Let’s start with a small presentation who is Marco Marzocchi?
A lot of things. difficult to say. I’m a thousand different things really. Feelings, desires,passions, dreams etc etc.I can’t really identify myself so easily. Plus I take pictures.
When did you start taking pictures? Do you remember what it felt like? How does the Marco of today look at the Marco from when he was just starting out?
I should divide photography in two. I started taking pictures when I was a kid, and to me it was like playing. My father always had a camera, polaroid etc. so it was really easy. and we used a lot memory albums and slides projections. Back then it was very common, it was the 80s.Growing up I kept taking pictures of my friends when I was a skateboarding punk teenager. But the real change happened in the late 90s. At that point something clicked in my head and I started to grab my attention. And I started my research. oh man. I have a great love and compassion for my old self. I was so young and naive, so arrogant and anxious. I mean I had this huge void to feel, this big monster to feed and it was so scary. I was so innocent and inexperienced. I have compassion and admiration. a lot. I always get into things by a strong form of obsession, and this happened in photography too. It’s my nature, I am a weirdo.
Your work Oyster (Congratulations, an earthquake of emotions) is the end of a path, I guess difficult. Can you tell us the dynamics of how it developed? And the difficulties you encountered during the process?
Oyster took a lot of time, patience and courage. but especially love. And I mean compassion, forgiveness, and acceptance. It was hard. It was like a final test after 20 years of psychotherapy. I had to find the courage to face the thing that were really ruining my life. The questions and the secrets. The project was the consequence of a need that I had, to put a lot of things outside myself and decide to put them in a drawer and start my new life. Oyster is a rite of passage. Creating something so personal can be scary, and it was really draining, a path very long and steep, but I like doing difficult tasks, quite rewarding. The most difficult time in the project was the editing phase, that was really emotional and psychologically heavy.
Which authors have influenced you? If there are any. They don’t have to be photographers, they can be directors, writers, comic book authors..
A lot of them; from photography to cinema, to music, to the people I know, those who are in my pictures. I don’t like to make lists because I am sure I’ll forget someone. I am a ravenous music listener, book reader, film and photographer watcher. My photography is made by all the music, movies and things I lived and experienced, all the people and all the photographers I met along the way.
Photography, perhaps like all artistic forms, is the fruit of who we are, when Marco does not tell himself (even though we always tell ourselves) what is he attracted to? What are the subjects and stories you like to tell?
In this moment I am telling a lot about myself and the others. I like spending time with people that really amaze me for a small particular thing. I really don’t know what exactly is going to happen or what is going to be my photography.. I take pictures on emotional waves, and when I’m bored I take pictures too. I could take 10 rolls straight of the same thing over and over. I take pictures when I’m happy and when I’m sad. I take pictures because they happen all around, non stop. It’s hard to keep a high level of amazement. And when I get too comfortable I change camera, I take pictures I don’t want to take and try to stay awake, or lose myself in daily banal and boring things. It’s like playing guitar, why you play the same song over and over? It’s an exercise that needs a lot of practice and endurance, sometimes it is beautiful sometimes horrible. But you have to hang in there.
Can photography make you a better person?
Hard to say… what do you mean with better person? Good like the one who helps a granny cross the street? photographers can be weird people. Some follow trends, some have needs, some want money and success, some have bad habits, and some others (many) have mental health issues. Photography is just photography, and photographers are shy people hiding behind a camera, trying to have a decent social life. Photography is a thing that happens while you are searching for something. Photography doesn’t define you, it is a consequence of your act of living: it happens. It can become so obsessive to ruin your life.
You happened to photograph without any idea in your head, without following or chasing any story, you just do it. Like photography, what else has to do with talking to yourself distractedly?
I usually don’t take pictures based on ideas. I take pictures with my stomach, based on feelings and then when I edit, then it is all about the brain. But sometimes it’s a mix of that, you always try to be adaptive. Sometimes you force yourself and your photography, sometimes you play with references and stereotypes sometimes you don’t. It’s good to be predictable too, sometimes.
A photo you’re particularly fond of? Show it to us.
