The question

There are questions that I am asked more frequently than others.
Some among many are: «How did you come up with the idea of taking this photograph and where did you physically place yourself? Behind the subject for sure, but how did you explain this choice? How do you tell the subject that you're back there to take a photograph?" When you photograph on the street (please don't call it street photography, it's photography!) you act instinctively.
It's likely that everything starts long before taking the shot. They say that what you can see is related to the experiences you have had, the books you have read and the films you have seen, but also the music you listen to.
One part that I consider very important to influence the gaze is travel, but not all of it. It depends on the modality, on the time spent observing as we move from one point to another. Only after observing should the need to tell through photography arise.

So for everything to work it is necessary to slow down recognition and lengthen vision. Our gaze on places and people is sometimes hasty, too short to be assimilated and fixed in our memories.
Hurrying trips are not trips, they are a waste of time, they are waste. Traveling slowly is instead a political act, sometimes even revolutionary.
One thing is certain, what is urgent almost never leaves time for what is important and if you want to take good photographs, you must necessarily slow down and get yourself a pair of comfortable shoes.

Roberto Cristaudo
NP March 2024