1. What difficulties did you face at the beginning of your career?
Photography is a job that you have to invest. As many others I was working on different job so I would be able to buy my cameras, my lenses etc. Once I collected the money I needed to buy some equipment I was putting all my effort to my studies. As I am still at the beginning of my career I still face the same difficulties. I am not living just from the assignments but I am trying to do other side projects so I can keep going. To be honest I don’t know how long It’s going to be like this but I hope not for long.
2. What should a young photographer do in order not to get hired by anybody?
Not picking up your phone could be a very good reason not to be hired by anyone.
In news, photographers have to act fast and efficiently under pressure. A good relationship with your client is the one which will make him/her comfortable, that he will get what he expects from you and on time.
3. Are there any things you wish you knew at the beginning of your career?
To be honest I don’t wish I knew something earlier than I did. This job is transforming so fast that the photographers of previous generations could not really advice young photographers in terms of the market.
4. Are there any rules or habits that help you do your job more efficiently?
I believe a photojournalist have to make people feel comfortable with him/her so I always give myself sometime to speak with the people I photograph to know more about them and also to make sure I find a way to keep in touch with them if possible. This is something I enjoy because in that way I learn new things and I make new friends.
5. Would you recommend some books that young designers might find useful?
I would recommend the book of Roland Barthes “Camera Lucida”, the “On Photography” by Susan Sontag and the “About Looking” of John Berger. These books are not about photographic techniques or arguments over its status as art but they present a different angle on photography such as the relation between photography and death, photography and memory and much more
6. What is your favourite photograph/photographer and why?
My favourite photograph is the image of Earth taken by two NASA interplanetary spacecraft on July 19 show our planet and its moon as bright beacons from millions of miles away in space. This is not an amazing photo but it shows how small we are and how short our lives are. So it shows us that we should think again about our priorities and our behaviour.
