All I Want For Christmas Is New Year’s Day

“Everybody waits for Christmas;
For me it’s New Year’s Day
That’s gonna come and take my blues away.
I’m wishing on the stars for Christmas
And hoping for a better day
When it doesn’t hurt to feel this way.
And everywhere there’s joy around this festive time of year
And happiness has never felt so far away.

All of the bells ringing out for Christmas,
I’m singing goodbye to the year before:
I know that the next one will be different
So much more.
All of the bells ringing out for Christmas,
And I’m not supposed to feel this way,
But all that I want this year for Christmas
Is New Year’s Day.

It’s only seven days till Christmas,
Six more till New Year’s Day;
It’s not a good time to feel this way.
Everywhere the snow surrounds you
And melts your troubles away:
I can only hope to feel the same.
I know that there will be tidings of joy this time next year,
But happiness has never felt so far away.

All of the bells ringing out for Christmas,
I’m singing goodbye to the year before:
I know that the next one will be different
So much more.
All of the bells ringing out for Christmas,
And I’m not supposed to feel this way,
But all that I want this year for Christmas
Is New Year’s Day.

I remember how I used to feel at Christmas.”

[ All I Want For Christmas Is New Year’s Day – Hurts ]

This is a quite accurate portrayal of how I felt at Chrisrmas last year. It was not the easiest of periods for me, I didn’t really know who I was and what I wanted to do with my life anymore (with photography being my only exception to an otherwise bad moment) and I was totally out of the festive mood. As I always find relief in music, I was listening ot this song to exorcise my feelings when I got the idea for this exact image with that tiny tricot Chrismas Tree that I had at my mother’s place. Due to the whole ordeal I was going through I could not fly home and shoot it there and then, so I decided to wait. Despite the fact that fortunately things have changed and got better in the meantime, I still loved the idea, so I waited to get back home for Christmas to shoot it as soon as I could. As for Magic Is Coming, it is a self-portrait I set up myself and took with the assistance of my mother, DamaInNero, who made everything much easier.
This is the first photo of the Inspiration Hurts project I shot with my Canon EOS 5D and I’m amazed by how the bokeh came out and how I managed to handle the light. I really can’t wait to take more photos for this project, in particular now that Hurts set a release date for their new album. Let’s cross fingers.

Sunlight

“Sunlight failed, but only for a while.
In the moonlight pale someone made me smile.
The shining almost took me, but I made it through that night
And, in the morning, life it graced me and I ran for miles
Into sunlight, in a billion dreams that are lost and won,
And moonlight. In spite of all you’ve seen, there’s only one way out:
Say you will love me until I leave the world.

Say you will love me until I leave the world.
In a billion dreams that are lost and won.
Say you will love me until I leave the world.
In spite of all you’ve seen, there’s only one way out.”

[ Sunlight – Anathema ]

The first work for my Weather Systems project is Sunlight. I really do hope the photo speaks for itself, in particular if accompanied by the music and the lyrics, but I’d love to spend some words about it anyways.
There’s no particular reason why I chose it to open the project, except I got it ready first. As promised, it is a diptych with one photo portraying the weather phenomenon from the title and lyrics and the other the related mood. Sunlight is a happy song. Yet, I think its more about serenity and optimism than an outburst of joy: that’s why I had Riccardo look content and serene rather than overjoyed. There’s confidence in his pose that expresses trust in the future while I tried to give the photo a generally relaxed atmosphere. On the other hand, rather than banally just shooting the sun with some landscape I tried to take a peculiar photo of it, something that would subtly suggest the sunlight: that’s how I came up with the idea of trying to turn that branch into a candle of sort.
To be honest, the idea was rather sudden, I had it just the day before shooting: at first I wasn’t expecting snow and this photoshoot was supposed to be very grim, but when I checked the weather forecast I was overjoyed because I’d been looking forward to shooting in the snow for years literally. I thought snow would perfectly fit the song because it is luminous as it can be, and here is the finished work.

