My project

Exhilarating moments that won’t be forgotten

 150 150 Silvia Coluccelli

Sometimes a photo can be so meaningful that leaving it sitting at the bottom a desk drawer is a real pity.

Let’s take a step back in time.

While I was choosing the Brums collection photos that I would post on my website I came across a few shots that I had completely forgotten about. Shame on me. How could I forget the English lady who saw our crew, rose from her sunbathing towel, stood right next to me and started to take photos of our kids? I was not able to say a word. We all stood there, looking at her, surprised and amused. More amused than surprised actually. She was really into it, experimenting with perspective and angles. She was so focused that she almost stepped on my feet and didn’t even notice it. So focused that she didn’t see that I quit aiming at the children and started to take pictures of her. You can find some of those shots below.

At some point she even looked at me and asked me if I could move a little as she would be able to take better photos from the place where I was standing. Well, I just made that up. What a pity!

Anyway, I’ve made up my mind. I’ll create a new gallery album and I’ll name it “Exhilarating moments that won’t be forgotten”.

That’s all folks. See you soon!

Interview with “professor” Silvia

 150 150 Silvia Coluccelli

The new Baby Fashion issue is out. Every month this magazine publishes an interview with a Kids Fashion Photographer. This month it’s been my turn. You can find the interview here. Please take a seat and read it because, unlike the usual, I think I even said a few serious things!

In case you didn’t get it after reading the article I’ll say it again: I love my job!

One more thing. A few weeks back I started to contribute to the Total Photoshop portal. They’ve made me a “Professor” and to fit the role I’ve decided to grow a mustache. Alright, that was the silly joke of the day.

I had already been asked about my job by Total Photoshop a few years ago. You can find that interview here. Now they’ve asked me to deliver some tutorials on portrait photography.

The first one is dedicated to the greatest masters of portrait photography. Avedon, Irving Penn, just to name a few. I am aware that listening to someone who talks about the theory and the history of photography could be a little “boring”, but one can’t possibly think of becoming a portrait photographer without knowing something about the greatest portrait photographers of the past.

In case you decide to watch this video I got to warn you: I am not yet totally at ease in front of a (video) camera. It still feels kind of awkward being on the other side of the lens and having to talk and talk, trying to say something that makes sense, without losing the thread and avoiding grammatical mistakes.

I have to admit that it makes me feel nervous, my stomach shrinks, breathing becomes difficult and I can hardly listen to what I’m saying. Don’t worry though, everything else is fine.

Anyway, I’m working on it, and I’m sure I’ll get over it soon. It’s a challenge that I want to face and win, because I’m determined to share my knowledge and my passion, and nothing will stop me.

Thanks

 1024 683 Silvia Coluccelli

A few days ago the “Spazzatura kilometrica in cortocircuito” (Short-circuited endless garbage dumps) exhibition was officially inaugurated. That was before Easter, the Colomba cakes and the food and wine marathon I did run in Padova. No wonder I wrote about the event more than ten days after it was actually held! You can find attached one of the articles that have been published in the local papers in the last few days.

The list of the things that contributed to make my exhibition inauguration day a special one is actually endless. I want to thank all the people who supported, advised, helped and encouraged me when I was organizing this project…all the mums, dads and kids…the Associazione On for planning the event and giving me a chance to teach the Cuasso Junior High School students the basics of photography. I’d like to thank the Ghiggini Art Gallery for being helpful and making us feel welcome and Philip Abussi for his priceless comments. I want to thank all the sponsors and all those people who actually came and see the exhibition (and those who would have liked to come but couldn’t make it).
 I want to thank Francesco for taking this picture, the best one among many. In the eyes of my dad, pierced by so many tears, I could get a glimpse of my mum’s sweet smile. That’s probably going to be the main reason why I’ll always remember this day.

Goodbye Cambodia

 1024 683 Silvia Coluccelli
Every time, at the beginning of a new year, besides wondering what the new year has in store for me, I also like to take stock of the one that has just ended.
A few months went by on the sly, and I can’t remember much of them. Others are still very fresh in my memory, as if they had happened just a few moments ago. I took pictures of them both with my mind and with my camera, and when I try to recall them all the emotions, smells and colors come back to me.
Of all the months of the year 2013 the one that tops my personal list is August, when I went on vacation. I was in Cambodia, backpacking, traveling on beaten and unbeaten tracks: following my instinct I explored and discovered new places and new cultures. Cambodia gave me a lot: I learned new ways of life and met people that I will never forget. I could write pages after pages about that trip but it would be difficult for me to tell you what I felt with words. I am a photographer, not a writer, images is what I like to use to express myself.
I will share with you some of the pictures I took (lots of smiles) and the few lines I wrote on my journal as I was saying goodbye to this wonderful part of the world from the airplane that was taking me back to Bangkok.
Goodbye Cambodia,
There are lots of things of you that I will miss.
The dignity of people who managed to survive civil wars, invasions, bombings, visionary dictatorships and the worst atrocities that a human being can suffer or even remotely imagine.
The generosity of people who have little towards those who have even less than them.
I will miss your colors, your scents and your bad smells. The taste of your food. The magnificence of your Khmer temples. The echo of the mantras in the Buddhist monasteries. The slow brown water of the Mekong. The crowded buses, carrying any sort of things, the water buffalos, rice fields, air con that knocks you down. I will miss your humid and sticky heat, your afternoon showers, your muddy roads and street stalls selling insects, snakes and fried tarantulas (come to think of it, I might not really miss that much). I will miss walking among people who keep saying tuk-tuk.
The list of things that I will miss is long…but what I will miss the most is your people’s genuine smiles. Smiles made with mouths, faces and eyes. Those deep black eyes of the children that make you want to hug them when they look at you.
Goodbye Cambodia, I’m leaving a part of me here.
Of all the photos I’ve got I chose to publish the ones I took of these kids. I spent a whole day with them. Rain was pouring down, they let me take shelter in their house and flooded me with smiles and happiness (and maybe that’s why tears are running down my cheeks while I remember them).
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