PHOTOGRAPHER FABIO BOTTIROLI
Italian photographer and producer Fabio Bottiroli lives in a city close to Milan and has always been interested in people, and visual communication. It was during a marketing position for a sportswear brand that he began to take notice of photography as he was spending time on production of campaigns and lookbooks.
Fabio thank you for joining us today, tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences?
I’m mostly inspired by outsiders and underdogs, people without any initial credit that prove themselves able to subvert predictions and to earn credibility and recognition.
Since I don’t have a proper artistic education, my first inspiration come from the photographers I had the chance to admire in action on sets. I particularly remember a huge artist, Andrea Massari, who sadly passed away few years ago. In regards to international artists I am greatly inspired by Mert & Marcus, the never aging class of Lindbergh and the raw and sensual realism of Nan Goldin.
Tell us a bit about your creative process and somethings you are looking forward to this year?
I strongly believe in the power of the collective, therefore my creative process is always based on the interaction and on the contribution of all the professionals involved in the shooting. In these terms each shooting becomes an occasion of sharing and enrichment.
The big purpose for this year is to escape from the comfort zone and to create more ambitious and challenging projects.
How has this year changed your creativity or how you see the world changing moving forward?
I have had less chances to shoot, and this meant I had to try to make every chance valuable. Even if I miss a bit the freedom of investing hours improvising and jamming, on the other hand it takes me to focus more on the preparation of the shooting and on the expected result.
Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?
I’m not really into global icons, as I’m more inspired by everyday people. But I'm thankful towards whom is using his/her visibility to highlight social issues and to demand equality and justice.
Do you think the art world needs to change, and if so how can it be improved.
I don’t account myself as an artist, therefore I don’t think I’m able to foresee or demand big changes. But I find inspirational that many young artists are using their visibility to give voice to social issues and to really pushing forward the society.
Talking about the process, social media and the thirst of visibility push us to become content creators, giving priority to the quantity over the quality. I hope that we’ll be able to create a sort of resistance to this trend and that we’ll manage to keep quality and creativity at core point of our productions.
What does wellbeing mean to you.
I’m a busy person, and I love to be busy. Wellbeing means to me to fulfill the time I have with productive activities, being them photography, music, sport, reading, without sacrifice relationships and social commitment.