As is now customary, I find myself here to make some considerations on the year that is about to end. It would be useless to talk about the negative aspects of this 2020, unfortunately we all know them all too well. So I will focus on what positive this year has brought me: great satisfactions and the birth of new projects. But let’s go in order …
In April I had the most important recognition of my career as a photographer: the award for the most beautiful wedding album in Italy in 2019.
Also during the Lockdown I finally had the time to dedicate myself to my personal collection of Presets, the Cinematic Collection, whose success really surprised me positively.
The free time that suddenly came to me allowed me to be a little more present on social networks, a fundamental aspect in the photographer’s work now. I concentrated above all on my INSTAGRAM PAGE, where incredibly, unlike in past years, I was able to make some stories too!
I also opened a BLOG on my site, to which I tried to entrust on a monthly basis, some of my thoughts on the most disparate topics: traditions, cinema, nature, photography, animals …
At the beginning of December another big and unexpected recognition arrived: Album Epoca, one of the most important album production companies in the world, chose me as their Testimonial. For many years now, almost all my albums have been made by them and for me it is an honor to represent such an important and internationally known brand.
Of course, my 2020 due to the reasons we all know was not all roses and flowers indeed! With a few exceptions, the pandemic did not allow couples to marry and consequently deprived us wedding photographers of much of our work and, as happened for many other categories, we fell into almost total darkness.
However, it often happens that opportunities arise from a negative situation, for those who can see them. It is only a question of getting involved, of reinventing oneself, of not resigning oneself to immobility, waiting for better times. And that’s how I made the decision to seriously dedicate myself to maternity and family photo shoots.
Not that in the past I didn’t do them but perhaps, considering them only an integration of my work, I didn’t realize how many opportunities and solicitations could come out of jobs like these. During these sessions, I was able to experiment with new ideas and give space to creativity without having to submit to the very tight deadlines typical of marriage.
What’s inside these shots? The sweetness of smiles, the complicity of certain looks, the tenderness of caresses and hugs, the fun, the game, the passion, the love. They are called emotions. I have experienced them in the field and it surprised me too to realize how contagious this tenderness was and how, almost unconsciously, I found myself involved, as if for a moment I was part of the family and not a stranger who was simply doing his job.
Many would define it as empathy which, when there is, certainly benefits the rendering of service. Of course, a lot depends on people’s character, on the situation that is created, on the ability that each of us has to release our feelings or translate our emotions. Perhaps for me, due to the extraordinary nature of the year that is leaving us, fortunately, it was not just this, but something more.
All the emotions that passed before my eyes and that I was able to fix in an image gave me a strange strength. I don’t know whether to call it hope, a desire for resistance, positivity, trust. No matter how to define it, what matters is that he felt it and that he gave me a hand not to perceive what we have experienced and are still experiencing as a single negative block, an indistinct oppression.
Sometimes, if you let your sensitivity flow without fear in front of life, even a single moment can offer an opportunity for rebirth.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Daniele
