Interview: Photographer Antonio Girlando (Italy)

Tell us something about yourself.

I am 55 years old and I live in Catania in Sicily; I have a medicine degree and I’ve worked in important companies that produce orthopedic articular prostesis, spending 25 years in operations rooms but now I am more dedicated to photography

How and when did you get into photography?

I’ve always loved Art in all her forms; I started when I was a chid, spending most of the time drawing especially human forms; later my father gave me a polaroid and I started photography, first with film and now with digital cameras but sometimes I still use my original yashica fx3 super 2000; in the last 2 years I’ve improved my photography skill taking courses and workshops because I’ve had much more time for photography

What does photography mean to you?

Photography is the best way to express myself; I always try to reproduce what is in my mind in photos

Please briefly describe your photography style for our readers.

My favorite photographic genres are portrait, glamour and artistic nude so I try to reproduce the woman beauty in a classy and artistic way without vulgarity

Where do you get inspiration from?

I can take inspirations from everything I do, live, read, see, meet, etc, etc; If something or someone catches my attention I try to reproduce it or her in photos with my style; obviously regarding the genres I prefer, the model is very important, I can’t do a good shooting with a model that doesn’t inspire me

Studio, on location or both?

Both but I prefer on location and natural light

Think you in advance what you want in the picture?

When I have a project I always think about everything regarding the pics I have in my mind but sometimes I also like to improvvise when something unexpected happens during the shooting, like a particular model’s expression or a singular event, object and other things that can occur during the session

Would you consider yourself a hobbyist or a paid professional?

I consider myself a passionate photographer and I try to do only the things I like in photography so I try to accept professional works only if I really like the project but unfortunately that is not always possible….

What has been your most memorable session and why?

My favorite session was last year in Vendicari in Sicily with Ilvy Kokomo, a perfect combination of human and natural beauties

What has been the biggest source of inspiration in your work?

I grew up reading Marvel Comics so my first inspirations were Marvel Artists like John Romita and John Buscema; then I started to appreciate great 70’s photographers like Helmut Newton and David Hamilton; recently I had the opportunity to partecipate at workshops of Dan Hecho and Sean Archer that I consider two of the best photographers in portrait, glamour and nude

Nikon or Canon? Favorite lens?

I use Fuji XPRO2 and my favorite lens is Fuji XF90 F2

What is one piece of advice you would like to offer a new photographer looking to start their own business?

There are many photographers and photos on the net nowadays to find inspirations but the best thing is not copyng but creating a personal style to be imeediately recognized

What do you think of our new magazine?

It’s a good resource for photographers and models to show their works and to know other artists

https://www.facebook.com/antonio.girlando

https://500px.com/antoniogirlando