Girls
The first thing we want to know who is Guendalina Fiore ? How did she become the photographer that she is today?
It happened by chance and after a very long time of hesitation. I’d always been a very creative child but I never thought about a future in photography before one year ago. I gave my creativity for guaranteed and I never saw it as an option, so I decided to start my studying in engineering which would have allowed me a much safer future. It’s during my studies that I discovered a different kind of photography and I had a very first sneak peek of what fashion photography was. I kept taking pictures for fun without any perspective of becoming a photographer. Then when the social media “thing” happened I started to get some attentions and I started to think about it more and more. It became a big distraction for me. I’m a very passionate person, I’m not able to focus and succeed in anything that doesn’t stimulate my attention and that I don’t desire at all. That’s why my studies slowed down and I got stocked into a limbo for quite a long time. During that period I stop photographing as well trying to focusing as much as I could on my exams, but it helped me also to figure out what kind of photographer I wanted to be and what I actually liked. I stopped working on my personal projects for about four years, but at the same time I meditated a lot and I consider it as a very important step of my path since it led me to the idea of photography that I have today. During those years I started working for an Italian brand called Subdued. I was creating contents for their social medias and it helped me to understand many dynamics that I didn’t know, and allowed me to stay in touch with photography. Only last year I finally decided to dedicate myself completely to photography and decided to move to London after a kind of “rebirth”.
My first contact with photography happened when I was very young. My father loves photography so he was constantly taking pictures of me and my family. I also started to play with his cameras and the dark room (it happened just once) when I was 11/12 years old. I think my first interest in photography came many years later when I moved to Rome.I was about 21 years old.
With all the different possibilities that art offers to express yourself, have you ever thought of experimenting with other fields like moving image/video?
Yes I’m really looking forward to experimenting with moving images. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now but I haven’t got the chance to do it yet. I think it will happen soon!
“ I Like to think at my work as something genuine, imbued with humanity and personality ”
I always had my idea of beauty, which could be related with the aesthetic of a person or the story that they want to tell. Through their gestures and gazes people reveal who they are. I like to think that I can bring back a hint of honesty in my work; proposing a variety of subjects portrayed with simplicity and obtaining photographs empowered just by the persons and the atmospheres that they depict.
I think everyone have a different experience and it would be wrong to generalise and try to find a unique path for everyone. For what is my experience, I didn’t need to study art to find creativity. I think that it is something that you do have or not do have. But it can be stimulated in many ways, including studying art. I rather think that studying art/photography can give you many privileges that a self though photographer is less likely to have. You got studios and equipments for free, you have the chance to ask for advices and to develop some technical skills that is important to have. For me, since I moved to London, everything happened very quickly and I had to deal with something that I’d never done before and learn everything very quickly.
It’s exciting but also somehow scaring because you are taking responsibilities with clients for something that you had never done before. For example, I worked in a studio for the first time two months ago and it was for a client. All of my friends who studied photography have a very long studio and lighting experience developed at school. At the same time I feel lucky for the fact that I had to do everything on my own and away from Instagram (years ago) because I was not distracted by the trends and by what other people were doing, I think it really helped me to find my own vision. It must be harder to do it when you are surrounded by photographers and teachers, and when you have deadlines.
The first picture you took that pointed you to becoming a photographer? I think the first one is a portrait of an athlete, Valentina, that I took on April 2018. It was very important to me because it was the first picture I took after the four years break, with a brand new approach and I rediscovered myself as a new photographer.
The second one is an image (or more) from my personal project Summer of Love, taken always in the 2018. It was a very successful project and after one and half years those are still some of the pictures that people like the most.
Your pictures breathe a familiar air of trust. How do you usually meet your subjects? What has been your favorite encounter so far?
I mostly find them on Instagram or through agencies. We usually speak a lot before the shoot and then meet directly on set. I can’t pick just one, there are so many amazing girls I’ve meet. With some of them, we stayed in touch and we worked together again. I think it’s very important to develop mutual respect with your subjects. That’s the only way for me to do a good job and have a good time.
Besides photography, I’m very intrigued by movies. I’d like to try to direct it soon!
“ Do your best, believe in your dreams and get out there because nobody is going to ring at your bell. ”
CREDITS
Photography | GUEN FIORE