Mia Le JournalNADIA BATTISTA
Contest n.1 Mia Le Journal – Proraso story
– Hi Nadia, can you tell us about the feature you did for Mia Le Journal with the Proraso brand?
My project was entitled “What a mix-up, it must be Proraso” and it’s a tongue-in-cheek telling of two parallel stories, one of a couple of lovers and the other the story of the brand over the years.
I identified with the main character, a woman who, to please her boyfriend, shows her affection by playing a little trick on him, but it turns out he really loves it!
It’s a case of a parallelism that takes the product out of its context and gives it a new meaning. So every product becomes a food, prepared by the expert hands of this woman, who finds creative ways to use the product, from breakfast onwards in every meal of the day: mid-morning snack, lunch, aperitif, dinner and dessert.
Each meal is portrayed in a different style that evokes a particular point in history: the 50s, when the brand was founded, to the present day, via the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
She has no idea how these “healthy” foods came to be in her shopping basket, and pretends it’s all a mistake, but in the end he loves her even when she gets things wrong! To me, this also means taking care of yourself, exactly as a barber takes care of his customer.
– When did your passion for photography begin?
I started by studying advertising and graphics in high school, and got a taste for developing film for advertising posters and other projects. After that I started doing photography for the simple pleasure of taking photographs, until I went on to study Design at university, and I had to learn about doing still life so that I could create images of prototypes and studio models for my projects.
Photography has also acted as a support for another of my passions, painting.
Just two years ago I picked up a mirrorless camera for the first time, and I haven’t stopped since. What used to be a passion for the creation of images for my studies has become an important means of communicating or channelling my experiences and my personal way of seeing life by allowing objects to speak.
– Black and white or colour? Digital or analogue?
I don’t have a preference, I adore both colour and black and white. I’ve been in a position to value analogue, and I currently work with digital. I’d probably add printing to the options, both for analogue and digital. I usually print polaroid images from photos on my cell phone.
– We’re an image-based society. Do you think this inflation of images online and in all the media detracts from people who do photography passionately and seriously?
The overload of images we see every day might be a way of massifying experiences but, since photography is not only my passion but also design and teamwork, I believe that people who do the job properly and with passion will always have the edge.
– Photography projects for the future?
In recent years I’ve learned not to make too many plans for the future, and to seize what life offers me. But of course I always have the desire to do better work each time, and to grow both professionally and as a woman.