Diego Indraccolo is a London based photographer. I stumbled upon his work as he had taken some portrait shots of my girlfriend some time before we met. I have been told he is a lovely, friendly man, who has taken the time to respond to my emails to him and now to these questions. I find his work fascinating, with a style I identify with, but most of all, he has style. You can see it in his images, although he is aiming for the fashion world, he's doing it his way...If you don't follow his work, I can't make you, but please take the time out to view his portfolio and blog.
Diego's Site & Blog Can Be Found Here :
Portfolio
Blog
His Name & His Images Says It All
Diego :
When did you 1st start taking photography seriously and what inspired you to take this path?
I started having an interest in photography when I was 18. I really like movies (who doesn't?) and photography became a way of creating my own scenes.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I guess in all of us there is a subconscious database of images we accumulate by simply seeing and feeling. Any movie, painting, photograph, book, travel, music or emotion will be stored or translated into an image and become part of my personal library. Then when I am challenged with a project or idea, all the appropriate imagery is recalled, which immediately provides me with a direction to work.
How much control over the images that you have taken have you had. Would you say most of it is personal, your vision and not dictated to you too much?I actually prefer it when there are more people contributing to the shoot. It takes it to a place where I wouldn't necessarily go on my own. Ultimately I am the one who creates the final image and I always have control of the outcome, but it is more fun to be challenged into doing things differently.
What interests you the most artistically speaking. I enjoy the dark / haunting style of your images. This seems to reflect in your fashion, landscapes, portrait work even the dentist surgery snaps. Are you the dark brooding and possible disturbed type :-) ?
I always think that if I didn't have to earn a living out of photography my portfolio would be a lot darker then that!
As for my personality, I am obviously of vampire descent. Just look at my surname...
Do you have a process, do you see a final image in your head before you begin to shoot or does it evolve & a side to that is how much photoshop do you use to achieve the final results?
Normally there is always the initial image and feel in my head. What comes out, is usually different to various degrees. As for Photoshop, I find it so boring, the less of it I can do the better. Sometimes I go for a look that requires a good amount of retouching, but I always know before hand. I never try to "fix" a picture in Photoshop. Subject direction, composition and lighting are the most important elements of a picture. No amount of digital editing can help with that.
What WAS your 5 year plan?
To make a living exclusively out of photography.
What IS your 5 year plan?
Now that I know how much I can make as a photographer I've decided I want to become a banker.
Did you achieve them in any shape or form?
The first one definitely. The second one is... Well, a joke.
I see your work has featured regularly in some magazines. Were you approached to do this kind of work or has it been all your hard work & efforts?
It's a bit of both, but my greater help in the published fashion I do comes from the stylist I work with, Kay Korsh. We've learned the game together and now it is much easier for us to get work printed.
What blogs/people are you following at the moment?
The usuals. A Photo Editor is quite a good reference as well as BJP and PDN.
Do you have, whether in photography or not, any philosophies that you follow?I have a few I'd like to follow, but I keep on changing my mind. So definitely no.
I am sure there are lots of ups and downs with this profession, can you describe some of the ups AND the downs you've experienced along the way & what keeps you going?
The ups of being a photographer are also somehow the cause of the downs. For instance, it is great to make your own schedule, meet a lot of different people, always work on different project, get to have your own studio (which doubles as your "playroom") and having your creative outlet be part of your job. But as a consequence of being your own boss, you need to motivate yourself and try hard to keep the business running. You have to deal with extremely boring parts of the profession, like invoicing, admin, taxes and promotion. You will never know how much you're going to earn and the expenses of renting a studio in London and keeping the equipment current are terribly high. You'll never have a paid holiday or sick day again. You will also never be able to separate work from private life. Photography and the business are your life.
The ups and downs of your business are the ups and downs of your life and viceversa.
What advice can you give for someone like me and others reading this and following your work?
Stop trying to learn and go take some cool photographs. There's nothing stopping you.
With Many Thanks To Diego. I look forward to seeing more work from him.
