Maddalena Mone – Paris, Mon Amour!

Paris, die Stadt der Liebe ist verträumt, romantisch und sinnlich. Die schöne Stadt an der Seine mit seinen vielen Liebesschlösser an der Pont des Arts, dem Eifelturm mit seinen romantischen Lichtern bei Nacht und die Mur des je t’aime auf der der schönste Satz der Welt in 311 Sprachen verewigt ist, hat den Namen Stadt der Liebe wahrlich verdient.

Die 22jährige italienische Fotografin studiert Photography, Cinema & TV an der Academy of Fine Arts in Neapel. Sie setzte eine schöne Strecke namens “Paris, Mon Amour!” um.

Elle:
How did you start out in photography? Do you remember your first camera?

Maddalena Mone:
Since I was a little girl, I always looked with admiration those who made photography, I was curious to know what a simple camera could do. I got excited when secretly thumbed through my parents’ photo albums; I devoured those pictures that made me go back in time. When I was 18 I had my first reflex camera, as present, a Nikon D3100. I was so excited, i couldn’t wait to take many many photos. I had fun wandering around the countryside, catching with my camera all that natural details that I liked so much. It all started there. Now I’m 21, my photos have changed as long my vision of the world change is changed. Now I’m more introspective and I like the idea of taking picture of someone or something like I’m watching it from a keyhole.



Elle:
Would you give a brief walk through your work flow?

Maddalena Mone:
I was in Paris with my boyfriend. We had a Fujifilm Instax given to us by some friends, with just 10 shots available, and my dear reflex (Nikon D7100). The cliches, Paris’ roads, the bistrot, the Tour Eiffel, Montmartre…everything was a dream. I could not leave that magic there, I had to take that back to my home, so at my second instant photo, the idea for “Paris, Mon Amour” get off my mind. A project about love and Paris. It’s about my boyfriend and me. A completely personal project. We asked people to take an instant pic with the Fujifilm and put us in the pose they wanted. It’s was nice to see at the end noticing how everyone gave us the same poses. The idea of photographing the instant picture in the same place where this was taken is born in a second moment. I never had my project done without the help of my boyfriend, who gave me a big help. So we could take home a piace of Paris, and we left there a piece of us.



Elle:
What does the word “love” mean to you?

Maddalena Mone:
What the word “love” means to me? Very nice question, I could write a book about it… Love is for me pure happiness, extreme ecstasy, the apotheosis. Love is watching in the eyes of who I love and feel to seven heaven, it’s arguing with my mother about my being messy for laughing together about it then, love it’s sleeping in the same bed with my sister, holding our hands sometimes. Love are my parents facing the life loving each other, every day more, and my grandparents, after 50 years of marriage, looking in each other eyes like the very first time. Love is loving myself, love is being loved. Finding someone who gives you his time, his cares, finding someone who can make you lose in his arms, someone who listen to you…it’s a very rare gift.
Loving is so beautiful…



Elle:
What is you dream project?

Maddalena Mone:
I’m growing up, and with me also my dreams grow and change. Right now I have thousand ideas in my mind, but first of made them true, I have to focus on my studies and on my last exams. I study the third year (the last one) “Photography, Cinema and Television” at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and time flows fast following my studies. I really want to focus on my aspirations and my wishes, but I’m in a phase of continuos change, or maybe I’m just outlining my photographic style. I just don’t know. I would go around the world making personal reportages, searching for the essence of things, according to my point of view. I must grow up, and i have a really long way to do, but one thing I know for sure: in my photos there’ll be a little bit of me.

Behance