Through Their Eyes: Maurizio Strippoli
Milan-based Maurizio Strippoli describes his photography style as “clean, no frills, making use of very soft and quiet colours.” He works instinctively to create his minimalist images, which he prints himself in small format on cotton paper.
He also works as a graphic designer, and if you look at other projects in his folio (especially Zones With(out) People) I think you can really see that graphic sensibility coming through.
Today however, we’ve been treated to a look into Maurizio’s personal travel photo album. When I first got in touch, he was about to depart for Andalusia in Spain, and promised to share photos upon his return. I admit, I had only a vague idea where Andalusia was until I subsequently looked it up, but even just the name sounded incredible so I was very excited to see the results. Thanks Maurizio!
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Andalusia: I’ve been wandering around Andalusia in Spain for three weeks, reaching Europe’s most southernly point. It’s been the occasion to explore a unique region, with a peculiar identity shaped by geography as well as by the people who inhabited it over the centuries. People of different origin, culture, religion and habits.
Name a place or experience that you really loved.
It’s funny, but if I have to chose I’d name the Tabernas Desert. I’ve been there visiting the studios where many “Spaghetti western” movies were filmed. Spaghetti westerns were very popular in Italy during the Sixties and the Seventies and they are a part of my childhood memories. Now movie stars and the magic of the film industry have given way to a decadent amusement park made of abandoned, melancholic buildings where I’ve been walking like in a dream, between fiction and reality, in an unknown, yet familiar, world where I was a child again.
How do you decide what gear to bring (bodies, lenses, flash, tripod, bags)? Do you try to pack light? What’s your minimum must-have gear?
My equipment is very simple and it’s always the same one I carry around with me in all situations: ricoh grd III with external flash, optical viewfinder and extra wide-angle 21 mm. It allows me to have a good quality and a light weight. And to be discreet enough, when necessary.
Have you ever planned a series before you left, or do you just wait and see what happens?
No plans. I guess you could say my photography is pure instinct. I just point and click! I decide later if the photos will be part of a project already underway, will open a new series or will end up in the waste bin.
What do you do with your photos when you get home? Would you ever use them in your portfolio? Have you ever landed any commercial work because of your travel shots?
Back home, my photos have to undergo a very hard selection to become part of my portfolio. I usually leave them alone for a couple of weeks and then I start to select them. I do it over and over again I don’t know how many times! In partnership with shops and galleries I sell limited edition prints, taking care personally of every detail and of each and every step of the realization. I never happened to work with my travel photos so far, but I think it can be a very interesting opportunity!
What would be your ultimate travel photography destination?
I have so many destinations in my mind and a great desire to discover more. But unfortunately I have to deal with the little time available. I wish I could go to Cuba.
