MARIA DE FAZIO

MY POINT OF VIEW

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My primar memory of connecting with photography on a deep level stems from when I was around six years old.

My cousin - who is 20 years older and a talented photographer - hung pictures of her travels on the walls of my aunts house ... that is where my love for capturing the essence of a moment began.

 

From that time, I also remember long boring afternoons accompanying my mother to her meetings with my aunt and how I learned in these moments to enjoy the observation of how light moves through its surroundings, how it plays with shadow and its own brightness.

 

At age 12, my cousin and first teacher gave me a fully manual analog camera, a Minolta. This is how my apprenticeship in the photographic field began.

 

From there on, my journey took me on a cruise ship for my first job as a photographer. I had to learn how to work with the chemicals for developing the photos all on my own. The job offerings then took me into the field of capturing important moments of all kinds of special events.

 

My whole life, I was traveling a lot and mostly alone but always accompanied by my loyal partner - my camera. 

 

Years later, I was blessed to cross path with Giuliana Traverso, one of the greatest representatives of contemporary photography worldwide. Her eclectic style always intrigued and inspired me. She is teaching hundreds of professionals (all women) the beautiful craft of photography and I feel blessed that I am one of them.

 

I discovered that within me, there is a very personal way of perceiving reality which she defined as magic. She instilled in me how to make it visible what I perceive through my lens. My photos always speak from inside me and what my true sight is. I will always be immensely grateful to my great mentor.

 

Through photography, I am able to speak from my internal world while letting the external world show me its beauty without trying to alter or change her.

 

The beauty is all there, waiting to be seen from her genuine point of view, captured through an open lens that has not defined anything yet. It is then when magic starts to happen.