How much courage does it take to be a good photographer?
I think if you go for it, you should go 110%, so a lot. I think good works are made of things that are always placed where we are more uncomfortable, so good photography to me is like that. It takes a lot from health and mental health to go there and get back safe. And this relates both to the things inside and outside of us.
In a hypothetical podium, where would you put honesty? And what would be the other two values that you consider indispensable in a photographic work?
Honesty is the key, there are a lot of photo projects and photobooks nowadays, and honesty is what makes your work relevant and last beyond glamorous and trendy stuff.
Honesty of intents, courage and anticonformity.
One or more obsessions. If you have any.
I have too many of them!
Thanks for the talk!
Thanks to you who have read this far!
If you want know some more about my photography and my books you can find me here:
https://www.marcomarzocchi.com/
https://www.instagram.com/marcomarzocchi/
Let’s start with a small presentation, who is Davide Tronci?
My name is Davide Tronci, I’m 48 years old. I live and work in Cagliari, a beautiful city overlooking the sea in the southern Sardinia. I graduated from art school and my interest field has always been focused on art since ever.
How far away from what you felt the first time today? How different are the feelings you felt the first time from what you feel now?
I started to photograph about six years ago, after attending some basic photography courses. In 2015-2016, I had a turn as photographer, after taking part in an introspective and personal reportage course. At first, I got confused, because I didn’t have any specific plans and then, after a serious loss in my family, something moved on and a whole new world was opened up inside and outside me. Now, when I shoot, I am more conscious than before and so I go straight to the point.
What is your relationship with your home, Sardinia?
Hate and love. My feelings are controversial. It’s a little tight. Maybe it’s because it’s an island. I love every inch of my land, the sea, the woods as well as the stones, which it is made. I hate the way we think. Our tendency of putting down our heads waiting for someone else, who does something for you.
Which authors have influenced you? If there are any.
My favourite photographers are Michael Ackerman, Antoine d’Agata, Daidò Moriyama, Nan Goldin. I follow Massimiliano Perasso, Elton Gllava, Igor Pisuk, Lilly Lilac (Lilly Zoumpouli) e Alisa Resnik as well.
More head or more stomach? Is the head or the stomach more important?
It depends. Let’s say 30 % head and 70 % stomach. There are some situations, which sounds like a punch in the stomach.. They hit you and you have to be ready to shoot whitout thinking.
Some photographers have the ability to catapult you into their world spontaneously, usually this kind of photography is preparatory for the viewer; it helps you perceive how much the photographer’s sensitivity makes a difference. If you add the word “sentimental” (not in a limitative sense, but something about ties, feelings) to your work, am I off the mark? What would you call it?
I answer you with a sentence an editor told me some time ago “Your pictures have the sensitivity a female photographer and perhaps more than a really human person.” Maybe I would call it just like that “.
Are there types of photography that you’re not interested in? If so, which ones?
I follow almost all photographic genres, as long as they push some emotion. I am not choosy.
Do you dream a lot? Do you have recurring dreams? If so, tell us a dream.
Let’s say I don’t dream so much o maybe i don’t remember them. My pictures reflect my personal experience, my personal emotions, my anxiety, my panic attacks, my temporary state of depression, in particular my desire of telling something.
A photo you’re particularly fond of? Show it to us.
How much courage does it take to be a good photographer?
In my opinion, if you want to be a good photographer, it takes a lot of courage, because in addition to photographing what you see. you have to show yourself.
In a hypothetical podium, where would you put honesty? And what would be the other two values that you consider indispensable in a photographic work?
Definitely, I would put it in the first place. In my opinion, honesty is everyting, but not just in a photography field. Courage in the second place and the tecnique in the third. A little tecnique never hurts.
One or more obsessions. If you have any.
I am a person very precise, even too much. I always struggle not to be. Let’s tell me, my obsession in photography is my son. He is always present in my work. It’s reflect myself.
What drives you to take pictures and what drives you not to take them?
Usually, I don’t shoot a lot. It depends on my mood. Let’s say I am more prolific during my dark times. I try to push away from banality.
