BEPPE BRANCATO

Photography

Beppe Brancato surpasses the standard definition of a photographer: He is young and successful with a professional trajectory that spells notable collaborations from the design sector and not only…

His Mediterranean temperament matches his international perspective; His self-awareness and constant ambition to grow and discover new stimuli, are mirrored in his work, where practicality and emotionality are in perfect synergy.

Light and consequently its alter ego, shadow, are his “painting brushes” while capturing the story and personality of his subjects on the “photographic canvas.”

Beppe Brancato’s photos explore concepts and compositional perspectives, translating the interior and exterior realm in a uniquely attractive and engaging manner. www.beppebrancato.com

3 words that best describe the personality of Beppe Brancato? 

Tenaciousness, pragmatism, ambition

What do you like and what do you dislike about your work?

I am lucky to do the best job in the world, therefore the things that I do not like about it, are very few. Perhaps, what I like least is when creativity becomes too much subjected to commercial needs. 

The beautiful aspects are certainly the ability to explore the concepts and perspectives of composition, create different cuts of light in an interior, as well as the ability to make real the unreal and constructed.

Your so far trajectory includes lots of A-list collaborations and prestigious “players”. Do you have a collaboration or a project that particularly stands out for you?  

I was lucky to meet and collaborate with several prestigious clients who have given me so much and helped me to grow a lot.

Last year I was involved in a special project by Cassina, for the creation of the book “This Will Be The Place”, about the future of domestic living, exploring contemporary social behavior and its possible impact on the future of interiors. 

www.cassina.com/en/press/cassina-90-2017-1927-will-be-place-book-explores-contemporary-social-behaviour-and-its-0

The book was a multifaceted and skillful stylistic exercise experimenting with different lights and different home atmospheres, to reinterpret a world and translate the meaning of the domestic and living space, that nowadays is almost saturated with itself.

It was engaging and innovative, allowing me to be impressed by every shot.

Nevertheless, I have to admit that is equally thrilling and honoring working on such interesting projects ranging from Ikea to Armani Casa, from Cassina to Zanotta.

Black & White or Color photography? Digital or analog?

I would come across as too much of a nostalgic if I say analog, even though nowadays the precision and meticulousness that defined analog photography, have almost vanished completely leaving everything up to the digital and the easy retouching.

In my work I like to use color a lot because it decorates and grants interesting and intriguing color contrasts; however, on a personal level, I prefer the Black and White.

Shadows play a principal role in your work, highlighting, defining and elevating your subjects and the overall outcome in a graceful, unique and captivating way. Tell us a bit more about this…? 

Shadows have the power to provide subjects with three-dimensionality; making them appear mysterious, attractive, and seductive. 

Shadows serve to express a vision; The shadow defines a space, caresses it, draws it, creates mystery and attraction. Of intrinsic fascination, light and consequently its alter ego, shadow, attracts and opposes in a directly proportional way, becoming a sine qua non of photography. 

If you could be any object, what would that be?

Among the many objects, I would choose to be a lamp, with the hope to never be only an object. The lamp has actually the power, when turned on, to transform an interior, a space, and to be able to contain in itself many emotions, remaining an active and absolute protagonist of situations.

What is the role of technology in your work?

In the digital age, technology has reached a very high level of significance, at times taking over the spontaneity of the shot. I do not deal well with it, but I recognize its benefits, and at this point, I cannot do without it.

If you could move to a different city which would it be and why?

I don’t think that I have yet found a city in which I would like to move.

I live in Milan for several years now, however, I do not feel that this is my city; Perhaps I still have to find it; In the meantime, I try to get the best out of every place.

What’s your personal take on the current Design scene?

It seems that over the last years, there has been an emergence of design fairs, exhibitions, and galleries, which as a result have taken away some of the exclusivity and purity that design used to hold in the past.

Many of them have certainly brought forth new talents and favored new creative endeavors, but perhaps today's overuse of the word design itself, and the consequential turn of events linked to it, have lowered the impact of design, making room without true control.

Your relationship with photography goes way back: If you were to think photography as your partner in life, what have you learned/taught from/to each other? 

Photography has given me and continues to give me and teach me the magic of light and all its related emotions, as well as the awe of the always different and the always new.

What I, in my small way, hope that I have given back, are the perspectives and the glances.

In your opinion, can ugly things make beautiful things even more beautiful? 

In a certain way, I think yes; Beauty was once objective and stereotyped, orthodox and impeccable. Today, beauty also needs the less beautiful things to exalt and counterbalance one another. 

There is an intrinsic charm in the ugly and in its power to make beauty even more beautiful.

Best advice you ever got? 

More than an advice, it was a life tip. My early days' teacher, when I was intensely trying to understand the difference between the film and the goals, he told me that every subject, every object, be it of the most varied nature, has in itself a thousand points of view and only a true photographer can capture them. It felt like the handing over of a subtle magic that I could not wait to accomplish.

Light, Color, location, Objects, Subjects: How do they play out in your photographic language?

Each plays a specific and important role in the shot, everything is a protagonist and antagonist at the same time, similar to a great game of chess thinking quietly on the moves to take.

There are spaces that have the ability to dominate the picture, and this goes also for the objects or the colors. The final result of a photo is sometimes chemistry.

If you could change one thing in the field of photography today, what would it be? 

The excessive opportunity for others to get their hands on a result already delivered that often does nothing but distort the soul of the shot itself.

If you could interview another creative who would he/she be? And why?

More than an interview, I would like to ask Kubrick where he found the inspiration to shoot Barry Lyndon with such an experimental power, and innovation in technique, with all the densely furnished interior scenes, shot entirely by candlelight, capturing authentically its texture in spite the difficulties back then to find technological support, with everything being constructed ad hoc, the film's slow burn approach grants emotions and photographs still enviable to this day.

Is happiness an aim or an outcome?

Happiness is both an aim and an outcome.

Sometimes it's a purpose; when the world seems to turn its back on you and everything seems to go wrong, then happiness becomes a goal to be reached in order to be able to love yourself.

At other times happiness is an outcome; the outcome of those sacrifices made in silence, sweat, and agony. Others can be both of them together…

Imperfections are…?

The reality! In a digital and digitized era, the pursuit of perfection is a fatal attraction, which distracts us from what our eyes are losing the habit of looking at. And so, we lose sight of the wrinkles, the defects, the imperfections, the unstitched threads, the fingerprints on the glass, and all that we try to avoid, that perhaps it’s the only real.

What does this year behold for Beppe Brancato? 

This year consists of many new jobs, different customers - some lost, some gained - a new home, new challenges, new lights to try, and photos to be reviewed.

Normal is…?

Ordinary is not always synonymous with bad. On a photographic level, the ordinary is always viewed in a boring and outdated manner.

Sometimes, however, the idea of doing something with an ordinary out-turn gets confused, and this is wrong, as that “ordinary” is the result of very hard work and achievement in past years.

How lucky do you consider yourself?

I feel lucky for what life has kept for me. My younger self would have never thought my life would turn out like this.

Today, I consider myself very fortunate and I love what I do, without trying to seem ungrateful, I would just want to have more time to travel and discover new stimuli and outlooks; yet a freelancer is a person who is married to his work and can rarely leave it for a while, but maybe this is also the beauty of it.

Content by Annie Markitanis