who
am i?
I was born in Madrid, at age 7 I moved to Rome.
I lived here and there, as it was the custom between the end of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s.
Irene gave me my first camera when I was 18.
I live in a tiny studio flat behind Via Giulia and soon enough I turn it into a darkroom, thanks to the assistance
of an elderly man who owned a photography shop on Corso Vittorio Emanuele.
Photography brightens my life.
I see everything through photography and I soon lose interest in my studies, to my whole family's great dismay.
I met Arturo Patten when I was 20, he was a sublime portrait artist, always extreme, passionate about life.
He told me about his photography, about the light, seeing the light, feeling the light...
Superb, he photographs me in his studio filled with black backdrops.
My eyes were wide open, I tried to
understand, I didn't know anything...
I don't know anything.
I realize how wonderful it is to photograph people and I magically manage to portray: Lucia Bose', Dario
Argento, Giancarlo Menotti, Federico Zeri, Ennio Fantastichini, Margherita Buy, Valentina Cortese, Enzo
Siciliano, Alessandro Haber, Carlos Sainz, Juaquin Cortez, Rossy de Palma, Bigas Luna, Franchetti, Achille
Bonito Oliva, Petra Galla, Dacia Maraini, Franca Valeri... and to publish a book: “Soul Portraits”.
During a dinner in a Roman Palazzo, grandiose but slightly faded and weathered, I met Roberto Capucci, the
great maestro of Italian haute-couture. A timeless man, a creative mind, an enthusiast of perfection and
colour.
I asked him if I could photograph his clothes, masterpieces.
He accepts, undoubtedly thanks to my angel face. I arrived at his atelier in Via Gregoriana with a slide
projector, a tripod and the camera.
As he saw me, after a little hesitation, he told me: “Amedeo, I worked with all the great masters, Avedon,
Penn, Parkinson. But no one ever showed up with a slide projector to brighten my clothes”.
I quivered and started working. Shortly after I got my first assignment for him. A volume for his exhibition at
the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.
A month of intensive work during which he told me anecdotes, showed me how a dress is made, how... but
this is another story.
I start at the bottom, with no contacts, not a lot of money and knowing virtually nothing about photography.
I remember when I arrived in Milan, looking at the evening sky, grey and foggy, and realizing that I was
content.
I start photographing models. Many photo shoots (tests) with many mistakes.
Restlessly, almost every day.
I share a studio flat with a friend... there was no hot water but we didn't care.
Finally, one day a friend told me: “Amedeo, enough practicing, start working” And so, thanks to his “advice”, I
started working.
Amica con Claudia Carretti, Elle Italia con Micaela Sessa, W magazine, collaboro con Claudio dell’Olio e Daniele Basilico
E poi il backstage delle sfilate a Milano.
Quando tutti i fotografi dovevano uscire dal back stage restavamo solo in due. Io per W USA e Roxanne Lowit per Vogue America.
Tom Ford disegnava Gucci, chissà dove ho messo il suo ritratto scattato per W.
Fantastico, anni di lavoro e divertimento, divertimento e lavoro.
once again I am at a turning point.
When you are young and ruthless you can work anywhere.
I decide to go to New York, more complicated than Rome and Milan but still, I pack my belongings and move.
Wow, I was part of Manhattan’s thousands lights.
I was represented by four agencies worldwide. What a world.
Los Angeles, NY, Paris, Madrid, Milan. That was my path.
11 September 2001. We all know what happened. A beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue.
The wonderful New York was hurt. The most incredible and terrifying sight I have ever witnessed in my life.
Amica magazine with Claudia Carretti, Elle Italia with Micaela Sessa, W magazine, I work with Claudio dell’Olio and Daniele Basilico from the agency Box2, Milva Gigli…
And then the backstage at Milan’s fashion shows.
When all the photographers were asked to leave, only two were allowed to stay. Me for W USA and Roxanne Lowit for Vogue America.
Tom Ford created for Gucci, I wonder where his portrait for W is Amazing, years of work and fun, fun and work.
Two years later I leave and I move to Paris.
I am a grown-up, I travelled, I lived, I experienced and I suffered.
Photography is not only one click but also passion, love, sadness, light, happiness, music, beauty, madness.
Many magazines and collaborations.
And then I finally get to work with Topolino, the greatest and craziest make-up artist I have ever met. To say talented would be simplistic, as to say crazy.
A superb artist.
Paris holds me tight.
With Bettina Casanova I work for Condé Nast, with Paola Salvatore, Monica Bellucci... Rosario Dawson for Io Donna, Steve Vai for Rouge...
Monica Bellucci on set at Milan’s Superstudio, clad in Cartier jewellery, armed guards outside...
Isabelle Huppert in Paris, Topolino, John Nollet a great team
Many things happen. I meet Giada, for the first time I fell in love properly, my son Gioacchino is born.
We come back to Italy.
And now is now.
my idea of photography
I have an Instagram account with almost 1000 followers.
There are bad photographers who have thousands.
Do I consider myself a bad photographer? I do not believe. I don't think the hashtag makes the photo more beautiful, I don't believe in the opinion of thousands of people.
I don't think that this filter makes the woman more beautiful or that the trendy color curve makes the photo more fashionable.
I think all this makes everyone more equal and the beauty of photography is diversity.
Diversity is in art and in people's minds.
I believe that the greatest form of evolution occurs by mistake.
Steve Hiett told me that
built his career on a mistake.
I don't believe in super quality, I don't like hyper engraving.
A real look excites me, in a service where we elaborate fiction.
Maybe I'm a photography dinosaur, I learned with rolls of film and Polaroids.
Now I have digital freedom. I like to control all my work from shooting to printing.
I have no parameters that I respect, I always respect the emotion that an image conveys to me.
I never talk about photography.