Mario Giacomelli (1925–2000) was an Italian photographer born on 1 August 1925 in Senigallia, Italy. He died on 25 November 2000 in the town of his birth.
Known for: Photographs of Italian seminaries and a poetic transcription of everyday life in Southern Italy. Bold, stylized compositions with stark contrast.
Most Popular Image: "Scanno, 1957"; "Pretini" series (Little Priests)
About:
• Giacomelli was a self-taught photographer.
• At 13, he left high school, began working as a typesetter and spent his weekends painting. After the horrors of World War II, he turned to the more immediate medium of photography. He wandered the streets and fields of post-war Italy, inspired by the gritty Neo-Realist films of Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini.
• His mother worked at the nursing home where Giacomelli took many of his photographs of the elderly.
• He met and was influenced by the noted Italian photographer,Giuseppe Cavalli.
•2010: Les Rencontres d'Arles festival, France.