Weather Systems

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m glad to introduce to you my new long-term project: Weather Systems.

I know I already have a handful of half-finished ones on the go, but you know, ideas stuck at random and I just can’t help it.

Once again, it’s a project inspired by music: Anathema’s latest album (and namesake of the project), Weather System, was released earlier this year. 2012 has been blessed with so many amazing records that it’s really hard to pick a favourite one, but this album really gets close to the title. The amazing blend of beautiful music, essential arrangements, breath-taking lyrics and impressive emotional depth of each song makes Weather Systems a real masterpice and a highly inspiring piece of music. Indeed, once I got used to the songs enough to stop crying each time I’d listen to them (even on a train on my way to interviewing Vincent Cavanagh), I immediately started getting images and ideas for photos, and they were so consistent that I decided to develop them into a proper series.

Weather Systems is not strictly a concept album, yet it has a common theme that touches all the songs. Weather conditions and parts of the day used as metaphores to descrive the “internal landscapes” of people: their feelings, their reactions to particular situations they may go through, their fears, hopes, dreams, even near-death experiences. The emotional depth of each song is enough to inspire a photograph, but this general idea behind the album amplifies it all and inspired me with images that would give a double rendition of it.

The project will thus consist of ten diptychs – one for each song, except one song which will have two – and will feature an image of nature, sky or weather matched with a portrait to represent both the emotions and the metaphore of the song. This is the common ground on which the series will be built and will give it a stronger cohesion than ever.

Currently, I have two works done for the Weather Systems project: one will be released tomorrow, while the other will have to wait a bit (because it’s the second diptych for the song I decided to split). You will be able to see the progress by selecting the related tag on this blog, or by checking the related gallery on my deviantART. I really do hope you’ll enjoy this work, for I’ll be literally pouring my heart into it.

Scheiße

“I don’t speak German but I can if you like, ohw yah.

Ich schleiban austa be clair,
Es kumpent madre monstère.
Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen
Begun be üske but-bair.
Ich schleiban austa be clair,
Es kumpent üske monstère.
Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen,
Fräulein üske-be clair.

I’ll take you out tonight,
Say whatever you like.
Scheiße, scheiße, be mine.
Scheiße, be mine (scheiße, be mine).
Put on a show tonight,
Do whatever you like.
Scheiße, scheiße, be mine.
Scheiße, be mine (scheiße, be mine).

When I’m on a mission
I rebuke my condition:
If you’re a strong female
You don’t need permission.

I, I wish that I could dance on a single prayer.
I, I wish I could be strong without somebody there.
I, I wish that I could dance on a single prayer.
I, I wish I could be strong without the scheiße, yeah.
Without the scheiße, yeah.

I don’t speak German but I wish I could, ohw yah.

Ich schleiban austa be clair,
Es kumpent madre monstère.
Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen
Begun be üske but-bair.
Ich schleiban austa be clair,
Es kumpent üske monstère.
Aus-be aus-can-be flaugen
Fräulein üske-be clair.

Love is objectified by what men say is right.
Scheiße, scheiße be mine,
Oh shit, be mine (oh shit, be mine).
But high-heeled feminist enlisting femmes for this,
Express your womenkind,
Fight for your rights (fight for your rights).

When I’m on a mission
I rebuke my condition:
If you’re a strong female
You don’t need permission.

I, I wish that I could dance on a single prayer.
I, I wish I could be strong without somebody there.
I, I wish that I could dance on a single prayer.
I, I wish I could be strong without the scheiße, yeah.
Without the scheiße, yeah.”

