When you look at photographs by Eleonora Prignano, it’s easy to sit there and contemplate the execution, use of warm colors, and what she had planned in her mind. Things about her work remind us of Henriette Sabroe Ebbesen — and then it hits us. Eleonora is working with reflections and distortions in ways that we’re not really used to seeing. “Something I’ ve always been fascinated about since I started shooting human subjects, is their peculiarities, not only in their looks, but also their psyche and more specifically, the complex nature of our identity,” she tells the Phoblographer. “The way we tend to perceive ourselves and the huge gap in between that perception and reality.” From there, her photographs become a dive into a maze of mirrors and light — consistently warping our reality.
All images by Eleonorma Prignano. Used with permission. For more, please check out her website, PhotoVogue, and Instagram.
The Artist that is Eleonora Prignano
Eleonora started out in photography when she was very young. She took a liking to his images — none of them were professional, really. Instead, Eleonora found passion in them and thought them to be sensational and particular. “I still remember the thought that initially struck me, the idea of literally sharing what his eyes had seen, and with that, the interpretation that he gave of that common reality which somehow seemed to be so different from mine, and yet that I found so deeply touching and stunning,” she tells us. “I guess from there, in my mind, all I wanted to do was make people feel what I felt during the creation of a shot, possibly amazed them as my uncle did with me…so when I was a teenager I would steal my dad’s compact camera and spend my time in the garden or in the grove near my parents’ house and shoot lots of photos, observing for endless hours the countless details that Nature had to offer.” To this day, nature still seems to be a common element in Eleonora’s photographs. She eventually got her own camera at age 14 and experimented with different techniques and all.
Eventually, a friend of her at the IED University of Italy invited her to do a photography course — where she discovered just how fun it can to be photograph humans with your own creative mindset.
“And yeah, I think that was quite of a big turning point for me, photographically talking…cause I never stopped.”
Her photographs aren’t made with anything special, per se. Eleonora uses a Canon 6D — a camera we reviewed over a decade ago. “…I really can’t wait to be financially able to make an upgrade on my choice, as it has some limitations I’m pretty tired of, especially related to the autofocus, but overall it’s a very nice camera, not too heavy to carry around,” she shares. “In addition to that I often use a 24-105mm lens from Canon, which is a very versatile lens, especially if you often shoot outdoors like me. I also use a 100mm Canon lens, which is great for close ups and gives an incredibly intense touch to the shot.” Next, she wants a fisheye lens — which would be fascinating to use with the mirrors that are key to some of her portraits.
While her gear is simple, Eleonora uses it to craft her creative vision in a very beautiful way.
The Creative Vision
Of course, her passion is photographing humans. But she doesn’t just do that. She combined elements of nature, which she used to photograph a lot gorwing up. And then Eleonora blends in the ingenous use of mirrors. The results are photographs worth staring at in a way synonamous to how a dog stares lovingly at its human.
“One of my favorite projects about this specific matter is the ‘introspection’ series, where I shot some subjects using a deformed mirror trying not only to compose a strong or a beautiful image but also to communicate the struggle between two factions of ourselves,” Eleonora shares with us. “I like to use the reflections of mirrors to tell this message because in my vision they are a perfect metaphor to describe the almost ‘imperceptible from the outside’ difference in between what we think we are (or what we want/scared to be) and what others sees of us, which although might not necessarily correspond to reality…sometimes we live illusions.” In her mind, we lie to ourselves, and not often consciously. The mirror helps become a metaphor for that.
She’s actively developing this project, and at the moment it’s not even clearly labelled on her website. The subject is incredibly imporant to her on a deeply personal level as she struggled with her own identity growing up.
Part of her creative process is giving life to her fantasties through her photographs. Specifically, she tells us that she’s in love with “ginger heads” and nature.
Having red hair is a quite of an uncommon connoted in people nowadays, and since I was very young I thought of it as a very extraordinary trait of beauty; so when I had the chance to shoot my first ginger model I was thrilled, and what was even more unexpected and hilarious is that after the first ginger head I received a whole bunch of requests of people with natural red hair that wanted to shoot with me. But yeah, my point is: I believe it’s essential to pursue our personal meaning of beauty, no matter what the standards are, no matter what society says, because Beauty is what inspires Art, and Art is one of the most important things that makes us Human, and what’ s better than being free to be and express ourselves through Art?
Eleonora Prignano
Thoughts on AI Imagery
Considering her affinity for humans and nature alike, she has quite a many thoughts on AI imagery. And she staunchly believes it not to be photography. “…what makes me angry, is the idea of people, also quite notorious artists and photographer, big respectable photography magazines (like Photovogue), referring to AI images as AI photography,” she expresses to us. “It is NOT the same thing at all. And as a photographer I find insulting even thinking of trying to compare the two things, putting them under the same label.”
In her mind, it’s a struggle to understand how the two things are even remotely related when they’re completely different. To her, it’s like comparing a painting to photography. Eleonora cites that the definition of photography is painting with light. To that end, she reminds us all that we don’t do that with our laptop. While programs like photoshop are used in digital photography, there’s a different level of honesty around it because it’s based on the work that one creates.
She can go on and on about it. And from an Editorial perspective, we’ve never seen an AI recreate any sort of images that look like hers.
Authenticity Statement
The Phoblographer works with human photographers to verify that they’ve actually created their work through shoots. These are done by providing us assets such as BTS captures, screenshots of post-production, extra photos from the shoot, etc. We do this to help our readers realize that this is authentically human work. Here’s what this photographer provided for us.