synopsis
The fashion and portrait photographer Paolo Roversi invites falconry birds into his studio and produces an intriguing series in which owls, owls and falcons appear drenched in saturated light on large-format Polaroids. The Italian photographer's signature minimalist approach to portraiture and monochrome tones reveal these birds of prey in all their majesty.
Installed on a stool or the back of a chair, the birds pose elegantly, their eyes sometimes astonished to have become subjects worthy of attention. Time seems to stand still: in shades of violet or almost old gold with a patina, the birds' quiet presence, sudden flight and surprised gaze almost verge on the painterly.
This new series by Roversi offers a new way of looking at birds: their relationship with man, as an artistic model.
This new series by Roversi offers a new way of looking at birds: their relationship with man, as an artistic model.
technical information
publisher : Editions EXB
2023
88 pages
37 photos
dimensions : 20 x 26 cm
2023
88 pages
37 photos
dimensions : 20 x 26 cm
about Paolo Roversi
Born in Ravenna in 1947, Paolo Roversi's interest in photography was kindled as a teenager during a family vacation in Spain in 1964.
In 1970, he started collaborating with the Associated Press: on his first assignment, AP sent Roversi to cover Ezra Pound's funeral in Venice. During the same year, Roversi opened, with his friend Giancarlo Gramantieri his first portrait studio, located in Ravenna, via Cavour, 58, photographing local celebrities and their families. In 1971, he met by chance in Ravenna, Peter Knapp, the Swiss fashion photography and legendary artistic director of Elle magazine. At Knapp's invitation, Roversi visited Paris in November 1973 and has never left.
In Paris, Roversi started working as a reporter for the Huppert Agency, but little by little, through his friends, he began to approach fashion photography. The photographers who really interested him then were reporters. At that moment he didn't know much about fashion or fashion photography. Only later, he discovered the work of Avedon, Penn, Newton, Bourdin, and many others.
The British photographer Laurence Sackman took Roversi on as his assistant in 1974.
Sackmann was very difficult. Most assistants only lasted a week before running away. But he taught me everything I needed to know in order to become a professional photographer. Sackmann taught me creativity. He was always trying new things even if he did always use the same camera and flash set-up. He was almost military-like in his approach to preparation for a shoot. But he always used to say 'your tripod and your camera must be well-fixed but your eyes and mind should be free'.
— Paolo Roversi
Roversi endured Sackmann for nine months before starting on his own with small jobs here and there for magazines like Elle and Depeche Mode until Marie Claire published his first major fashion story.
— Paolo Roversi
Roversi endured Sackmann for nine months before starting on his own with small jobs here and there for magazines like Elle and Depeche Mode until Marie Claire published his first major fashion story.
Roversi's career has since bloomed to include celebrity and fashion photography.
more information
book in my collection
publisher : Editions EXB
2023 (1st edition)
signed
2023 (1st edition)
signed