Luigi Iovane - Polaroider Experimenter

"For over 30 years I have been dealing with the world of "images" and organizing a festival of animated films (Imaginaria - www.imaginaria.eu ) since 2003. I have always been fascinated by the Polaroid that has an important place in my artistic and professional life. I can identify myself as a "polaroider experimenter" and I use several vintage Polaroid machines (SX-70, SLR 680) but also new tools such as the Polaroid Lab."

See more of Luigi's work on instagram at @luigi_ulisse_iovane_ph

ALTER/ANALOG: Do you find that you have a theme to your work?

LL: Each of my works comes from an "instant idea" or a personal research. Some works are strictly experimental, others are more elaborate and require longer times.

ALTER/ANALOG: What attracted you to instant film?

LL: The many analog creative possibilities. There is no other photographic medium that can give you the opportunity to work often with unpredictable results and therefore the result may not be what you hoped for. There is also a material and expressive quality that also recalls painting approach. Today the instant film (Polaroid) is material used and manipulated by "visual artists" rather than commercial photographers. Great photographers of the past used Polaroids in particular for their works and for their expressive and artistic research.

Today, with the return of Polaroid films, new opportunities are reopening.

ALTER/ANALOG: How did you get your start in photography?

LL: I started very early at the age of 12 thanks to my uncle who is passionate about photography. I remember when during the high school period I was the official photographer of the school and when in 1984 I made a film documentary with Super8 camera! I was an unwary and I had no technical knowledge but a lot of curiosity and passion. Later I trained in Rome in a photography school and immediately after I started to work. Then after a few years I left the photograph and went to the cinema. I have been organizing an animation film festival since 2003 but photography has always been with me. In the last 2 years I have started photographing using the SX-70 instant camera from the 70s and a large format camera.

ALTER/ANALOG:  What projects are you working on next?

LL: My projects for the near future will be realized with the large format camera (negative film and Polaroid 8x10). I will wait for spring because I will need better light to photograph outdoors at certain times of the day.