Italian Photographers

At the end of the first quarter of third year italian, I did my presentation about five italian photographers.  When I thought about the names that pop into my head when I think of photographers, I realized none of them were italians.

In order to speed up putting together a brief but well-rounded presentation, I decided to find five different "types" of photographers.

Wanda Wulz - Sperimentale/Ritratti

Letizia Battaglia - Fotogiornalista

Francesco Carrozzini - Giovane/Moda

Dido Fontana - Controverso

Vittorio Sella - Alpinista

About the photographers

Wanda Wulz - was from the Friuli Venezia Giulia, an autonomous region in Italia bordering the Veneto region, Austria, Slovenia, and the Adriatic Sea.  She was born in 1903, and one of her most famous photos was her self-portrait combined with the image of a cat.  She died in 1984, before Photoshop. ; )

Letizia Battaglia - is a Sicilian photojournalist and is known for her work documenting Mafia activity.  She was married when she was 16, and began to take pictures after her divorce in 1971, while raising three daughters.  Battaglia took two photos in 1979 that were later used to associate a former prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, with the Sicilian Mafia.  More recently, Battaglia has been involved with activism for the rights of women and prisoners.

Francesco Carrozzini - was born in Milan in 1982.  This young man has photographed covers for many fashion magazines like L'Uomo Vogue, Vanity Fair, Esquire, and Vogue Deutsch.  He seems to like black and white photography - I like his work.

Dido Fontana - was born in Mezzo Lombardo in Northern Italia.  His style is rough, erotic, provocative, controversial, explosive, heavy on flash, and anti-fashion but pro-fashion at the same time.  

Vittorio Sella - was born and died in Biella in the foothills of the Alps (1859 - 1943).  He was a mountain-climber, an alpinista, who became interested in capturing the amazing beauty of the mountains he trekked.  During his career, he traveled to many famous mountains.  I love his photography; it reminds me of Ansel Adams, who saw some of Sella's work presented by the Sierra Club, and said they inspired "a definitely religious awe." (Wikipedia cites this as coming from The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, 2005.)