John Paul Foster is an American photographer based in Kyoto (Japan), specializing in images of traditional Japanese culture, including Geisha, Maiko, and Buddhist icons.

John has achieved something that very few photographers have had the possibility to achieve, and witness; with grace, respect and bringing his perfect "distance" he managed to enter the world of Geisha and Maiko, an almost sacred realm, where nobody is allowed.

His precious portraits have captured not only the beauty of these women but also those private "behind the scenes" moments of makeup, dressing up and painstakingly accurate preparation necessary to transform a normal girl into an icon.
This is a lifetime achievement for a photographer, something possible just after earning the trust of a very private community and, most of all, sustaining that trust with honesty, professionalism and an attention to details that pairs the one of the makings of a Geisha.

My collaboration with John started with an edit for the proposal of his book "Now a Geisha" to publishers; right after that, we proceeded to the real edit, for which we selected and sequenced the best images but also extensively worked on the possible book structure.

The book is based on the "transformation" of three different girls from Maiko into Geisha and for each girl I had at my disposal a huge choice of beautiful staged portraits and more spontaneous shots of the "in the making" process.

Watching the pictures for the first time, I knew I had a complex task ahead, which was finding a way to adjust two very different styles of photography; a fine-art, iconic style of portraiture with the documentary one of make-up, kimono dressing up, ceremonies... But my main challenge came out later, during the edit: I had to select very similar pictures and moments for all three girls without being repetitive, while making sure to remain faithful to the main "before and after" theme.

The approach that John and I eventually chose has been in the direction of changing the rhythm in each chapter, so that for each we were able to show what we wanted without being predictable; from sequencing all three girls side to side in the Intro, to going deeper in the transformation process one girl at a time, we mixed the elements, the styles, the colours without losing perspective of the gradual transformation as a whole.

I've recently received the final print of "Now a Geisha" and turning its pages after many months made me very proud; not only for having worked on a beautiful book, but because it made me feel like I have somehow been a witness myself of something special and rare, and part of a secret world to which, for a moment, I have been granted access.

John has been so kind to share with me his thoughts on our work together on this book:

"I had the pleasure of working with Raffaela twice on my book "Now a Geisha". The first time was to select and sequence images for the book proposal (30 photos), and the second was to edit and sequence the entire book, which ended up being about 190 photos.

I had never worked with a photo editor before, so I wasn't sure I would be happy with the results. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. I felt at ease with Raffaela from our first conversation on Skype. More importantly, our conversations and Raffaela's detailed messages gave me new perspectives and ways of thinking about my images -- and this was before I had even seen her edits! This feedback was a tremendous help to me as I thought about the book's structure.

One of the things Raffaela said that has stayed with me is that editing and sequencing photographs are a kind of alchemy. I believe this to be true, and I also believe that Raffaela Lepanto is an alchemist of the highest order. I look forward to marvelling at her magic again soon as I begin work on my next book!"

Wolfgang Strassl is a German photographer specialising in Documentary Landscapes and Portrait Photography.

Wolfgang contacted me to help him with the edit of his new project “Underground Portraits”, a fantastic work of “faceless portraits” made in the London tube during the course of his many visits to the British capital, which he wanted to publish as a book.

Seeing all the pictures, what stroke me the most was - besides a very personal cut - his ability in keeping a consistent balance between a gentle, objective detachment, and an unmistakable love for humanity/subtle sense of humour - which gave the project a multilayered, caleidoscopic socio-psychological depth.

Aesthetically, Wolfgang rendered this with a consistent, non invasive framing and a punchy postproduction, defying all latest trends in desaturation with confidence and a refreshing “I-beat-my-own-drum” non-chalance.

The editing process was absolutely fun; I had so many great pictures to work with that I had the luxury to just go with my guts and “cherry-pick” the most interesting ones. Wolfgang had opted for a “1 picture per page” layout which would give his images the right space to breath, leaving the left page blank for more impact, so that we could focus more on the rhythm of the sequence rather than colour matching and coupling; nevertheless, since the subjects were very similar, it wasn’t easy deciding what to give more evidence to and how to conceptually develop the sequence.

The criteria that I’ve eventually used are many, just to name a few….balance between direction of the legs, mood, male and female subjects, age, contrast of style, contrast of personality… I also used some of the strongest portraits at the end as I think that this is a work that “grows” on you and I didn’t wanted to “burn” them too soon, if it makes sense.

Besides the photographic work, Wolfgang and I discussed what was the best option for his intro text and the best curators he could contact for such important task; the choice was eventually for curator Zelda Cheatle, who did an amazing job in analysing the project not just from an artistic point of view, but also giving it an important sociological context.

Today, I’m very, very pleased to share the final product here.
The book has been published in October 2019 by Kerber Verlag and is available on Wolfgang’s website, on the publisher’s site and on Amazon. It’s having great reviews and has been just published on the prestigious Photography section of The Guardian / Observer and in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

These are the results that made hard work so worthy; it is not just a personal satisfaction, it is a ray of hope for all photographers, I think. Because when a project is done with love, professionalism and passion, results will come.

Wolfgang has been so kind to share with me his thoughts on our work together:

“I have been very fortunate to be able to work with Raffaela on the picture editing for my book Underground Portraits. Her guidance and advice in the process of selecting and sequencing the images has provided me with interesting new perspectives, which eventually led a much improved and convincing result relative to my initial ideas. Her contribution did however go much beyond the pure editing process. It included her improvements to my introductory text as well as her ideas for the title. Last not least, she has been instrumental in helping me find Zelda Cheatle who has written a wonderful introduction for the book. Although we have not been meeting in person our cooperation via Skype and email exchange has been seamless, efficient and highly effective.”

