Congregation, ritual, mass. Massimo Vitali ‘s photographs have something cinematographic. Seeing his captures is like entering a story, or a moment in a story that’s told with detail and depth.
Born in Como, with experience in photojournalism and filmmaker, Vitali has always worked within a strictly analog tradition, using a large-format camera and presenting his photographs as sculptural objects or wall-size prints. Recently it incorporates the digital medium. The different images are developed in a changing world, capturing the landscapes represented and the human interaction inside.
The combination of the point of view and the details of postures, gestures, situations of human behavior in wide scenarios, generates a special enchantment in the viewer.
In an interview given at the last edition of the Paris Photo fair, the photographer says that he never looks at the camera in the shooting, but rather at people.
This moment in which the artist clicks is not only intuition but a deep observation of the stage he is looking at. In addition to a trained exercise of trials and errors, teamwork with good assistants, and a conscious look at the Italian and international art history.
Tension points, vertical and horizontal, movement of the waves, of the sand. The colors and clothes. The actions of children, of parents with children. Game, relaxation. Beach, pool, mountains: common scenarios to young and old people.
Current, attentive, it is approaching new generations since the election of the subjects to be photographed (witnessing “the first bath of the year under the sun” on January 1, 2020) and how to tell your adventures and experiences through a web page on constant change, inclusive of writers, curators or anyone who wants to approach their work.
Steidl has just published a new book that brings together photographs from 2009 to 2018. “After the first two exhausted volumes published together as Landscape with figures / natural habitats, 1994–2009 in 2011, Volume 3 presents the large-scale color images Vitali of humans who interact massively, both consciously and unconsciously, with their environments. Whether relaxing by the beach, exploring the ruins of the Roman Forum or navigating a busy shopping promenade, Vitali’s images are topographical celebrations and subtle criticisms of our changing leisure habits. In addition, the book traces an important change in the practice of Vitali: its passage from large format film to digital medium format. ”*
* Steidl: https://steidl.de/
** To see the talk with Federica Chiocchetti (Photocaptionist) at Paris Photo 2019, in collaboration with The Eyes Mag, click here.
Congregation, ritual, mass. Massimo Vitali ‘s photographs have something cinematographic. Seeing his captures is like entering a story, or a moment in a story that’s told with detail and depth.
Born in Como, with experience in photojournalism and filmmaker, Vitali has always worked within a strictly analog tradition, using a large-format camera and presenting his photographs as sculptural objects or wall-size prints. Recently it incorporates the digital medium. The different images are developed in a changing world, capturing the landscapes represented and the human interaction inside.
The combination of the point of view and the details of postures, gestures, situations of human behavior in wide scenarios, generates a special enchantment in the viewer.
In an interview given at the last edition of the Paris Photo fair, the photographer says that he never looks at the camera in the shooting, but rather at people.
This moment in which the artist clicks is not only intuition but a deep observation of the stage he is looking at. In addition to a trained exercise of trials and errors, teamwork with good assistants, and a conscious look at the Italian and international art history.
Tension points, vertical and horizontal, movement of the waves, of the sand. The colors and clothes. The actions of children, of parents with children. Game, relaxation. Beach, pool, mountains: common scenarios to young and old people.
Current, attentive, it is approaching new generations since the election of the subjects to be photographed (witnessing “the first bath of the year under the sun” on January 1, 2020) and how to tell your adventures and experiences through a web page on constant change, inclusive of writers, curators or anyone who wants to approach their work.
Steidl has just published a new book that brings together photographs from 2009 to 2018. “After the first two exhausted volumes published together as Landscape with figures / natural habitats, 1994–2009 in 2011, Volume 3 presents the large-scale color images Vitali of humans who interact massively, both consciously and unconsciously, with their environments. Whether relaxing by the beach, exploring the ruins of the Roman Forum or navigating a busy shopping promenade, Vitali’s images are topographical celebrations and subtle criticisms of our changing leisure habits. In addition, the book traces an important change in the practice of Vitali: its passage from large format film to digital medium format. ”*
* Steidl: https://steidl.de/
