"« For me, light is life – and the first light that I see is the
sun », says Italian-born fashion photographer Paolo Roversi. « So
when I think about light, I think about the sun and nothing else.
Window light is the most important light for me. When I take a
picture using window light, I always think about what a long trip
the light is making to reach my subject. »
«My studio is a place for the chance, the dream, the imaginary to
prevail. I give these forces as much space as I can. »
While he prefers « to be lost in the mystery of it all », he
recognizes that there is a single motive at work in his
creations. « I am always in search of beauty. This I know for
sure. Beauty is something that attracts me completely all of the
time and pushes me far in search of something. »
In an industry that has glamorized grunge, misogyny and heroin
chic, Roversi’s reverence for his female muses has remained a
constant. His images have been described as « romantic »,
« tender », « ethereal », « erotic » and « exquisitely
beautiful »." - Source
"Born in Ravenna in 1947, Paolo Roversi’s interest in photography was
kindled as a teenager during a family vacation in Spain in 1964.
Back home, he set up a darkroom in a convenient cellar with another
keen amateur, the local postman Battista Minguzzi, and began
developing and printing his own black & white work. The encounter
with a local professional photographer Nevio Natali was very
important: in Nevio’s studio Paolo spent many many hours realising
an important apprenticeship as well as a strong durable friendship.
In 1970 he started collaborating with the Associated Press: on his
first assignment, AP sent Paolo to cover Ezra Pound’s funeral in
Venice. During the same year Paolo opened, with his friend Giancarlo
Gramantieri his first portrait studio, located in Ravenna, via
Cavour, 58, photographing local celebrities and their families. In
1971 he met by chance in Ravenna, Peter Knapp, the legendary Art
Director of Elle magazine. At Knapp’s invitation, Paolo visited
Paris in November 1973 and has never left.
In Paris Paolo started working as a reporter for the Huppert Agency
but little by little, through his friends, he began to approach
fashion photography. The photographers who really interested him
then were reporters. At that moment he didn’t know much about
fashion or fashion photography. Only later he discovered the work
of Avedon, Penn, Newton, Bourdin and many others.
The British photographer Lawrence Sackmann took Paolo on as his
assistant in 1974. « Sackmann was very difficult. Most assistants
only lasted a week before running away. But he taught me everything
I needed to know in order to become a professional photographer.
Sackmann taught me creativity. He was always trying new things even
if he did always use the same camera and flash set-up. He was almost
military-like in his approach to preparation for a shoot. But he
always used to say ‘your tripod and your camera must be well-fixed
but your eyes and mind should be free’”. Paolo endured Sackmann for
nine months before starting on his own with small jobs here and
there for magazines like Elle and Depeche Mode until Marie Claire
published his first major fashion story. A Christian Dior beauty
campaign brought him wider recognition in 1980, the year he started
using the 8 x 10” Polaroid format that would become his trademark.
Not only because of the large camera, Paolo has always preferred
working in studio. In his first years in Paris, the studio was very
often a room from his own different apartments, all on the left
bank, until he found in 1981 the studio located in 9 rue Paul Fort
where he is still working.
In the middle of the ‘80s the fashion industry was very keen to
produce catalogues which allowed photographers to express a very
creative and personal work: Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Romeo
Gigli… gave Paolo that opportunity.
During his travels to India, Yemen… Paolo took many portraits; we
can see some of them in his books ANGELI and Al Moukalla; a book about India is in preparation. Paolo has also realised some
commercials. Since the middle 80’ his work has been subject to many
exhibitions and books and many awards have honoured his work. Today
Paolo has a regular collaboration with the most interesting fashion
magazines and fashion designers." - Source
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