Short summary
My name is Piero Corvo, I am 28 years old and I am a photographer from Naples, Italy. Photography is not my main work activity. I have a degree in business administration and a major in marketing, reason why I currently work in the marketing department of a streetwear fashion brand as a Partership Manager.
Photography for me represents the center of the world around which my whole existence revolves. I have always avoided a certain kind of "commercial" photography, always preferring documentary and reportage photography. Telling a story is the meaning of my life, even in my work.
For me, photography is everything. I think it all started with cinema. Watching masterpieces from an early age, thanks to my father, definitely helped to shape in me a certain kind of aesthetic beauty towards images. I recently set up this website with the aim of expanding my audience and trying to tell life stories. I have only one goal: to photograph humanity.
Read more: Humans on the street interview
1) Can you please introduce yourself?
My name is Piero, I am 28 years old and I hate to call myself a photographer. I don't do it for work, I just do it for passion. For me, photography is everything. I think it all started with cinema, watching masterpieces from a very young age, thanks to my father, definitely helped shape within me a certain kind of aesthetic beauty toward the image. But cinema is not everything, I think all the art around me is a source of inspiration. My photography also comes from music, poetry and painting.
2) What makes you take photos on the street?
This is a question I often ask myself. I can tell you that I don't have a definite answer. I know there is something very strong that drives me to take pictures, but I can't explain exactly what. I definitely have a complicated relationship with photography. I call myself a wandering soul with a camera in my hands. I enjoy taking images that defy convention, capturing the beauty hidden in the cracks of the world. I'm not really interested in following rules or conforming to a certain type of photography. What I try to do every day may consist of an act of revolt against homologation and hypocrisy. Maybe that is the right answer.
3) Is there something that you mainly think about when you take photos?
I think about getting excited. What I look for from photography is just pure emotion. Sometimes I realize right away that I have taken a good photograph, at that moment there is nothing more beautiful in the world. The moment when you stare at a scene and press the button, knowing that you are capturing a once-in-a-lifetime moment is a unique feeling. Actually, everything that comes after that really interests me very little. I'm a terrible selector, sometimes I'm faced with hundreds of photographs that I've taken and I can't pick one that I like. I also find the postproduction stage to be extremely tedious. What matters most to me is what happens during the shooting. The raw authenticity of the initial capture holds a certain magic that, for me, remains unparalleled even in the subsequent stages of the photographic process.
4) I saw the photo of your grandmother on your feed. Can you tell me some more stories about your grandmother?
My grandmother was born in Ethiopia, as was my father. She lived an extraordinary life until the mid-1970s. There was a coup and my family had to flee to Italy. Here they started a new life again. My grandmother always had a strong connection to her homeland and I think she suffered a lot in leaving it forever. Her life here was marked by several unpleasant episodes, she first lost her husband, then two children in fortuitous circumstances. What I have always appreciated about her is her strength and wisdom. She is someone who is very close to the concept of art. She is like an artist, but without making art. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago when I visited her in the nursing home where she is now. She is there because she has almost totally lost her lucidity due to Alzheimer's, but I was pleased to find her in better shape than the last time I visited her. I took several photographs of her, but this is the one that most represents her, in my opinion. The bond with her grandparents is a special one, one that transcends the concept of love and goes beyond it. Perhaps someday I will be able to understand it all, but for now I find that there is always a strong mystery behind this bond. But maybe I don't have to worry about all that and simply accept this form of unconditional love.
5) Can you tell me some behind story or the moment when you captured the photo below?
I took this photograph during the celebration of Napoli's third Scudetto, after 33 years since the last one. I have never particularly loved soccer, but what I loved this year was the unexplainable feeling that pervaded the city and the people of Naples. Reason why I found myself with great joy watching all the team's games this year. It is difficult to explain the emotions that have been there during this long year. It was like witnessing a revolution. An unknown team in southern Italy defeating the biggest ones. David versus Goliath. After the last game I went down to the street with my camera to watch the celebration. There were people everywhere, fireworks, smoke bombs. Suddenly I saw a young boy climbing a light pole. I reached him, there was perfect light and he was in perfect backlight. The smoke from the smoke grenades next to me was making the air unbreathable, but I had to take that picture. So I waited for the right moment and took the shot. The young man stood there for about a minute in silence, contemplating from above the collective madness that pervaded the streets that night. It was a moment of deep magic, I can assure you.
6) What kind of photography do you want to take in the future?
I will continue to do street photography. I am not interested in other kinds of photography. What I want is to tell stories through language, although I am aware that photography does not represent reality, but changes it every time as it pleases. What I would like to do in the future is to tell a strong story, to photograph the last, the marginalized in society. I would like to give voice to those who have no voice. Photography can have this power, but I know that all that is not enough. For me, street photography is not about making art, it is simply about telling a story and telling - in a small part - about the world, that's all.
Thank’s to Lee You Seop.