SUSANNA IOVENE
Contest n.1 Mia Le Journal – Proraso story
– Hi Susanna, can you tell us about the feature you did for Mia Le Journal with the Proraso brand?
It’s a story of the times we’re living in, a tragicomedy about the problems men with long beards experience on a daily basis when they have to wear face masks. A series of portraits in which the Proraso brand doesn’t appear at all, but becomes a subtle and slightly cheeky suggestion.
– When did your passion for photography begin?
I remember a primary school trip to a lake. My parents let me take the camera, and I went home with a whole reel of photos, all the same. Who knows what I was seeing? But I remember very strongly the feeling of excitement as I tried to photograph the wildlife at the lake, even though the results were no good. I think I was hooked from that day on. I can definitely say that I wanted to make a living from photography since I was a child.
– Black and white or colour? Digital or analogue?
I adore colour photography, but I think black and white works better when colour can’t add anything to the communicative potential of an image.
I work with digital, mostly for practical reasons, but I’m deeply fascinated by the atmosphere of film, so I tend to mimic it at the post-production stage.
– We’re an image-based society. Do you think this inflation of images online and in all the media detracts from people who do photography passionately and seriously?
I believe that if you have something to say and you do it with passion and commitment, you have nothing to fear. Of course the competition is intense, but I’m convinced that that’s a stimulus to do better, not a limit. Every day we’re bombarded with thousands of images, and that’s why I think it’s really important to choose carefully which ones we allow to inspire and influence us.
– Photography projects for the future?
I have a notebook full of ideas and sketches, but very little time to carry them through. A subject that’s often buzzing around in my head recently is the death of Narcissus: an arrangement of broken mirrors that conveys the fragmentation of the id in a society that’s increasingly individualistic and egocentric. An attempt to reconnect with myself and others, a deep look inside myself and my relationships.