[ Scheiße - Lady Gaga ]

Scheiße is easily one of my favourite Lady Gaga songs. It’s deadly catchy, blends a whole lot of influences and has extremely clever lyrics, both in the messace conveyed and in the use of the fake German monologue (if you have something to say about it, I’ll be glad to discuss it in the comments). Scheiße is also one of Briar Rose’s favourite Gaga songs, as it’s very meaningful to her. No wonder, thus, if I wanted her to model for it.
This photo really went through much tribulation: the idea is perhaps about one year old, but due to several circumstances it had to wait until now - which did really help, as I finally have a full-frame now. Briar Rose and I discussed the idea and the styling months ago, agreed on the details, but missed most of the occasions to shoot it. Finally, we made it happen and it came out almost exactly how I imagined it, but definitely conveying the message and feelings I wanted it to have.

The differences between the original idea and the final outcome are basically two: first, I wanted a brick wall as the background, but eventually the fence worked much better than it would have; secondly, you can’t unfortunately see the top underneath the leather jacket, which was supposed to be part of the concept. There were other shots that showcased it, but I opted for this one because it has the perfect feeling even without it. The idea was to have a lacey, childish top hidden by the leather to symbolize the tough skin women have to grow in today’s society as opposed to the desire for the freedom to be feminine, but Briar Rose’s expression and pose alone do convey this feeling. Despite the outfit, she’s not a prostitute or anything like that, she’s just a woman who’s trying to shield her own womankind from the world by looking harsh and dangerous.

Anyways, we can’t really stay serious for too long, so enjoy our parody of Llama del Rey’s Ride thingie, which unfiortunately is pretty much the total oppposite of Gaga’s empowering, stand-strong, pro-woman message.

Starstruck

“Groove, slam, work it back,
Filter that, baby, bump that track.
Groove, slam, work it back,
Filter that, baby, bump that track.
Groove, slam, work it back.
Space Cowboy, just play that track.
Gaga in the room, so starstruck,
Cherry-cherry-cherry-cherry, boom boom.

Rolling out to the club on the weekend,
Styling out to the beat that you’re freaking,
Fantasize on the track that you’re tweaking,
Blow my heart up.
Put your hands on my waist, pull the fader,
Run it back with original flavor.
Cue me up, I’m the twelve on your table,
I’m so starstruck.

I’m so, I’m so
starstruck,
Baby, ‘cause you blow my heart up.
I’m so starstruck,
Baby, ‘cause you blow my heart up.
I’m so starstruck,
Baby, ‘cause you blow my heart up.
I’m so starstruck,
Baby, ‘cause you blow my heart up.

Baby, now that we’re alone, got a request:
Would you make me number one on your playlist?
Got your Dre headphone with the left side on,
Wanna scratch me back and forth back and forth, uh-huh.
Put your hands on my waist, pull the fader,
Run it back with the original flavour.
Get the breakdown first
Up until the chorus to the verse.

Hey, lil’ mamma, like really-really, is that him?
I haven’t seen you before and you’ve got all them big rims
Into that cash flow, I’m a fan of you, don’t trip,
Shawty say, hand over you signature right here
Like it’s just a dotted line, and I’m supposed to sign.
How she at it, a fanatic, and I think it’s going down.
She so starstruck, the gal all stuck,
I should have had an overdose, too many Starbucks.
Ain’t never seen a baller, paper that’s that taller,
Stunners that let their top back on their Chevy Impalas.
Hummers and all that fully loaded with two spoilers.
What did you call that when you showed up with two dollars?
But that’s another chapter, son of a bachelor.
All on me, just spotted a baby actor,
So please swagger, they’re gonna dagger,
Got what she want, shawty happily ever after.”

