All images by Enrico De Conti. Used with permission.
It’s not uncommon for someone to see loads of people on their phones trying to get work done, perusing Facebook/Instagram, etc.–and that’s what photographer Enrico De Conti is trying to put forward in his project So Connected Yet So Lonely. Enrico is a Berlin based portrait and street photographer; and in his project he is trying to convey how people are completely absorbed by technology.
Enrico got into photography at a early age. “I think I was about 8 years old. I didn’t take it much seriously, in fact I went to study at the academy of fine arts in Milan, then I moved to LA to be a filmmaker.” says Enrico in an email to the Phoblographer. “In 2011, bored of my job in film production, I started assisting a celebrity photographer, Mike Ruiz. From there there was no turning back, I have been photographing portraits for business and street for passion.”
Phoblographer: So what motivated you to create this project?
Enrico: I traveled quite a few places in past few years, I have noticed an increase of loneliness, especially in developed countries. That’s why I started my project ‘So connected, yet so lonely.’
It is a look on modern society, a reflection of something that is happening and it is, in my opinion, overlooked. Because technology is so new to us, we have yet to analyze it, to understand the repercussions that is having on our society.
I think that we are at the point where smartphones are useful for the 20% of the day and harmful for the other 80%.
We are braking our relationships apart, we are more and more lonely, alienated by screens.