By Giulio D'Ercole
Movies that inspires visions and teach the art of lighting: Taxi Driver
Do you remember, or have you ever seen Martin Scorsese's movie "Taxi Driver" with a terrific, iconic, over the top, very young Robert de Niro? It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite all times movies. I know every scene and almost every line by heart. What an amazing trip into early seventies, dirty and sleazy New York. What a descending journey into a desperate, lonely, love craving man's soul. What an incredible visionary way to tell New York's night life, not only through words, but mainly trough images and through the colors of the city streets, its traffic lights, cars, neons and shining window shops. This is all great material that stuck in my mind, in my visual background, in my continuous work of exploration and discovery to find ways to tell stories through my photography. What an inspiration!
Experimenting with Light and Depth of Field, discovering the Art of Photography
Now, with that in mind, and always trying to look for new ways to make the invisible visible, capturing the very essence of life as it takes shape and materializes itself through the ever changing light effects, I went out, not on New York sin streets, but on via della Conciliazione, the avenue leading to St. Peter's Basilica, the heart of Catholic Church and Christianity. It was right after a heavy thunderstorm, and I was hoping to find, playing with reflections and street lights, a way to capture a sense of holiness and beauty, through a different kind of shots. So, I took some photos, looking for images going way beyond the usual stereotyped visuals narrating St. Peter's square and vicinities, images that could tell the presence of a religious soul, without being banal nor obvious.
An Angel Made of Light
The shot here below is probably the best shot I took on that very evening, and, to me, it responds 100% to my search, fulfilling all the expectations I had: Traffic lights and lampposts played together in a magical way creating a figure of light, looking like an happy Angel of Light, almost a joggler handling fire balls in the darkness.
I dedicate this shot to my dear friend Gioia di Biagio, writer of the book "Come Oro nelle Crepe" (Like Gold in Cracks), a shining example of living and inspiring light!
