italy Feb 2008

Milan-based fashion and interiors photographer Davide Lovatti works out of his own highly regarded studio space Lo.spazio, shooting mostly for magazines and catalogues.

Aside from his commercial photography Davide also concentrates on his wide ranging personal work, supplying photographic images for exhibitions and private collections.

Marco Di Marco was raised in Rome where he still maintains his primary residence. He studied fine arts and holds a graduate degree in architecture.

His passion for photography found him at an early age, and has developed over the years into a fulfilling professional career.

In the last 10 years, Marco has been involved in many high-profile commercial projects, from still life to contemporary art, architecture and design to industrial products. He has also shot numerous reportage pieces, record covers, portraits of celebrities and fashion shoots.

Marco tells us that despite his eclectic professional career, he still likes to dedicate time "to developing experimental projects."

Solomango is a group of professional photographers producing:

• Contemporary travel and reportage features.
• Editorial assignments.
• Full text by travel writers.
• Stock libraries of high quality photographs.

Solomango offers a full assignment service throughout Italy and abroad.

The photos in this feature were shot by Richard Taylor. Nestled deep in a valley surrounded by the foothills of the Himalaya, the Holy City of Lhasa retains an atmosphere like nowhere else on earth.

Sakis Lalas was born in Greece and has lived and worked in Milan since 1998. He specialises in portrait and fashion photography. Over the years he has shot some of the most famous stars of the movie world and fashion industry, as well as many top businessmen.

This past year he produced portraits of Roberto Cavalli, the Ferragamo family (Wanda, James and Vivia), Luciano Benetton, Dean and Dan Caten (the twin designers of D-Squared), Kean Etro, Angela Missoni, Lapo Elkann, and many others.

Sakis Lalas also works as an interior design photographer and has featured in many top international magazines, including W&WWD (Conde Nast) in the USA, Style (Corriere Della Sera magazine) and Anna in Italy, Marie Claire Taiwan, Vogue Greece, and National Geographic Traveller in the Netherlands.

Milan-based professional freelance photographer Mariacristina specialises in fashion, still-life, portraiture and advertising photography.

Recent projects:

• Domus Magazine 2008.
• Inter Abbonamenti - Season Tickets 2006-07.
• Verve International Review, 2007.
• Lavazza Espression, 2007.
• Décor Living Magazine, 2007.
• Sportweek Magazine, 2007.
• Geox Respira global campaign, S/S 08, F/W 07/08, S/S 07 and F/W 06/07.

Her clients and publications include: Lavazza, Geox Respira, Ferrero, Inter Abbonamenti, Max Mara, Elle Italia, Casa Vogue, Uomo Vogue, UOMO (ed. Futura), DDN Design International, GB Progetti (ed.Progetti), Verve Magazine, Io Donna (Rizzoli), Max (Rizzoli), Capital (Rizzoli), and Sportweek (Rizzoli).

Sonia Marin is a freelance photographer who also works as an external lecturer in the Department of Photography at the European Institute of Design.

She has been working commercially since 1994, focussing especially on still-life subjects as a fine art photographer. Sonia has organised travelling exhibitions from Copenhagen to Washington, Boston and Barcelona.

She received special mention as Best Complete Project in the 'Photographic Talent' Competition by FNAC, Milan (2006), and was awarded Best Artistic Picture of the year in the Commercial Field at the 'Master' Competition, Moscow (2006).

Sonia is able to capture the emotions and sensations of life through simple images of everyday objects and the human body, by "de-contextualising and re-inserting them into a new environment". Creating images for either commercial or personal work, her style and direction is guided by the need to tell stories with single images.

All of her images are rendered through Polaroid.

SCLproduction provides services for TV commercials, photo shoots, web viral videos, video clips, and events.

The company operates from offices in Milan and Cagliari (Sardinia), offering creative treatments for video and press campaigns, experienced directors and quality postproduction facilities. SCL is skilled in location scouting, crew, casting, and transportation management, and has a full range of technical equipment and many more production services to meet client needs.

Some of their last collaborations: Ducati Monster 696 video and press campaigns, McDonald's TV commercial, Alfa Romeo press campaign, Wind Mobile TV commercial, Sky Christmas event, Armani, Diesel and a Piz Buin press campaign.

InFAct is a production and service company based in both Naples and Milan, offering support for the planning and management of photo shoots.

InFAct has extensive experience in scouting locations and producing shoots for the Italian market. The company specialises in the area around Naples and it's bay area, the Amalfi Coast, and the islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida.

With a clear choice of locations, favourable budget options and high levels of service quality, the company complements the natural advantages of the sunny Italian climate to satisfy a wide variety of production needs.

InFAct supports productions with its own on-location equipment rental section, providing a flexible service based around the needs of customers.

Founded in 2001, Milan-based Archivio Mazzaron Giommi specialises in location research.

The company's archive includes more than 20,000 updated photographs of public and private locations suitable for all types of productions.

In seven years of activity, Archivio MG has consistently combined reliability with enjoyment - characteristics that have helped the company achieve its goals of acquiring an increasing number of clients in the fashion and furniture industries, as well as from renowned Ad production companies.

A consultation can be arranged free of charge.

Richard Avedon (1923-2004) is universally recognised as one of the world's great photographers: without his work it would be impossible to write the history of photography.

Drawing inspiration from Martin Munkacsi for his fashion photography, Avedon invented a new way of making his subjects more expressive. Rather than just "clothes horses", his models appeared as real people, personalities; his photographs transformed the rather dry, boring fashion photo into something real and alive.

The Richard Avedon Fotografie 1946-2004 exhibition features more than 200 memorable fashion, portrait and documentary photographs, tracing the photographer's career from its early beginnings to his final years.

The Grand Visconti Palace is a deluxe property distinguished by its lavish hospitality and unique style. Set within cosy and relaxing gardens, the hotel provides an oasis of green in the heart of Milan.

Centrally located in an upscale neighbourhood, the Grand Visconti Palace offers large, comfortable rooms with a selection of unique suites, including the Tower Suite featured on the hotel's website. Facilities include an exclusive spa and fitness centre. The hotel also has 14 conference rooms suitable for every kind of event.

The menu in the 'Al V Piano' restaurant offers a fine selection of Mediterranean cuisine elaborated with supreme ingredients that are customary of Italian culinary tradition.

The 'Vis-à-vis' lounge is open to guests and is an ideal place to catch up with friends. The 'Sunday's Brunch' and 'Visconti's Jazz Night Club' are also two of the hottest spots in the city.