For about a decade I have been travelling the globe extensively in search of stimulating stories and interesting people to photograph and interview. All sort of people.
I got my biggest fulfillment knowing that my reportages could inspire the readers of a magazine and – sometimes – support a good cause.
The reason why I have been working all those years mainly for fashion magazines is both practical – they could pay for my work – and subversive. I have been able to give space to issues that normally do not match the latest lipstick color. Nevertheless my stories have been published right on those pages, waiting to capture the attention of readers principally focused on cool fashion tips.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a crusader. I am simply curious and terribly fascinated by the variety of experiences and points of views present on our planet.
I hear you saying, “That’s right, why should we narrow our minds keeping our attention focused on the very same stereotypes?” As most people working in the information industry know, the answer is distressingly simple: magazines are not organs of information, they are advertising containers. They are telling you – each one with its very own style and angle – that IF (you vote for that candidate, you buy those shoes, you drink that water…), THEN you are going to be happy. And the boundaries between news and advertising are increasingly blurred.
Curiously enough, the vast majority of the public seems unaware of how much they are being manipulated by the media and driven to an insatiable hunger for the next thing that promises happiness.
What
On this blog I will post some work that has been rejected by my clients or published in a glamorized and distorted way. Certain topics are not really welcomed by the mainstream press because they might disturb the advertisers (or politicians). In most cases even the adding of some gloss will not boost the likelihood of seeing the reportage published, other times the content gets manipulated by the editorial staff in order to fit the container.
That’s why I decided to give space to the original versions here. I might also share the stories behind the stories or express what couldn’t be expressed in the traditional media.
Don’t expect big revelations or scoops, it’s only about the ordinary dos and dont’s of the information machine. And don’t expect only censored work either, I am also willing to share things that I simply find interesting.
Why am I doing it now?
I must admit, I have been really privileged to be able to support my career almost entirely through projects that I was curious to explore. But now something is happening.
An ailing economy, added to the impact of the internet on the information system, caused the – not-so-slow – decline of traditional media. Many magazines and newspapers are facing closure in the coming years, if not months. Everywhere staffs are being downsized, articles are created by cutting and pasting press releases or quotes found on the net. Photos are downloaded from some micro-stock agency site. Who still has the money to pay for my portraits and stories collected around the world? Not many.
Yes, traditional media is in deep trouble, the number of my assignments is shrinking and I am forced to get out of my comfort zone.
Crisis = Opportunity
Reduced magazine budgets pushed me to differentiate the way I use my experience. For instance, I have been invited three times in the past to exhibit my pictures in art galleries and three times I said no. Recently a fourth opportunity knocked and I accepted. Guess what? I discovered that I really like to see my pictures framed and not only printed in magazines.
Another nice surprise came when I was asked to teach a workshop and I realized all the things that I have to share and how much I enjoy doing it. On top of this, I have been looking for agencies interested in selling my pictures and now my work is distributed in a number of countries.
Paradoxically, the crisis is helping me discover a wider range of possibilities and I suspect that a bigger turning point has yet to come.
This blog represents one step in that direction.
A leap into the unknown
A move from publishing in magazines to publishing (also) on the net means moving from a medium that pays for my work to one where texts and pictures are offered for free. Is that all? No. When my stories are published in a magazine, they are static and eventually they get old. The same stories published on the net are dynamic: people can comment, add info, share opinions, update data. Feedback and new posts will keep my work unfolding before my eyes. For me this is a new, exciting and pretty unpredictable territory to explore. It’s hard to tell what sort of developments will follow and it seems there is only one way to find out: give it a try :)