[ Starstruck - Lady Gaga ]

I might have stated it repeatedly, but even though I kind of consider myself a Little Monster now, I still have a quite scarce feeling with Gaga’s debut album, The Fame. Out of what she’s done so far, it’s perhaps the most canonical work, with really good songs beside banal or even shallow ones. Although I already have at least sough ideas for such songs as Paparazzi, Just Dance and LoveGame, and love others such as Poker Face, I Like It Rough and Again Again, I find it difficult to relate to most of the other songs from that period and therefore draw inspiration from theme, whereas most of the ideas for The Fame Monster and Born This Way are already fully sketched up in my head.
Nevertheless, when inspiration strikes you can’t ignore it, and this was the case with Starstruck. In this case, it was the star-shaped ceiling light at my friend Mari’s house that gave me the inspiration. I immediately asked our friend Valentina to pose for me, which she accepted, and the photo was quickly taken. There were quite a lof of funny moments, as both of us had to climb on ladders and she was a bit afraid of that, with Mari and her flatmates helping us to keep balance, but when we succeeded it was even more satisfying.
So, her expression, the headphones and, of course, the star-shaped light she’s staring at are all meant to represent the song lyrics and the concept of being starstruck. The shiny bracelet she’s wearing is a fashion detail I thought woud add a nice touch to the photo, which it did. I’m quite happy with this photo and I discovered Valentina is really photogenic, so I’m now looking forward to working with her again soon. Also, I’m glad I got such an idea for this song, as I was afraid it would be harder to represent because it’s not among my favourites.

Emptiness in a frame

It’s definitely unavoidable for artists to pur much more of themselves than they intend to into their work. I’ve always admitted that what you can see in my photos is not the real world, but merely my take on it, the way I see it, which of course reflects my state of mind. Thus, I found it interesting to look at my own photos and try to deduce something about myself, in particular analyzing my non-portraiture pictures, those that simply show a place or object without focussing on a human subject.

Well, I noticed that my world appears to be totally empty, almost bleak and sad. I managed to shoot perfectly empty, lifeless photos even in such a lively and colourful city as Venice. This is something that shows even in my portraits – if you pay attention, you’ll se that beside the main subject there’s never anybody else, even when we shoot outdoors in such places as Milan’s city centre – but it became particularly noticeable in my latter shoots of such a popular touristic place as Venice. Okay, I shot smaller alleys rather than well known places (mainly because I find no point in shooting the Rialto bridge, Piazza San Marco, Canal Grande or other oh-so-seen-of landmarks) and I also had to wait for the right moment when there were no passers by, but it’s still hilarious to get such images in a city that’s widely known for tourism – let alone the association with the Carnival. That’s simply my style and I tend to get such images pretty much anywhere I go.

So, looking at my photos one might think deep down I’m a very lonely and melancholic person, that I avoid other people and so on. These last few monochromes in particular could look like the work of someone with manic-depressive tendencies.

The truth is, my photography simply reflects me being a total control freak. I need to be in control of anything that’s around me as much as I can and this becomes quite easy when I shape my own world through images. The crowd, random people interacting with a scenery and with one another, are absolutley unpredictable and uncontrollable, they totally escape my mental scheme, thus I do my best to cut them off my world. Emptiness, silence and stillness, they all mean the order and control I constantly struggle to get over my life rather than an attempt to isolate myself from the rest of the world.Paradoxically, I think my whole control issue is the first thing that got out of my hand, so I’m trying to work on that so that it won’t keep affecting other aspects of my life. To be honest, right now I’m not concerned about how it reflects in my photography though, as I really like it the way it is, without disturbing elements that spoil the aesthetic order of the image. I don’t really know how I’ll be growing artistically and personally, so this maight change in time, but regardless of that I find myself glad for what photography helps me achieve not only as an artist, but as a human being: express and learnt to know myself.

Fashion

“I am, I’m too fabulous.
I’m so fierce that it’s so nuts.
I live to be model-thin,
Dress me, I’m your mannequin.

J’adore Vivienne, habillez-moi,
Gucci, Fendi, et Prada,
Valentino, Armani too.
Merde, I love them, Jimmy Choo!

Fashion: put it all on me.
Don’t you want to see these clothes on me?
Fashion: put it all on me.
I am anyone you want me to be.
Fashion: put it all on me.
Don’t you want to see these clothes on me?
Fashion: put it all on me.
I am anyone you want me to be.

