#5 & #6 - live is life

Today's post is about the one thing in life no one should ever get sick of: music

_{Here I'm starting from photos #5 & #6 of my introduction. Please, take a look back at my previous introduction-related posts on my blog to obtain a deeper and wider visual experience of my photography.}

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Music has been in my life since I was born I guess. When I was a child, during our long journeys by car with my family, my parents used to play some Pink Floyd audiocassette, and when we were home, the radio or stereo was often on playing an old vinyl from my dad's collection from the '70s. No matter what, music was there.

As a teenager you could tell I was definitely very much into music, hard rock, punk rock, and alternative rock; I was very much influenced indeed by the bands I'd listen to, in terms of fashion and lifestyle. I've always loved going around live music bars, whatever band was playing, to listen to some brand new songs and get to know new people. All this made me closer and closer to the music scenario of my city, Rome, so much so that I finally come to meet a lot of bands and musicians of any kinds.

_{88 Folli live at Jailbreak, 2018}

Photography and Music

I met so many people playing in (at least) one band that it's hard for me to remember all bands' members' names so far. When you're a photographer and love live music, it's also hard not to take pictures. And you know, it's also very hard not to catch the attention of those who are playing on stage and are, notoriously, extremely narcisists (all artists are I guess). So many collaborations started thanks to my photography: with bands and musicians I worked as official photographer or video maker during live music events and cultural festivals, and all that made me closer and closer to music. Below you find some pics from Castello di C'Arte and Strange Days Festival, two festivals I worked for as photographer in the last few years.

_{Metrica live at Strange Days Festival, 2017}

_{Roberto Billi's band live at Castello di C'Arte, 2017}

_{Roberto Billi live at Castello di C'Arte, 2017}

_{Roberto Billi's band live at Castello di C'Arte, 2017}

_{Giancane's band live at Castello di C'Arte, 2016}

_{Piotta live at Castello di C'Arte, 2016}

_{Moseek live at Castello di C'Arte, 2017}

_{Leonardo Angelucci live at Strange Days Festival, 2017}

_{Galoni live at Castello di C'Arte, 2016}

_{Piotta's band live at Castello di C'Arte, 2016}

_{Moseek live at Castello di C'Arte, 2017}

_{Leonardo Angelucci live at Strange Days Festival, 2017}

Thanks to a TedX edition in Rome in 2015, I got to know Leonardo Angelucci's progressive rock band Lateral Blast and after months I went to their concerts taking thousands of pics, I got really close to all of the bands' members: a new friendship was born. Thanks to their music I realized how beautifully full life can be, and they began to consider me as part of the band too, like a mascot of some sort. It's hard to say in words, I hope my shots can tell you better than me what goint and listening to their live music concerts actually means. Pure magic possibly.

_{Leo | Lateral Blast}

_{Antonello | Lateral Blast}

_{Matteo | Lateral Blast}

_{Leo & Rosa | Lateral Blast}

_{Lateral Blast}

_Rosa

_Leo

...keep scrolling...

Thanks to Lateral Blast...

It's obvious that this band has meant a lot to my photography so far. Indeed, besides all the shots I continuously take of them at their gigs, and thanks to those I really improved a lot btw, I owe Lateral Blast a lot also in terms of jobs, collaborations and people I came across on my way thanks to their support. Indeed, because of Lateral Blast, I started working as official photographer for small live music venue Chinaski Punto, in Rome.

At Chinaski, hard rock and metal music venue, I had the chance to improve even more my photography technique, especially because the place was extremely small and super dark, and I had no professional equipment yet back then; therefore I had to make the best of what I had, including the worst lights conditions ever. My efforts were well paid back, because I met more and more interesting musicians and bands and some of them were interested in my photography in turn. Here's some of the best shots of random bands I met playing at Chinaski Punto.

My love story with music and bands is not over yet. After months and years, I definitely collected many shots of people who left a mark in my heart thanks to their music. Therefore, I wanna share some more work because I think those people are worth being looked at.

_{Andrea | Discordant Hemispheres' bassist}