Through Their Eyes: Sivan Askayo

While preparing this post I realised that ‘Old Europe’ is somewhat under-represented here on Skip Town, but it’s certainly not on purpose. Sometimes I think it’s because this kind of beauty can be too obvious; the picture-perfect streets and spires, when photographed, can easily lurch into generic ‘postcard’ territory – oh the horror!

So today it’s nice to feature a series of unabashedly ‘lovely’ photographs of Florence. Sivan Askayo, a photo journalist based in New York, has clearly fallen for the city’s charms and created a portrait of Florence as most of us would imagine it to be – grand, faded and romantic.

My first time in Florence was a ‘sweet 16′ trip in Italy and our tour guide took us to Florence, but only for few hours. I think it was even less than a day. All I remember was the statue of David in a blur. It took me 20 years to go back to Florence for the second time, and honestly, I don’t know why it took me so long. Last year I got the urge to visit Florence, but only Florence. Was it because of a Travel article I read or just my imagination and curiosity to focus on Florence only. And my instincts were right! Florence was glorious. A little Renaissance gem in North of Italy. My trip was mostly focused on photography and my wish to see more of this city than the statue of David. I walked a lot, as walking is my favorite way of discovering a new place and got into some great neighborhoods beside the touristic attractions.

What was your last travel destination?
I was one week in Paris at the end of March, working on an editorial assignment for a design and lifestyle magazine. I was writing and shooting an article about the design scene in Paris, including some of my favorite places and shops in this city. Once the assignment was finished, I traveled to Tel Aviv for almost a month; It was partially a holiday visiting friends and family and partially work, shooting materials for future articles.

Name a place or experience that you really loved.
There are so many. I’m trying to have at least one profound experience in every place I travel. I find the great experiences in the little things; running up the hills of Florence early in the morning and watching the city from Piazzale Michaelangelo; walking in Gracia Neighborhood in Barcelona and finding a great laundry shot for my ‘Intimacy Under the Wires’ collection; tasting some great food in a small local market in Sapa, Vietnam; or having some early morning shots in Paris.

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?
I prefer traveling light but it also depends on destination; if I travel to a place where I can rent gear, than I sometimes prefer doing so, but if I travel to places such as East Asia than I’m taking my gear with me. Which is quite light anyway; DSLR Nikon D90 and 4 different lenses; 50mm/1.4, 35mm/1.8, 35-70mm/2.8 and 18-105mm/3.5. I also carry 2 external hard drives; one for work and one for back up. I try to avoid packing my tripod, to be honest, and if I can borrow one from a colleague I would gladly do so.

Have you ever planned a series before you left, or do you just wait and see what happens?
I never plan. I find planning quite as a limitation of your thoughts. Even if I plan something or have an idea, I always find it different on location. So better wait and see what happens in front of me. It never fails.

You have quite a distinctive post-production style. How do you achieve this?
I work with Lightroom and I play a little bit with contrast, blacks and colors. I try to give every destination a different ‘feeling’. The Florence series came out very much like a painting and I think it matches the feel and the essence of this city. It also very depends on the mood I’m in and what I experience from the place. I just got back from Tel Aviv and noticed the retro/vintage atmosphere in the streets, the stores and some products so I’ve decided to edit my photos of Tel Aviv in a vintage look and feel.

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?
I always download my photos to the hard drive at the end of the day or every two days. I like to keep the memory cards ‘clean and fresh’ as much as possible for the next day. Yes, I do use some of my images to my portfolio. I pick few and then debating which ones will fit the portfolio. I haven’t landed any commercial work yet! but I’m planning on doing so quite soon.

What would be your ultimate travel photography destination?
That’s a tough question; I would love to go to Cuba, Brazil, Shanghai. I’m getting a lot of emails from people around the world who have seen my project ’Intimacy under the Wires’ and they keep telling me I should visit this and this place and have some great laundry shots. I’m very tempted to go to India and Napoli for that, but also need to find a different angle than the expected images.