Story 77: Andrea Simonato
What is your backstory?
I was born in 1971 and grew up in a small town near Padua in North-east Italy. I started playing around photography during the last years of high school when I bought a cheap 35mm SLR, but it was only later, when I discovered through some publications the work of photographers like Luigi Ghirri and Robert Adams that my interest in photography increased way more. As well as their photographic work , I was impressed a lot also by all their theoretical thinking about photography, inspiring me in doing something personal.
After years, and many other exciting discoveries, Ghirri and Adams still remain a milestone for my approach to photography.
What camera gear/editing setup do you use?
Over the years I used a variety of analog cameras, developing and printing my photos by myself, but for some time now, mainly due to the increased costs of the analog process, I totally switched to digital. Today I use almost exclusively a Fuji X-pro 2 with a couple of prime lenses. As I don't really like to spend my time in the post production process, I try to invest as little time as possible in this step, adjusting only brightness and contrasts when necessary and to do this I use either Lightroom or Capture One software.
How do you achieve the look of your photographs and could you take us through the process?
I usually rely on natural light and seldom use a tripod, recently I started to use flash for my evening explorations. Actually there isn’t any particular process that I follow or at least I do nothing but walk around trying to get in empathy with the surroundings. Most of the time I have no clue of what I intend to photograph until I get in front of it. But that's where the beauty lies, it is in the pleasure of an unexpected discovery, the kind of thing that makes your day.
Could you tell us the backstory of some of your photographs?
Most of the images selected here are taken in the hills and woods near home, mostly during this last pandemic year and are part of an ongoing project that I would like to consider as a kind of fictional reconstruction of the place where I live.
What advice do you have for aspiring photographers?
It may sound trivial but I think that what counts is to be curious, you have to study the work of other photographers, buy their books, read a lot, try to gather all kind of things that may help you to develop your personal point of view, because what really matters is what came before the moment you press the shutter button of your camera.
