Today I had the pleasure of shooting an exceptional model and have the exclusive right to his “first time”.
My main character was a little black mieowing panther named Sinbad, accompanied by his human mother, the stills and portrait photographer Gabriella Deodato, both guests of my living room.
Gabriella’s photographic achievements and her professional life are rather known to the public: you can just Google her name to realize that she shooted celebrities and not and she is already publishing her second book.
The lesser known, perhaps because it belongs to the private sphere of her life, of which she is rather jealous, is her love for big cats. She shares her house with three cats, Merlino, Viola and Sinbad that, within a couple of years, have chosen her as human mom and life partner.
The strong feeling that ties Gabriella to her three roommates emerges clearly from her photos, that portray them in everyday situations, and from the gentleness that she addresses them, willing to play the role of an inflexible and severe teacher, in fact her rebukes and small reprimands sound almost like an affectionate pat.
When Gabriella tells about her cats, her features change: the austere fold at the corners of her mouth melt in a disarming smile and her brown-green eyes glow in the same light that she instils in her photos.
It was a demanding afternoon, professionally and humanly: portraying a portraitist is a daunting task, but hold a conversation with Gabriella, a person of deep and wide culture, is a real challenge!
At the end of the shooting, saying goodbye to my host, I had a doubt: on my set, there was only one panther or two?
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