Foreword
Photography is a true instrument of knowledge and, as an art, I believe it can contain many others, as when one can capture with a timely gesture and a sharp eye a dance step or any other full expression of life. Clearly photography is not life but it can be supportive of life itself: it can involve the innermost centre of the human sentiment by means of curiosity, daydreaming, provocation. Photography has the power to influence the public: in this context a lot of what translates to the final product depends on the purity of vision of the person taking the shot. I find that often the photographer’s motives invest the picture’s meaning a priori because there exists an inclination to look at life as one looks at oneself.
I was ten when I was handling my first camera and I have since then always felt the responsibility – alongside the fascination - of being able to capture in the best possible way the facets of life, of people that I intended to explore, of being able to understand and not misinterpret the purpose of doing this. Now that I am transforming passion into profession, I strive to accord reason and results. The impulse to share it with others has always come as second nature to me and I would like to offer a brief descriptive map of the forms that this practice has found through me:
Portraits
I love shooting portraits. It’s a constant challenge and an opportunity to intimately know you have in front of you. Exploring humanity through pictures is a task to be accomplished with gentleness and patience. One has to get their hands dirty if necessary, and most of the times it is. One has to infiltrate gracefully into that world that lies beneath the skin. The photographer’s ability consists in getting rid of any mask and even before using a camera, he has to establish a personal channel of communication in which to find the best key to read a subject. I have always spent good time to do this and I have never considered it a waste. To welcome someone in your picture is like inviting them to your place and asking them to be comfortable on your sofa cushions, without knowing if they’ll like them or feel cosy. The sepia portraits of this section are mostly free of context, with a view to detach them from time, lest something transitory might interfere. Albeit it is part of an illusion, I have enjoyed elevating the gestures and looks of these people, highlighting their unique beauty.
Street Life (a map of the modern contrasts)
People. Marginal or well-known, neglected with cruelty or rewarded by the game of appearances, these people are all bound together in this big circus of living. In this section one finds morally dubious images, because they are risky and reckless, some were stolen. Apart from a few social accents, there is no deliberation, only rawness and imperfection, vulnerability, alienation and uncertainty, emptiness, hope and devotion. These are contrasting shots, often imprecise, fast and unpredictable, simple witnesses of the human variety that can be observed in the street. The result is a carousel of barely touched people, made still in an archive that does not need colour as much as one’s attention and reflection.
Sky Pearls
This portfolio includes a varied and vivacious series of small visual documents of living or inanimate elements that often go unnoticed. Here they find a legitimating light is cast upon them. Within this microcosm a vase might become a spaceship and a small wrought iron animal figure can transform into an ancient mythological specimen. All of this happens thanks to a careful work with light. Or, instead, the play with colours and computer graphics highlights every image and its object. The aim of this process is to allow the fatigued human eye to slow down in the exploration and the contemplation of the detail, so to eventually grasp values and shades never noticed before.
Visions of Cities
These are visions, fragments and unusual angles of some of the most beautiful Italian and no,cities. This is an original and often poetic testimony of a vision in sharp contrast with the hackneyed postcard view. The beholder’s attention is drawn to notice hidden and unknown bits of the historical city centres, where the natural elements are invited to measure their existence with the man-made objects and shapes. This vision wants to be timeless, evoking its own brand of grace, willing to combine its aesthetics with the fruit of human work around it.
Digipaints
In this section I have grouped digital work which is the result of an interaction of design, photography and graphics. The main objective is to legitimate an experimental take on different genres, explored through a very personal research. This corpus might at times not seem at first consistent, but I have throughout tried to avoid a single graphic standard and instead focus on what is the core of the image and the way to best express it in every picture, regardless of its cold definition. I have learnt with this to push the boundaries of photography itself to explore what can be derived from other communication means.
Giovan Battista D’Achille
Some Flickr's Testimonials
"Jeffelix is a really nice photographer, I don't have the opportunity to know him, but his pictures talks about himself” Christian Arismendi (Syndroment logic)
"Jeff is an extremely talented photographer. I love the way that he is able to capture very interesting angles and compositions. His work is very artistic and imaginative. His pictures draw you in. You can't help but stare at them for hours.
I look forward to when he posts anything new. He is a talented photographer." Holly Fisher, photographer (Pinklilyblossom)
Giovanni is an amazing photographic artist – his style is reminiscent of the Italian renaissance masters with a spectacular 21st Century eye.
His composition and imagination are amazing and his techniques with colour and light are truly incredible.
A true poet and dramatist. 20 juin 07 Manel Ortega, photographer
"Un hermoso artista, intenso, sensible, muy unico. Su juego con la luz es impresionante, con ella expresa en demasía la tristeza, la alegria, la melancolia, la esperanza. Capta en sus modelos aquella simple mirada natural, aun sin perder aquella intensidad que se oculta tras los ojos. Hay tanta expresividad en tus fotos, sigue asi querido amigo." Marco Diaz (Bizarro) Photographer & Art-designer - sept 07