I think this is the hardest part: talking about myself. Talking about yourself is a bit like standing in front of a mirror, reflecting on who you were, who you are, and who you would like to be. Hi, my name is Giovanni Maw and I'm a pathos photographer. I live in Umbria, specifically in Castiglione del Lago. I'm among the 20 Italian photographers representing Italy around the world through the Discover The Other Italy project, sponsored by Expo 2015, ENIT - Italian Tourism Agency, and FAI - Italian Environment Fund. Almost 20 years ago, I began photographing with film, developing it in the darkroom with a medium format Yashica G-Mat 124, a beautiful Binocular with 6x6 film. It's a thrill to see those photos come to life. In my photographic journey, I initially began as a landscape pathos photographer. A unique training that has led me to travel extensively around the world, including the Russian Arctic, Norway, Finland, Iceland, and practically all of Europe. I was searching for the perfect landscape, the perfect atmosphere, or perhaps I was searching for myself. In my career, I have won many prestigious awards, such as the Canon EOS Adventure in 2011, ProWed Awards, and dozens of galleries and interviews in various national and international trade magazines. Everyone asked me how and what I looked for in what I shot; everyone wanted to understand, and in truth, I also wanted to understand myself. In photography, there is no specific technique, but there is research that goes into a technique.

It was there that I recognized myself in a pictorial approach related to the emotions of Humans. I sought out emotions between people of all kinds, contextualizing them within the environment, and in my landscape and pictorial research, I began to simply celebrate Love in all its forms. Thus I approached reportage and specialized in cinematic photography and the magical world of grading, the search for color that still leads me to study, test, and experiment. I began to shoot weddings in a unique way, a way that still distinguishes me today. I seek a connection, a feeling with the couple, I try to understand their story, their love, their suffering, their joys. Without any poses, I capture the authenticity of their essence with photos that are never banal and have a great emotional impact. I always seek an editorial framing within the freedom of reportage. This ensures that during their event, even a small glance is harmless to everyone but me; this is how I capture Love, this is how I codify a glance, a caress, a shadow, a reflection. This is because in the end you don't want to have banal wedding souvenir photos but a real love story and if you have reached the wedding it is because you believe in that step it is a goal, a rebirth, a departure and it is truly worth having shots worthy of your love.