Who are you? Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hello! My name’s Lorenzo Catena, I’m an Italian architect and photographer, and I live and work in my hometown, Rome. I’ve a background in architecture and this shaped my vision and the way I think when it comes to photography. At the moment I’ve decided to also focus my efforts in other fields that could help me move towards a better lifestyle and also more time to dedicate to my passion, which is street photography.
What was the trigger or inspiration that led to your taking up photography?
This is funny because actually there is a very specific moment in my life when I’ve decided that I wanted to start taking photography seriously. It was in early 2016 during an architectural shooting in Bologna, Italy where I assisted all day a very talented photographer: Simone Bossi. The trigger was when I saw his final pictures from the shot: the photos were beautiful and metaphysical. Since that time, I’ve begun to bring with me a very old and outdated compact camera every day, shooting architectural subjects during my lunchbreak. Some months later, I realized that architectural photography was boring me, and my appetite towards knowledge and this new media brought me to study the masters of photography on the internet and in various books. Maybe that period was the happiest part of my life as a photographer because I was constantly inspired by EVERYTHING.
What do you hope to communicate or describe with your work?
At the beginning I thought that I was attracted simply to the beauty of everyday life and colour, trying to re-discover my surroundings and give a new meaning to what I’d thought was boring or obvious. Now I can tell that is not only that: I want to communicate how I feel and how I perceive my surroundings. I know that I’m moved by certain moods like nostalgia and mystery, but sometimes I want to simply freeze for a moment the things that surprised me. Basically I want to discover with photography what I don’t know yet - with my own vision - and am overwhelmed by it.
Has your relationship with photography changed over time, and if so how?
I spent three and a half years simply taking pictures of situations and places where I was without thinking at my work as a whole. Now I’m working with my body of work to understand the stories that I’ve witnessed, finding a meaning - if any - and editing them. Nowadays I’m also working on long-term projects to develop with time and dedication.
Please select some of your photos and talk about how they came to be and how they reflect your working methods.
I took this photo on a remote island in Thailand. This is currently one of the last pictures I took in 2020 because once I came back in Italy the government of my country immediately started a very strong lockdown to prevent the spreading of the COVID-19, so after that I was not able to take pictures as I’d wanted.
I think this picture is quite new to my work because, other than some compositional playfulness and illusion (the coastline seems parallel to the palm’s trunk and the arms and legs of the girl are recalling the bent of the final part of the palm tree), it also features calm and serenity. This picture is very important to me because it came in a period of my life when I was able to make clear choices for my work and lifestyle, and I was very relaxed - thank you for this, Thailand!
This image was taken during the summer of 2019 in Tuscany, and it’s part of a series of photos that are the result of an unplanned narration of the slow and relaxed life that belongs to this maritime landscape. Sometimes these elements collide and converse together with the temporary inhabitants of these places. I seek simplicity through the interaction between many elements inside the single frame, and I think that’s clearly visible in this picture.
This photo was taken in the autumn of 2018 on a train heading to Tokyo. I became interested in the outfit of the two workers waiting between two coaches, and I noticed the beautiful light and also the echo between the gold of their clothes and the golden details of the doors. In this picture, I like the expression of the worker - lost in his thoughts - and also the fact that you can see clearly the shadow of the face (dark) and also a (light) face in the illuminated part behind the main protagonist of the photo.
I took this photo during the opening minutes of an event in Rome. I think this was one of the comfiest situations I’ve ever photographed. I was seated in an armchair the whole time I was shooting, taking pictures of the people entering the room from two sides - trying to connect them. I have plenty of other characters entering the room, but this one caught my eye because to me it’s like a demon and is adding some mystery to the story together with the cold and warm light sources.
I took this picture in London after I won the LSPF (London Category) in 2018. The first thing I noticed was the pink building, and so I moved toward it, but then I noticed a couple hugging in a very romantic and deep way, and I wanted to include these emotions in the frame as well as connecting them visually with the pink wall in the background. This photo is important to me for many reasons, but especially because I think that with this picture I’ve brought my approach to the next level. For a period of time I used the flash to reveal what was in the shadow, and by doing so, I started to play with natural and artificial light sources in the same frame, adding more complexity and layers.