified before, and that are in place the solutions to any problems, that you have available all that is needed for the job, things and people. And I try to establish a good atmosphere on set.
Instead, when I work on my artistic research I prefer to prepare nothing, to build nothing, to plan nothing. The opposite of when working for a client. I want to feel free to invent on the spot, to be influenced by the situation, even to make mistakes; even throw everything at the end of the set because there is nothing that satisfies me.
A photo that makes me happy is the one in which I see myself after months; when it excites me because it reminds me of a moment, a thought; when I realize that it arouses interest and questions in the viewer.
I hope that young people understand that to be a photographer it’s not important to take good pictures, or at least not just that. So I hope they will have less interest for cameras, lens, computers, software, and instead take care for communication, art, culture; for life…
