Photographer of the Week #3: Giacomo Brunelli

This week we bring you work by photographer Giacomo Brunelli.

“I have been working on The Animals series since 2005. When I was a child I used to spend time playing with animals and I think that is why I push the lens often to its closest point of focus, almost touching the subject and forcing flight or fight from the animal, which is when I then record its reaction.

All the animals I photograph are found in the backyards, small villages, fields, and farms and I call the way I work ‘animal-focused street photography.’

Once I see an animal that I want to photograph, I try to ignore it then I run after it which usually gains a response; sometimes I just stare at it and see what happens. Their reactions are different, sometimes they are curious about the camera and sometimes they get scared about the noise of the shutter. When I am dealing with dead animals I pick them up from the ground and place them where I think the setting works. In this case my interaction with the animal is a way to give purpose to something that it no longer has.

The images are all shot on a 35mm Japanese camera, Miranda Sensomat, made in the ’60s with a removable viewfinder, allowing waist level composition or shooting with the camera set on ground.

The prints are self-printed in the darkroom and come with rounded corners and black edges. The flim is a Kodak Tri-x 400 and the best time to capture my subjects is in the morning, using both direct light when the sun is out or diffused light on a cloudy day.” -Giacomo Brunelli