Paolo Roversi

Born in Ravenna in 1947, Paolo Roversi’s interest in photography was

kindled as a teenager during a family vacation in Spain in 1964.

Back home, he set up a darkroom in a convenient cellar with another

keen amateur, the local postman Battista Minguzzi, and began

developing and printing his own black & white work. The encounter

with a local professional photographer Nevio Natali was very

important: in Nevio’s studio Paolo spent many many hours realising

an important apprenticeship as well as a strong durable friendship.

In 1970 he started collaborating with the Associated Press: on his

first assignment, AP sent Paolo to cover Ezra Pound’s funeral in

Venice. During the same year Paolo opened, with his friend Giancarlo

Gramantieri his first portrait studio, located in Ravenna, via

Cavour, 58, photographing local celebrities and their families. In

1971 he met by chance in Ravenna, Peter Knapp, the legendary Art

Director of Elle magazine. At Knapp’s invitation, Paolo visited

Paris in November 1973 and has never left.

In Paris Paolo started working as a reporter for the Huppert Agency

but little by little, through his friends, he began to approach

fashion photography. The photographers who really interested him

then were reporters. At that moment he didn’t know much about

fashion or fashion photography. Only later he discovered the work

of Avedon, Penn, Newton, Bourdin and many others.

The British photographer Lawrence Sackmann took Paolo on as his

assistant in 1974. « Sackmann was very difficult. Most assistants

only lasted a week before running away. But he taught me everything

I needed to know in order to become a professional photographer.

Sackmann taught me creativity. He was always trying new things even

if he did always use the same camera and flash set-up. He was almost

military-like in his approach to preparation for a shoot. But he

always used to say ‘your tripod and your camera must be well-fixed

but your eyes and mind should be free’”. Paolo endured Sackmann for

nine months before starting on his own with small jobs here and

there for magazines like Elle and Depeche Mode until Marie Claire

published his first major fashion story. A Christian Dior beauty

campaign brought him wider recognition in 1980, the year he started

using the 8 x 10” Polaroid format that would become his trademark.

Not only because of the large camera, Paolo has always preferred

working in studio. In his first years in Paris, the studio was very

often a room from his own different apartments, all on the left

bank, until he found in 1981 the studio located in 9 rue Paul Fort

where he is still working.

In the middle of the ‘80s the fashion industry was very keen to

produce catalogues which allowed photographers to express a very

creative and personal work: Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Romeo

Gigli… gave Paolo that opportunity.

During his travels to India, Yemen… Paolo took many portraits; we

can see some of them in his books ANGELI and Al Moukalla;

a bookabout India is in preparation. Paolo has also realised some

commercials. Since the middle 80’ his work has been subject to many

exhibitions and books and many awards have honoured his work. Today

Paolo has a regular collaboration with the most interesting fashion

magazines and fashion designers.