About me

Describing ourselves is never easy. If I look at my past I see two sides of me that are opposing and clashing: a more rational and scientific one and another that is more artistic and sensitive.

I believe the sensitive part of me is the more instinctive one, sleeping inside me since I was a child when I spent my time painting and drawing. I started shooting my first pictures with my dad’s Canon AE 1, he is a passionate amateur photographer. I then got my first real camera, an old Praktica that I bought at a flea market and that was a faithful partner in adventures throughout my adolescence. Unfortunately, my artistic side was put in the shadows for many years, leaving large space for my studies in the scientific field. At the end of my Ph.D. in volcanology, the “sensitive me” popped-out in the form of pure and unconditional love for photography, becoming a bossy and necessary form of expression and freedom.

After an enlightening workshop in 2009 with the photographer Sandro Santioli (whom I will never thank enough), I started viewing the world in a different way, I started becoming passionate about people, their stories, making my way in situations while trying to grasp their reality and essence.

It is with this approach that I love telling of a wedding day, without fiction nor constrictions, simply documenting the reality of moments, the different people involved and the emotions that rise, giving back indelible moments. This is the greatest gift of photography, make everlasting moments and emotions.

In everyday life I am a simple person, I love traveling and have a strong passion for Asia. I love my cats, the sea (especially in winter), staying on the couch to watch a great movie with my husband, I love cinema, arts in all its forms, I love music and live concerts (Eddie Vedder is my inspiration), reading a good book in the evening before falling asleep and I love to wander around flea markets and look among the strangest knick-knacks.

How I work

I never book double dates because I give my everything for a single tale.

I work with my life partner, the only person that so far is been able to enter my world and observe with the same sensitivity as me. We split during the preparation phase so that we can better dedicate ourselves to each person involved in the event. I like to enter the situations and get absorbed by the locations, by the vibrations of the houses. We are used to working in all kinds of situations, from the most silent and calm ones to the most chaotic and crowded. The cool thing about this job is exactly this, to tell stories that are totally different from each other, and make sure that every couple can reflect themselves in the images of their day.

I prefer the use of natural lighting, we don’t use bulky gears and I like to “hide” and often be invisible (I must say that my low height really helps) to fully grasp onto spontaneity. After the wedding, I personally handle post-production: I do not digitally edit pictures, retouch them, neither I use filters that make the work appear artificial.

I am based in Sicily, but I work anywhere there is a story to tell, as a matter of fact, I would be more than happy to discover new places.

error: © 2021 Deborah Lo Castro | All right reserved.