c o n t r a d o c ! / f i n e a r t p h o t o g r a p h y / # 7

ś w i e t l i k / b r i l l / f r o m e a s t / g i l a t / d o u a y

s t r z e l c z y k / r i d o l f i / d a v i e s / m i r g a - t a s

d e b u t s v o l . 5

r i d o l f i

/ 62 / / 63 /

Francesco Ridolfi (b. 1981) | based in Bologna (Italy) and Brussels (Belgium) | professional photographer since 2008 | his first photo studio was open in 2010 in Bologna | released his first fine art photo series – Chess Portraits – in 2013 |

has received several awards, including 3rd place in the Moscow Foto Awards (2014), honourable mentions in the PX3 (2013) and IPA (2012 and 2011) | his photographs were

published in the book Best of the Best Photographers 2014 (OneEyeland, Chennai, India 2014) | represented by London’s Doinel Gallery (United Kingdom, since 2013)

and Take Production (Italy, since 2014).

/ www.francescoridolfi.com /

© fr

ance

sco

ridol

fi

fra

nce

sco

rid

olf

i

/ 64 / / 65 /

After my previous photo series, Chess Portraits, which – to be honest – obtained quite exposure and success,

I would like to try myself in something different. Something more intimate and introspective. Something that could suggest a story and be opened to the viewer

interpretation. After all I love the work of photographers like Erwin Olaf and Gregory Crewdson, the images and the worlds they create and that they are able to evoke.

The very first sparkle of the idea came when I moved to Brussels for some months. In my new home there

was a bathroom with a bathtub (could sound strange, but it was something unusual for me, as I always had just a shower in the places where I lived), so I started to take

some baths and enjoy the time for myself while I was having them. I quickly realised that nowadays, taking

a bath, is one of the rare situations completely for yourself, where you can take time and a space, thinking, reflecting and maybe let emerge emotions deeply buried

in your heart. It’s an opportunity to immerse ourselves in our own thoughts and let feelings and deep

memories rise to the surface.

To shape my idea, I needed to build the entire set from sketch. Otherwise I would not be able to control at best

the architectural style of it, the lighting of the set and have the freedom to move around it to find the perfect

framing for each photo. So I managed to obtain a classic atmosphere, refined but distancing: antiseptic in some ways – to evoke the depersonalising effect so typical

of hotels, but also to create a strong contrast with the all too corporeal humanity of the people under view.

room 322

/ 66 / / 67 /

Room 322_Guests 187

/ 68 / / 69 /

Room 322_Guests 187 Portrait IIRoom 322_Guests 187 Portrait I

/ 70 / / 71 /

Room 322_Guest 234

/ 72 / / 73 /

Room 322_Guest 341

/ 74 / / 75 /

Room 322_Guest 475

/ 76 / / 77 /

Room 322_Guests 531

/ 78 / / 79 /

Room 322_Guests 531 Portrait IIRoom 322_Guests 531 Portrait I

/ 80 / / 81 /

Room 322_Guest 586

/ 82 / / 83 /

Room 322_Guest 602