Luigi Ghirri, born 5 January 1943, was an Italian artist and photographer who gained a far-reaching reputation as a pioneer and master of contemporary photography, with particular reference to its relationship between fiction and reality.

He started his career in the 1970s. Influenced by conceptual art, he created his first two series, Atlante (1973) and Kodachrome (1978), where his cropped images of the landscape were presented with a deadpan, often ironic wit and a continuous anthropological engagement with his surroundings. The compositions and hues of his photographs suggested subtle emotional tones and a meticulously rich way of viewing the world, as well as the role of images within it.

Ghirri’s work quickly attracted international attention. In 1975 Time-Life included him in its list of the “Discoveries” of its annual Photography Year publication, and he showed at the Photography as Art, Art as Photography exhibition in Kassel. In 1982 he was invited to the photokina in Cologne, where he was acclaimed as one of the twenty most significant photographers of the 20th century for his series Topographie-Iconographie.

Image Analysis:

I haven chosen this photograph of Luigi Ghirri’s because it has all the aspects of what I want to include within my own photographs, for example, a wide natural background and the inclusion of models. I like this photograph of Ghirri’s because of the use of colour and contrast, the swimming costumes the models are wearing are different shades of blues that match the blues in the water but also contrast at the same time, also the contrast between the white sand and blue water progressing to an even darker blue is interesting, linked with the almost orange models wearing vibrant blue costumes, the photograph is very simple and candid but the colouring makes it far more interesting and engaging. In conclusion this photograph is simple but engaging and is a very similar style to what I hope to photograph myself for my project.