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In an interview with ALPA, Massimo Vitali stresses the importance of his photographs capturing moments in the life of society, becoming a kind of documentation of social change when viewed over the years.
Massimo Vitali's photographs are known for their bold colors, detailed panoramic views of people interacting with each other as well as with their natural surroundings. He shoots his subjects from a greater distance, which gives his images an air of voyeurism and detachment. His works are part of the collections of international museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Centre George Pompidou in Paris. [artnet. de]
“IT IS IMPORTANT, THAT PHOTOGRAPHY SEES SOCIETY.”
In an interview with ALPA, Massimo Vitali stresses the importance of his photographs capturing moments in the life of society, becoming a kind of documentation of social change when viewed over the years. The images are witnesses of the lives of ordinary people, captured in an unstaged way. Again and again Massimo Vitali takes his observing perspective from an elevated position, for example from the pedestal of a temporarily erected scaffolding.
The style of his photographs emerged in the mid-1990s and has its roots
in the consistent use of the tripod. Initially, his newly created style
was subjected to considerable criticism, but Massimo Vitali refused to
be swayed and instead refined his artistic craft.
His passion and
tenacity were to prove him right, and his photographs became Massimo's
landmarks over the years.
In principle, his work is inspired by the realization that a concept, an idea or an image must first be born in the mind, it then matures, to finally be realized with the help of the camera.
https://www.massimovitali.com/monopoli-sunrise/
“I DO NOT LIKE NICE PICTURES.”
"I choose a subject or a scene and work on it until the photographic result corresponds to my ideas.Photographing until a beautiful image emerges by chance does not correspond to my idea of photography," says Massimo.
Asked about the relationship with the people in his pictures, he smiles and says that the faces have almost become acquaintances over the many years of looking at them.
Massimo is currently in the process of making his archive of well-known and sometimes unpublished photographs accessible to a wider audience with the help of modern digitization.
https://www.massimovitali.com/file/
Massimo mainly photographs with his ALPA 12 XY camera, with which, he says, he can best express his creativity. The power of the camera system allows photographs to come to life in prints in dimensions of 2 x 4 meters and at the highest resolution.
With a smile and a sparkle in his eyes, he says:
"...ONE HAS TO BE CRAZY TO WORK WITH AN ALPA CAMERA".
Massimo Vitali was born in 1944 in Como (Italy) and now lives and works under the Tuscan sun in Lucca.
He discovered his passion for photography at the tender age of 13, when he simply could not put his father's camera back on the table. A well-known art critic, photographer and friend of his father at the time was the godfather in the early years of his photography.
In the 1960s he studied photography at the College of Printing in London and worked as a photojournalist and cameraman in the film industry. 1995 was the start of his artistic work in fine art photography.
