AK: Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?
LF: My name is Lev Fazio, born in Russia, but raised in Italy, I’m a freelance photographer.
AK: What is your relationship with photography, and how did you get into it?
LF: Me and photography? Wild ride. Like two people chasing each other, pure love I guess? I could stay here talking about the meaning of photography or whatever, but at the end is an image on a screen or print. Small in size, but so damn big in your head. Got into photography in 2011, with my crappy point and shoot, little tank.
AK: What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?
LF: I don’t want to sound romantic but I would say intuition. I look around, when something snaps in my head I take out my phone and snap a picture, then, if is something that I like, I go back with my camera and tripod. It’s something that you cannot plan, you need to feel that urge, that tingling sensation.
AK: What is the story you want your pictures to tell?
LF: I’m not chasing stories. telling stories confines your imagination between walls delimitated by the start and the end for whatever is the thing you’re trying to tell. I create stories if I’ve got a defined project in my mind. I’m not «guiding», but guided by the images. Images are too complex, big, vast, to be allocated in a defined space prior to them been taken.
AK: Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?
LF: My hometown, of wich I know so much and so little.
AK: What is your personal relationship to cities, and how do you perceive them as places in general?
LF: Cities are like portraits but larger. A group of individuals who came together, in good or bad faith, and decided to create a community or different communities, but all together defined by the same values — more or less.
AK: Regarding your project «Famulus»: What was your intention, and how did you come up with the idea?
LF: It's a project about the way we communicate with each other, not by using our bodies, but on how we shape the space surrounding ourselves; and what is the meaning of «familiar» in a place far from home, but at the same time so close to everyone. It all started when I got fascinated with all those strangely shaped bushes surrounding villas in my neighbourhood of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. They looked so strange, so different in every house, and that to me felt like a strange way to communicate unconsciously with other people.
AK: Which project did you never finish?
LF: Probably too many, I’m ashamed at times. Still got one on my website that I’m probably going to finish next year, «21st Century Gestures Manual».
AK: What is that «one thing» you have never managed to photograph and is now gone for good?
LF: My grandparents.
AK: If you could travel back/forth in time, what advice would you give your younger/older self?
LF: To my younger self: Work harder; to my older self: Work harder.
AK: What do you prefer saying: «to take a photograph» or to «make a photograph», and why?
LF: When the shutter button is released, you're taking the photo, everything that happens after (post-production, printing, scanning, type of paper, type of print, etc.) is the making process.
AK: What is the most interesting experience you have had while photographing?
LF: The first time I asked a stranger for a photo. I’m pretty shy, I felt myself shaking like a leaf, embarrassed like never before, only thinking about the worst possible outcome, but at the end, I got a positive reply and took the portrait.
AK: If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?
LF: Pursue a career in political science.
AK: How would you describe one of your pictures to a blind person?
LF: Like a choir with different and distinct voices, clean and harmonious.
AK: What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?
LF: I’m currently working on a project about closed cinemas and theaters in Italy
AK: Thank you, Lev!
If you have a project that you would like to present on this platform, please feel free to share it using the submission form.
Photography: Lev Fazio (2021)
Location: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
AK: Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?
LF: My name is Lev Fazio, born in Russia, but raised in Italy, I’m a freelance photographer.
AK: What is your relationship with photography, and how did you get into it?
LF: Me and photography? Wild ride. Like two people chasing each other, pure love I guess? I could stay here talking about the meaning of photography or whatever, but at the end is an image on a screen or print. Small in size, but so damn big in your head. Got into photography in 2011, with my crappy point and shoot, little tank.
AK: What do you think triggers you to photograph in a certain moment? Is it planned or solely driven by intuition?
LF: I don’t want to sound romantic but I would say intuition. I look around, when something snaps in my head I take out my phone and snap a picture, then, if is something that I like, I go back with my camera and tripod. It’s something that you cannot plan, you need to feel that urge, that tingling sensation.
AK: What is the story you want your pictures to tell?
LF: I’m not chasing stories. telling stories confines your imagination between walls delimitated by the start and the end for whatever is the thing you’re trying to tell. I create stories if I’ve got a defined project in my mind. I’m not «guiding», but guided by the images. Images are too complex, big, vast, to be allocated in a defined space prior to them been taken.
AK: Which city would you like to visit the most, and why?
LF: My hometown, of wich I know so much and so little.
AK: What is your personal relationship to cities, and how do you perceive them as places in general?
LF: Cities are like portraits but larger. A group of individuals who came together, in good or bad faith, and decided to create a community or different communities, but all together defined by the same values — more or less.
AK: Regarding your project «Famulus»: What was your intention, and how did you come up with the idea?
LF: It's a project about the way we communicate with each other, not by using our bodies, but on how we shape the space surrounding ourselves; and what is the meaning of «familiar» in a place far from home, but at the same time so close to everyone. It all started when I got fascinated with all those strangely shaped bushes surrounding villas in my neighbourhood of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. They looked so strange, so different in every house, and that to me felt like a strange way to communicate unconsciously with other people.
AK: Which project did you never finish?
LF: Probably too many, I’m ashamed at times. Still got one on my website that I’m probably going to finish next year, «21st Century Gestures Manual».
AK: What is that «one thing» you have never managed to photograph and is now gone for good?
LF: My grandparents.
AK: If you could travel back/forth in time, what advice would you give your younger/older self?
LF: To my younger self: Work harder; to my older self: Work harder.
AK: What do you prefer saying: «to take a photograph» or to «make a photograph», and why?
LF: When the shutter button is released, you're taking the photo, everything that happens after (post-production, printing, scanning, type of paper, type of print, etc.) is the making process.
AK: What is the most interesting experience you have had while photographing?
LF: The first time I asked a stranger for a photo. I’m pretty shy, I felt myself shaking like a leaf, embarrassed like never before, only thinking about the worst possible outcome, but at the end, I got a positive reply and took the portrait.
AK: If it wasn’t for photography, what would you be interested in doing instead?
LF: Pursue a career in political science.
AK: How would you describe one of your pictures to a blind person?
LF: Like a choir with different and distinct voices, clean and harmonious.
AK: What are you currently working on, and—if there is—what is your next project or journey?
LF: I’m currently working on a project about closed cinemas and theaters in Italy
AK: Thank you, Lev!
If you have a project that you would like to present on this platform, please feel free to share it using the submission form.
Photography: Lev Fazio (2021)
Location: Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
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allcitiesarebeautiful.com is a community-driven, cross-disciplinary platform for contemporary documentary photography and literature.
News • Artists • Publishers • Submissions • Newsletter • Press • About • Imprint • RSS
