A photographer and journalist from Italy. No science, just art! Gaetano Belverde loves to narrate Sicily Island tales of the people and traditions. Reportage, portraits and nudes are the main fields he loves. I like his story about some old man in Sicily Island, but I do’t know how to describe his style, so I invited him to do an interview.
Well, first of all please tell us a little about yourself.
I’m a photographer and journalist based in Catania, Italy. My main field is portraiture even if in the last period I shot several fashion stories. My background came from a self learning, despite I was attend several workshops. I found internet as the best way to learn and first of all compare myself to the real world of photography. The net photo community and the good portal are the best way to find inspiration. In any situation, both reportage or fashion, I like to keep my approach quite simple, I love natural light but I use fill flash quite often. I aim to be very close to the subject so I use wide lens very often.
You had studied electronics, but shoot photo now, what made you choose photography? do you remember which photo shoot you enjoyed most?
You’re right, but I need to satisfy my double personality so electronics and photos/art are the right food for my inner guests.
Most people think that, in an artist’s life, childhood it the most important part, can you tell us about your childhood? what is your childhood dream? is there any special experiences?
My main dream when I was child was to understand how the things work. I began my exploration destroying my grandmother table-clock by using a hammer and continued till now by studying silicon physician. The wish is the same but I hope the results will be better than the ones with the table-clock.
Which artist do you especially like and enjoy?
I love the art of both H. Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe on glamour photos, as well as Jan Saudek, and its incredible photos made before the digital age!
Creation is a process of transformation, converting the abstract ideas in mind, into something for you to see, to touch and to experience. It starts from nothing, through unceasing practice to realize them all. In your creative process, what is the most concerned about? aesthetics, style, artistry quality, readers’ feelling or others? Why?
If there is a client behind the series, I need to understand what he need and so, I try to get it from my point of view. When I shot woman I find aesthetics as main target. But this means style, quality etc. I think that all these aspect are tied on a single word: beauty and good taste.
I think is very important the result and not the way you use to get it (equipment etc.).
Do you feel there is any kind of overriding “theme” behind your work? What is it?
By viewing my portfolio you can recognize several themes behind each series, but I think it is not the same for all. Anyway on portraitures I aim to get the soul of the subject, and my portrait, even if hard interpreted by postproduction, I hope it preserve a message.
Could you describe your style of photos? What it’s about, where it comes from and how it’s inspired? and what are your biggest source of inspiration?
My Style? Well, it’s hard to tell about it because my style runs faster than my words… I tend to change very quickly mood and subject on my photos. So you can find either old man in a series or young woman in the subsequent series, warm colors followed by very cold mood. Anyway, I think that strong chromatics is the real constant on my photos, I rarely shot monochrome images.
I torn often between the choose of the subject. I mean, I love both reportage and portraiture so I tend to contaminate my photos with these different kind of photos. My favorite photographers in reportage are: S.Salgado, D.A.Harvey, F. Scianna. About fashion I prefer the total stranger photographer you can find on a wide number of forums on the net. I find more inspirations there than that you can find on the photos of a famous photographer. Prof tends to the leveling out (high levels of course, but leveling in any case) of their results.
Some people said that the most important thing in taking a good photograph is to forget about shooting the model, how do you think of it?
No for sure… You need to interact with the model and the staff in order to get a great result. I think you need to keep well in mind the story you want to narrate, and, after you explain it, to find collaboration from the model and the staff.
What does photography mean to you? What’s important in photography and imaging today? do you think it’s important for the artists to tell something about the world with their works?
Photography is simply the best way to communicate any ideas. No problem with different languages, images speak straight to the heart of the people.
In the past, a photos well colored and saturated, with a good resolution, was enough to call attention to the people. Nowadays it is not enough! The digital workflow allows getting perfect results from the technical point of view but now the people is inured to this kind of photos. So the modern photographer needs to put inside his photos a deep message in order to get the people attention.
Of course the photographer has to tell its own time but using the brain, so the message is always an interpretation of reality, even on reportage.
As a journalist, which city or country you’ve traveled or lived impressed you most?
Well, it’s so hard to answer that question… I love Cuba, for its wonderful colors and people but I love also the ancient European towns for its culture and art, as well as the Greek islands and Sicily for the sea. The problem is that I love each country I visited. I’ve never been on the east part of the world but I’m getting curios and curios about that so different cultures compared with the occidental ones. I hope to plan very soon some reportage about these countries.
What are you doing now? What is the next?
The conflict is in progress: Reportage Vs Portrait/fashion, so I shot one day reportage and one day a fashions story, I aim to merge it on a single new kind of photos. Approach fashion like a war reporter and reportage with the fashion lightness.
