Gabriele De Rossi - "has always been in my veins"

I was born in Rome. Certainly my family influenced my experience, on my father's part, my grandfather was a rationalist architect who during his activity gave birth to many architectural works in Italy, and opened an academy, on my mother's side my grandmother instead she transmitted to me the love for nature, having grown up in the countryside, she introduced me to every flower and plant that we found along the path of our walks.

I believe that these two elements, architecture first and then nature represent my approach to art,

Despite this I approached photography at the age of 21, to escape perdition. In those years I had lost the center of myself. The first approaches take place on the street, photographing Rome and those who lived there. Subsequently in 2016 I attended the Higher Institute of Photography and Integrated Communication for three years, a path of professional but also human growth. In 2020 after the pandemic I open a studio, Lemon studio in rome, a space for the needs of all the figures in the sector

Looking at the behind the scenes photos of yours, it seems like there’s a huge process before a shoot. Tell us about the process leading up to a shoot.

Every day I study photographs from magazines, I see films or short films to get inspired, I create moodboards, I study the poses, the lights. Continuous research to improve myself more and more.

Tell us about your project - Lemon Studio

Immediately after the first lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, I and two colleagues started Lemon Studio. We needed a space where we could experiment and create our ideas. But our intention with this space is to give the opportunity to all the figures in the sector to be able to give life to their ideas, confront and grow together. I believe that sharing is the main way to grow humanly and professionally. The contamination of different visions is only an added value for oneself.

What cameras do you carry on you on a daily basis?

I mainly use my Nikon D 750, but lately I am approaching medium format analog photography. I bought the mamiya rb67 and slowly I would like to work only with this one.

Do you pick your own models or do the agency’s assign you?

Often they are proposed to me by agencies but the choice is always mine.

What message do you want to convey with your photography?

More than a message I always try to tell a story, lately having opened a studio I am dedicating myself to studio photography, but mainly I love to set my shots in environments dominated by nature or architecture (better if brutalist) I love these two contrasts, the the gray of concrete and the green of nature.

Which is more important, what you shoot or how you shoot?

For me one does not exclude the other, if I have to choose I say `` what I shoot '' but then I must not abandon the way I shoot it, because both determine a photographic identity.

What made you gravitate towards photography?

I was in a dark period of my growth, I did not see a way forward, approached photography while I was walking around Rome, then slowly as I went on I realized that photography was talking to me, that it transmitted emotions to me, it made me feel I live. Although it has always been in my veins, because photography has always been present in the family, the approach came in the darkest period up to that moment of my life, it brought me the light.

Was photography something that you’d ever think you’d be doing right now?

I had never thought about it. I tried a first approach to the world of art, when I had to start high school my intention was to attend the art high school, but for my parents there were only two ways: the classical high school or the scientific one.

I gave up on art, I was quite passive. But apparently art hasn't given up on me, and ever since it showed up, I now live for it. I don't stop only at photography, but I also love architecture, design, cinema, the human body and nature which I think are the most natural forms of art.

How was business during quarantine?

During the quarantine, my lifeblood was inevitably photography. I was firm from a commercial point of view, but I started three projects that daily stimulated my mind so as not to end up in oblivion. I created a collection of still life which then took part in an editorial project published by Door Factory, then together with my brother who works in the world of advertising, together with his background we gave life to the project '' L.I.T.S. imagination will save you. ''

And finally I created a photographic diary, every day at the same time I snap what I saw from my terrace.