#EN1.1 Welcome
If this is your first time here, this is a good place to start.
When I wrote the first introduction to Making Pictures in December 2021, there were two difficult things I had to deal with. Now I have three.
First, breaking the ice is always a little awkward when you need a good opening line. I invested a lot of time writing and refining all the published articles, leaving no time for the incipit. Introducing myself was the second most challenging task. I had to consider people who knew me well and those who only knew me partially or not at all. Recently, a third problem arose when I decided to review each word and translate them into English.
Translating is never a purely mechanical act. When going from one language to another, meanings are negotiated culturally. Something is gained, but something is lost in the process. I have endeavored to be as accurate as possible, but I do not control what you will receive. The words are mine, but the interpretation is yours, and it depends very much on your personal experience, where you live now, and where you come from, which is fascinating. And appropriate. This is where thoughts roam free, not an enclosure of explanations.
Italian is my native language. I mainly studied French in school because, in the 1990s, it was the compulsory second language in schools in the North West of Italy. I learned English through video games, songs, and movies. I studied it in high school as a teenager and then in college. My English is a mixture of different experiences. Honestly, I have no idea how it sounds to a native speaker. If anything needs to be clarified, please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to explain (or try to). The same if you would like to share thoughts or comments.
Please do it. I mean it. You would make my day.
IG: @floriana.riccio
This is where I introduce myself
My life and education have been composed of varied experiences. If this were a resume, I would describe it as multidisciplinary. I spent the first three decades trying to gain experience. I still do, but the need to put things in some order comes with adulthood. Having them all piled up in the closet is sometimes a bit like not having them.
“And I advise you [...] to set yourself the goal of taking a small part of the planet and putting it in order, making it safe, sane, and honest”. Kurt Vonnegut, Don’t Forget Where You Come From. In: If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young
I work as a photographer in a beautiful valley surrounded by forests and mountains in northwestern Italy. This is great for my spirit, but it also means I must be very flexible to keep the business running. I mainly do portrait and commercial photography, but I don’t shy away whenever there is something I know and can do, even outside those areas.
I have an Instagram account that I curate with dogged intuition.
Many of the projects I do are an interweaving of nature, individuals, and territory and often have a slow evolution, so much so that even I cannot see their end. This makes me lousy at content creation for social media, but I’m okay with this. It takes time to explore the mountains.
“You will find yourself building or strengthening your community. Please love this destiny if it turns out to be yours: because communities are the only substance in the world [...]. Everything else is small talk”. Kurt Vonnegut, Don’t Forget Where You Come From. In: If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice to the Young
I have a degree in Computer Engineering, which I initially thought was a wrong choice. However, I eventually realized that computer science is only one of many ways to process information. I am currently studying Psychology, another way of understanding the world. Let’s say I am in the field of cognitive science. And with that, we close the introduction. Everything else is small talk.
What is Making Pictures?
Making Pictures is an online publication I started in January 2022. It consists of articles and essays about photography and psychology and how they overlap and mix inside the Picture Maker’s spirit. A blog, a newsletter, a collection of notes. Published words through a platform called Substack. The structure is fluid. There is no set reading order, just general themes: mind and patterns, visual language and stereotypes, motivation and inspiration.
Articles are published monthly every last Friday. All posts are free and accessible to everyone. Those who want to support Making Pictures can contribute by subscribing to one of the following plans (thank you in advance for your support!):
- Monthly subscription (€5/month): full access to all posts and archives, plus complete bibliography and references (PDF - digital download).
- Annual subscription (40 €/year): full access to all posts and archives, complete bibliography and references, and a paginated PDF of all articles (digital download only - If you would like a printed copy, we need to discuss shipping details. Additional shipping costs may apply, depending on your location).
Making Pictures is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Unless otherwise specified, all written material, graphics, and images are made by me under the CC Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International license.
I need to mention one more thing: I’ve translated some quotes directly from Italian. I have yet to find all the official translations in English. I will keep looking and make corrections as I go.
Why I decided to do all this
Many people have asked me. I don’t have a direct return; it’s an investment. My grandfather used to tell me, “learn a trade for a rainy day”.[1]
Here, Making Pictures is one of those trades. There are things I wish I had learned long ago. In a way, it is a teaching for the me-photographer of the past to make her life easier, to help her resolve issues and bear the frustrations that photography, like many other creative practices, carries with it. The dark side of an unpredictable surprising practice and, for that very reason, wonderful.
“This keeps photography an unpredictable and surprising medium[...]. And how the photographer got there is indescribable and mysterious. It stops dead in their tracks, those who would explain the whole business for us and make logical and predictable the content of photographs”. Philip Perkis, Teaching Photography: Notes Assembled
“Impara l’arte e mettila da parte” literally “learn some art and put it aside”. ↩︎
