"Photographing music is like photographing art in its creative genesis, a magical moment out of time."

Arturo Di Vita: The Soundtrack of Image

Photographer Arturo Di Vita born in Palermo, Italy in 1953. Arturo says: "Photographic art has given me a universal vision that has no boundaries or ways of being local but a global vision as if the era were a single individual and men and other beings’ cells of a single tissue where violent actions are wounded against the tissue itself that struggles to heal, photography spreads awareness in perceiving joy, suffering, hatred, and all the moments of experience as universally shareable."                     (Photo: Arturo Di Vita)

“Photographer since I was 8 years old it has been a constant passion that has accompanied me throughout my life, I have dealt with art, landscape, environment, culture and entertainment, in the last twenty years I have followed live music photography, following a historical phonation of my city the Brass Group Foundation becoming the official photographer and having the opportunity to photograph all the greatest jazz musicians on the international scene.”

Interview by Michael Limnios                              Photos © by Arturo Di Vita

How has the art of photography influenced your worldview and the journeys you have undertaken?

Photographic art has given me a universal vision that has no boundaries or ways of being local but a global vision as if the era were a single individual and men and other beings’ cells of a single tissue where violent actions are wounded against the tissue itself that struggles to heal, photography spreads awareness in perceiving joy, suffering, hatred, and all the moments of experience as universally shareable.

How do you describe the philosophy of your photographic art? Where does your creative drive come from?

Photographic art for me represents the effort to capture the main focus of an event, where the mood is generated and where the emotion of the viewer springs, blurring the edges or vignetting them so as to increase the action. As a child I read a book by a historian Giuseppe Pitrè that described the gestures of the Sicilians, a non-verbal body language aimed at expressing concepts, abstractions, feelings, actions, dangers ... Photography could capture this body language making it clear, powerful, understandable, descriptive but above all poetic.

Which meetings were the most important experiences? What were the highlights of your career?

All of them have been fundamental moments, from the greatest jazz musicians in the world to the students of the jazz school. Each one has given me a part of a universal vocabulary that unites all the musicians of the world in musical interpretation.

How important has music been/is in your life? How does music affect your mood and inspiration?

Music is my soundtrack... Each period has had its music linked to memories that are rekindled when listening to a certain song. When I photograph a musician, I feel a deep joy if I can capture his most intense creative act.

"All of them have been fundamental moments, from the greatest jazz musicians in the world to the students of the jazz school. Each one has given me a part of a universal vocabulary that unites all the musicians of the world in musical interpretation." (Tom Harrel & Pat Martino / Photos by Arturo Di Vita)

Are there any specific memorable moments with musicians that you have taken on stage?

Photographing Tom Harrel during a "solo" of other members of the band, he walked away on the edge of the stage, the light was dim and reminiscent of those old street lamps, with that shadow that is projected long and ghostly, there was the man with his trumpet, the companion of a lifetime held by the hand as if she were a child on a lonely path ...

What do you hope people will keep taking away from your photos? How do you want to influence people?

Intense emotions, or even sound... I want people to respect the musician who is not only the performance of the moment but a lot of study rehearsals, sweat, study lived up to that moment.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in music photography?

The continuous search for the perfect shot that has a story like a movie inside.

What is the impact of music on socio-cultural implications? What do you love most about the act of the music photo?

Photographing music is like photographing art in its creative genesis, a magical moment out of time.

Let's take a trip with a time machine, so where and why should you really want to go for a whole day?

I would like to be present and to be able to photograph the Beatles’ meeting with Elvis Presley  would be a  fantastic one to capture two epochal figures for the history of music together, perhaps in front of a piano.

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(Carla Bley & Ron Carter / Photos © by Arturo Di Vita)