Exploring new territories in today's storytelling

The guys at Photography Office update their site several times a week. They publish essays on all kinds of photography: from the big names of the past to modern photomanipulators, from fashion images to landscape photography. Last week they published a gallery of some of my portraits in black and white and asked me a few questions. Oh, they even compared me to Arnold Newman. I am blushing!

This is what they published:

Black And White Portraiture

By Enzo dal Verme

Today we had the privilege to interview Enzo Dal Verme, a pro photographer who lends his skills as who tells honest stories in editorial commercial and portrait work. As you will see from the images below, like portrait photographer Arnold Newman, Dal Verme emphasizes with his work some aspects of each subject’s character such as extraversion,  agreeableness,  neuroticism, conscientiousness or openness.

Tell us about something about you.

I enjoy observing reality from many different angles, photography gives me the opportunity to do so.

What’s your creative process like?


When I photograph someone, first of all I try to get in touch with an aspect that makes that individual special and unique, perhaps something the person is not even aware of. I conduct a silent inquiry using my sensations and intuition, trying as best I can not to mess it up with ideas, preconceptions or opinions that might work their way in. I look through my lens curious about whatever it is that is out there while observing myself too: do I feel comfortable? What kind of comfortable? Is the subject triggering something in me?
Composition, lighting and so on are definitely important, but even more important is the quality of my presence while I am connecting with the subject and shooting. The encounter that occurs through the lens determines the portrait.

Where do you find inspiration and why you like photography?

Photography is often considered in terms of its aesthetic impact. Aesthetic is great, but when we look at the world we perceive much more than the beauty of its forms. For instance, I find a lava flow fascinating not only because it has wonderful colors and interesting shapes, but primarily because of its powerful and vibrant vitality, maybe for its destructive impetus. I observe people more or less in the same way: shapes, materials, colors and consistencies are just expressions of our innermost nature.
In other words, the thing that truly attracts and inspires me is not forms but life expressing itself though them. That’s why I love shooting portraits so much. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s challenging but it’s always enriching. I look at the subjects of my pictures and I feel like I am looking at myself expressed in a different form. Sometimes I perceive things that never developed in me, other times I recognize aspects that I know well, things that I admire or things I can’t stand… Shooting portraiture often makes me feel like I am a wave taking a picture of another wave: we are different but both ocean.

What are some tips you could give to people that really like your work?


Buy my pictures, invite me for a speech, a workshop or an exhibition, give me an assignment. :)

If you have something else to add (a video/about your website/next project/etc.) just tell us.

I am currently working on a project on the way we perceive the world and get mirrored by it. To be honest I am at a very early stage with it so you might have to wait a bit before I can show you something.
I am also very much willing to get involved in cross-disciplinary projects, work in a team with other people who have different expertise. Right now the idea is a bit vague, but I believe I will know how to recognize the opportunities when they come knocking on my door.

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