Thanks for the talk!
thank you for the interview
If you want know some more about my photography and my books you can find me here:
@sardus.pater.72
@davide.tronci
Let’s start with a small presentation, who is Loic Seguin?
My name is Loïc Seguin. I have just turned fifty. I live in Belleville, a multi-ethnic Parisian area. I am a police captain and my routine is far from the art scene.
When did you start taking pictures? Do you remember what it felt like?
I realized only late that photography was essential for me and I had to fight an excessive fear to reveal something of me. After seven or eight years of hesitations, I begun my first work Half-Light in January 2018. It was a complete release.
What was the last picture you took?
During the lockdown, I took many pictures of my family. Trying to stay in a normal life.
Which authors have influenced you? If there are any. I’m not just talking about other photographers, they can be writers, books, painters, musicians…
I am really fond of the swedish guys ! Christer Strömholm, Anders Petersen, JH Engström. I have always been a fan of Diane Arbus, Boris Mikhailov, Antoine d’Agata… Ah yes, I could add an american writer Henry Miller with his trilogy Sexus, Plexus, Nexus.
As in all the arts, there is a cyclical trend in styles, themes and even tools used. This produces waves of very similar works, often without soul. Do you think this is inevitable or would you need more awareness?
The flow of images is outstanding. How can it be interrupted ? I just reviewed recently an interview of Anders Petersen in Close Distance. He stated we must use our guts instead of our head. And this is what I strive to do when I press the shutter release button : « be silent, don’t think and look… ». I really believe in a photography unreflective which takes a shape, well after the shooting. We need to find something in the bottom of our heart…
You seem to establish a relationship with the subjects you photograph, tell us the dynamics. do you have a standard approach or does it depend on who is in front that forms your behaviour ? You enter people’s lives, but also the human beings you immortalize enter your life. How deep? Do you have anything left over from photography, or can you not “take your work home”?
The photographs in Half-Light were taken in Paris during a period of mourning. I felt I had to look at people facing me. Without any social mask. Whether at the exit of Metro « Place des Fêtes » were I live, in cafés with regular patrons in Belleville area, or simply in the streets, I hailed them. The first pictures were often obtained at the bottom of a wall. Then simple relations were established, leading for some of them to further photo shooting in their homes. The major part of the persons who appear in the book live in my street and all have my phone number so, you can imagine…
The subjects you portray evoke primordial sensations, some look at the camera, others don’t, but the feeling I feel every time is very similar; something about an alienated humanity we are used to but don’t pay attention to. Is alienation a word you would associate with your work? If the answer is no, give me an adjective that you feel is yours.
You say almost everything. My gesture is very repetitive, obsessional with a quasi single photographic distance. And the result is arid, retained with no visual effects. Sort of photography of renunciation. I wanted to capture intimacy : marks, scars, bellies, backs, absent moments, fixed lines. What makes their identity and their capacity to keep standing.
What are the subjects you love to photograph? Are there situations that constantly return to your work?
After a long service as a police officer, I have an admiration for all who have a day to day courage to struggle with their loneliness or misery. They are not hiding from us. We need to give us our attention and affection.
A photo you’re particularly fond of? Show it to us.
My house publishing, Void made a Leporello of a complete black and white film of Slimane for the collector edition of the book. I love this guy.
How much courage does it take to be a good photographer?
There are many ways to be a photographer. For me ethic and respect are the most important.
In a hypothetical podium, where would you put honesty? And what would be the other two values that you consider indispensable in a photographic work?
Honesty, determination and uncompromising.
One or more obsessions. If you have any.
I am really obsessed of making more rolls than I should…
Tell me an anecdote, something curious that happened while you were shooting Half light, Your last book.
When we met, Boris, the man with a cigarette and the nail polish, told me - without knowing that I was actually a cop - that a gang had asked him to keep a lot of cocaine in his apartment. He needed some advices about it… I convinced him not to do it…
Thanks for the talk!
If you want know some more about my photography and my books you can find me here:
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/loic.seguin19/
Void website : https://void.photo/half-light