Ooh la la la,
We love designer.

I need some new stilettos,
Can’t walk down the street in those.
You are who you wear, it’s true,
A girl’s just as hot as the shoes she choose.

J’adore Weitzman, habillez-moi,
Louis, Dolce Gabbana,
Alexander McQueen, eh oh,
Merde, I love those Manolo.

Fashion: put it all on me.
Don’t you want to see these clothes on me?
Fashion: put it all on me.
I am anyone you want me to be.
Fashion: put it all on me.
Don’t you want to see these clothes on me?
Fashion: put it all on me.
I am anyone you want me to be.

Ooh la la la,
We love designer.”

[ Fashion - Lady Gaga ]

The photo for Fashion came as unexpected as the song itself: I had no clue about its existence until I heard it playing from Alessandro Jonah’s computer and totally fell in love with it. Similarly, I didn’t plan to take a Fashion photo during this session - I didn’t even start to think of the concept - but it came out by itself.
I wasn’t even sure if I really liked this photo until I started toying with it in Photoshop to see what I could get out of it and I was blown away. Beside the colours, which were as bright even before I opened it courtesy of the amazing Burano, and Briar Rose who’s totally gorgeous by nature, I love how the dress turned out. You can perfectly see the pattern of the lace and how the light gently draws Briar Rose’s body underneath it. This is everything fashion photography should be about, which is why I give this picture the title.
I’ve also learnt quite a lot about how to handle details in fashion photography from this photo and a little mistake I’ve done (which I won’t reveal, of course!), so it also helped me grow professionally.

The Infernal Lords XXI: Agares

“You know this will go out of hand
If we don’t understand.
This confusion of tongue
Feels so wrong.

We’re lost in Babylon, Babylon,
Time is slipping away.
Holding on, it won’t be long
Until the dawn of the day.”
[ Babylon – Delain ]

Countess Agares is the Demon of Languages and Literature, and thanks to her powers she can instantly teach them to any Mortal who conjures her, in exchange for thir soul. She was formerly a Virtue and didn’t belong to the first set of Fallen Angels, those who were cast out after the Great Heavenly War. Due to her intelligence and culture, she was in fact very likely to become the new Second-in-Command of Virtues under Great Angel Raphael’s leadership until the Babel Tower incident occurred. In that occasion, she strongly disagreed with Yahweh’s punishment, as she thought that mankind’s knowledge was too precious to be scattered all across the Earth and fragmented in different languages; so, she disobeyed Yahweh’s will descending on Earth and trying to undo his deed. Together with the positive opinion she previously expressed on the Tree of Knowledge incident, covertly praising Marquis Leviathan for freeing Adam and Eve from the utter ignorance in which Yahweh had forced them to live, this cost her her place in Heaven and she was subsequently warmly welcomed in Hell, where she was offered a place in the Second Level of Demons as the Director of the Infernal Library thanks to her immense knowledge.
Despite the deep grudge she bears towards Heaven, she has never managed, nor cared, to really settle in Hell, preferring to remain with her books and keep nothing more than mere politeness with fellow Courtiers. Her closest bonds are with Count Mephistophel, whom she appreciates thanks to his professionalism in finding her contracts with Mortals, the ever-friendly Marquise Decarabia, Count Furcifel, who was cast out of Heaven at the same time as her, and also Duchess Astarte, whom she still respects since the times the latter was the Queen of Heaven. She seldom leaves the Library, mostly when Duke Astaroth asks her for books (while being too indolent to go fetch them himself) and, in particular, when she’s conjured on the Earth by some human for her powers. While she’s still pretty eager to give her help, she now does so mostly as a mere act of rebellion against Yahweh rather than out of true interest in mankind: this is perhaps the reason why she finds a particular pleasure in teaching profanity and immoral expressions first.