Photographer Luca Locatelli has used a Professional Sony Grant to create a new body of work as part of his ongoing five-year project MATERIA: How we live on this planet, which explores humanity’s reactions to the growing environmental and population strains on earth.
Locatelli has focused on capturing images of two major European cities that he feels combine tradition and modernity - London (UK) and Milan (Italy). Locatelli uses these contemporary cityscapes to imaginatively suggest possible views of the future.
Sony awarded Locatelli with a Professional Sony Grant based on his winning series White Gold, which was awarded 1st Place in the Professional Landscape category in the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.
Why did you choose this topic? Do you have any special connection with it?
The desire to direct my work towards the theme of the Anthropocene comes from observing the world around us. The effects of climate change, pollution, rising CO2 levels and disregard for the environment pushed me to try to understand what the solutions to these global issues could be. This included trying to find the most impressive and promising technological solutions that are being put into practice today, to solve the problems of tomorrow.
I started photographing years ago as a reporter, and the desire to document environmental matters arrived in time. I have always been passionate about technology and innovation, and the interest for future solutions for environmental problems came naturally.
How is the shooting going?
Shooting for this project is great. I love working with new technologies, and the drones as well as the advanced cameras I’m using make everything more fun.
What are the difficulties and challenges along the way?
Finding the right subjects and scheduling them in can be tough at times, but dealing with such an important and fascinating theme makes all the hard work worth it.
What are you enjoying the most?
Dealing with subjects that are this important to me and communicating stories to the world is what I love about my work.
Read more about 'White Gold', his series awarded 1st Place, Professional Landscape category, at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.
