Galleries

Researched by Raffaele Montepaone

CLAUDIO MENNA

When did you start a passion for the photography?
In 2007 i was still a student of Architecture when I started to see the reality in a different way : lights , shadows , people ,souls , and a lot of stories around me. For this reasons I think that photography is the better way for me to see the world.

What was your first camera?
My first camera was an analogic old Practica of 1988 (a camera of my father).I choosed starting in analogic , so you can’t see the shoots you’re making, and you have to focus the scene and the frame mostly than in the digital way.
 What is photography to you? And what should not be instead?
In my opinion, photography is the clearest way to tell a story describing the world around us without any words or other influences, but only with mere pictures.
Photography shouldn’t be a self_praise of who makes the shoot.

Which masters of photography inspires you?
I think all of us need a master. My first master was Ferdinando Scianna, photoreporter, journalist and member of Magnum Ph.
I’ve greatly admired his first work: “Feste religiose in Sicilia”, and these pictures inspired me to start a reportage about “Devotion and religious adoration” here in Naples.What is the photo that struck you the most of a great photographer of the story?
The photo that I admire was shooted by Ferdinando Scianna, and is this :

What is your favorite technique ?
I think that technique is not the only essential thing to make a photo.
Photography needs surely of technique but of heart and soul too.
I like shooting with slow time, for the chances you have to create dynamism and movement in your scene.

 Why do street photography?
I like the streets. If you learn to make photos in the street you can see a lot of different kind of lights and shadows. You can see different kind of people, you can enrich yourself with the stories you’re writing (with the light and shadows).

What is your best shot and what does it represent for you?
I don’t have my own best shoot. I think my best shoot will came , but not now. I want to wait it , here in my city, here in my streets.
What is your relationship with the street and the people who are in your shots?
Shooting in the street is the best way to know different kind of people, I like it so much. I like to walk , speaking with the people around me . I love listening their stories. After a new reportage I feel richer.

Researched by Roberta Pastore

GABI BEN AVRAHAM

 When did you start a passion for the photography?

It all started long ago but I did not know it was “it”. During the1980’s  I photographed using film cameras. Even then I used towonder in the streets of Tel Aviv in search of the extraordinary andthe surreal. I then stopped and have not touched a camera for 20years until I received a digital camera  as a gift for my birthday frommy wife 4 years ago. The rest is history.

What was your first camera?

I started with Nikon D-90 and Sigma 10-20 mm lens, then I switchedto Nikon D-800 with a 24 mm prime lens. Now I am using Fuji xt1. Ibelieve that SF needs wide lens and I work only with prime lens.

 What is photography to you?

And what should not be instead? Photography for me is my way of looking at the world around me,whereby I can express my feelings and show the world from mypoint of view .

Which masters of photography inspires you ?

The most inspiring photographers for me are: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alex Webb,  Felix Lupa,  Steve McCurry.

What is your the best shot and what does it represent for you ?

Knowing what will happen 5 minutes later. It is an adventure. I have my favorite places and I never come with the same photos. It is always different: the people, the light and shadows, the atmosphere.This is the fun part. The hard part is when I come home and try tomake a selection of the best photos. I try to make minimal editing in the post-processing stage . I can not point my finger at one specific shot. I attach a color seriesfrom my last visit to Cuba.

What is your relationship with the street and the people who are in your shots?

The street is not a studio. Sometimes I stand and wait for things toconverge – a cyclist, a dancer, a child – moving along. They are not aware that they are moving towards a certain object, but I am. Viathe camera lens I am constantly looking around me, searching forthat ‘decisive’ moment that will never return, unless I catch it. Whenpushing the button, I try to make some sense, restore order to thechaotic scheme of things in the composition. The components’speak’ with each other in a special dialogue, either by color, shape,or light. Capturing the elusive, special moment after which thingswill never be the same and making it eternal – that is my goal.Forgotten, transparent people in urban surroundings are beinggranted their moment of grace. The shadows, fragile outlines, reflections within daily lives that are not noticed in the busy and thick urban landscape and sometimes are even crushed by  it – these are precious to me.

website

http://www.gabibest.com/