Artur Madej is a fashion photographer based in Warszawa, Poland.

He collaborates with many designers and celebrities, and his work has been published on several fashion magazines including K-MAG, ELLE (PL), FUSED, VULKAN, Trend Prive, Superior Magazine, HUF, Next Door Models.

I met Artur during a recent course that I run with photographer Chris Ould at the University of the Arts in London; the quality of his work made an impression on us from the very first session, when Artur showed us a small selection of his best shots, especially some taken from his personal projects, which were absolutely bold and full of personality.

During the course we had the chance to see much more of his material: his production was vast, ranging from models look-books to commercial assignments, from editorial projects to corporate-looking portraits, as it often happens when photographers are at the beginning of their careers. 
All of his images were technically perfect, his use of light was sound, his framing, eye for colours, relationship skills were extremely good, with an impressive number of above-the-average shots for such a young photographer. You could see how reliable his hand was, all across different works.

But again, what was really standing out for us were his personal projects, where Artur had somehow freed himself from tradition, deja vues and constrictions and had tried something absolutely new and personal. In these projects, his style was experimental, a bit rough on the edges and very, very contemporary. Something you wish to see more, for sure.

We had a look together at his website; understandably, with such a vast production, his homepage portfolio was very long, gathering the best shots of both commercial assignments and lookbooks, with some personalities portraits here and there. What was missing almost completely were the personal projects, which were in our opinion his strongest asset.

This is very common, and again, understandable; having the courage to sacrifice what puts bread on our table to favour some personal experiment is not easy.

But we strongly felt that Artur was ready to show what he was really capable of; the final selection of images that I sequenced for him on a mock website layout was a bare 15 pictures against the initial 50 something; there I could finally see Artur’s style emerging in all its uncompromising strength. As I told Artur, when a photographer has such a portfolio, people in the industry will know he’s able to deliver also more traditional work, while the opposite is often not true.

I hope the result of his magnificent portfolio has convinced him more than my words!

This is Artur’s testimonial on our work together:

“I was lucky to meet Raffaela at a moment when I was struggling to find who I wanted to be as a photographer: I wasn't really able to identify my strengths so I was throwing in the mix a little bit of everything hiding my most personal images behind commercial work and eye candies.

Without long talks, Raffaela was able to dig out my identity from that mess; by narrowing down my work to the most consistent and bold pictures she gave me the portfolio that I believe makes the statement. What's even more valuable for me - it gave me confidence and a sense of direction for my future projects. Working with Raffaela was a truly enriching experience.”

I’m very happy to share that my long term work with Flavio Tecchio has become an exhibition, CITY, which I have co-curated with Paola Riccardi and that has been displayed during Milan PhotoFestival 2019 at Galleria Alcentoquarantadue, in Milan, and a fantastic little book printed by the excellent Massimo Fiameni, available on Flavio’s website.

CITY is the result of 3 years of hard work, in which Flavio and I have been digging deep into his old production, resurfacing old treasures, giving new life to old negatives with painstakingly accurate scanning and retouching, finding eventually a magical file-rouge which would link his best images; that ephemeral, melancholic bubble that envelops his CITY characters, who sometimes cross each other giving life to “small miracles, which sparkle with their own light.”

After finding our key concept and vision, all new production was stirred in the same direction, making CITY quite an unique mix of old and new, with the same timeless quality and poetry that accompanies all Flavio’s work; session after session we reviewed, edited, brainstormed about cuts and content, until the whole body of work took life with some stunning little prints made at our favourite lab in Milan, Chrome.

I’m personally very proud of Flavio’s achievements, not only in keeping faithful to his own voice, but also for how well he’s been able to translate it to his new images, with the same grace and elegance his pictures show.

The exhibition has gathered lots of consensus from the public, as I believe that Flavio’s work truly speaks to people in a genuine way, so much that we are already thinking of a new one. 


Please take a look at CITY here, and if you feel like sustaining the work of a real passionate photographer have a look at CITY book; it’s unexpensive, extremely well printed and a total treat. If you want to read more in details how we structured our collaboration and how it all started, here you can find the whole story.

Flavio has been so kind to write me his thoughts about our work together:

”CITY is a project from the internal point of view of people living in it.
It’s about our daily comings and goings, waiting for a bus with clenched fists - taken by our thoughts - looking up, perhaps hoping for a friend; it’s about us working in a coffeeshop to keep in touch with our humanity, or coming home after a long day with a heavy shopping bag.

For me it is an unspeakable joy to capture these brief, ephemeral moments in the flow of life; I like the idea to give the viewer some sort of mirror, in which he can recognise himself and perhaps feel relief, in touch with the universal bubble that envelops us all, instead of just his own.

Raffaela's precious collaboration in the development of this work has been fundamental in giving a complete sense to all the images of CITY.

Part of the work comes from a strict edit of older productions, part has been produced, thought, searched and eventually, easily found…

I work very well with Raffaela, I would say, in complete harmony; the result of a long collaboration and I think, of the deep passion that we both have for Photography; she knows my tears, the struggles, the moments of discouragements. She also knows the joy that I felt when CITY was completed and picked as an exhibition by the fantastic Galleria Alcentoquarantadue during Milan PhotoFestival 2019, with the co-curation of Paola Riccardi.

A real achievement for me, for all of us, and for this little project, that with its melancholic vibe I’m told touched many people who came to see it.”

All pics of the gallery, prints, book and the video are courtesy of Galleria AlCentoquarantadue © Ida Chessa

John Paul Foster is an American photographer based in Kyoto (Japan), specialising in images of traditional Japanese culture, including Geisha, Maiko, and Buddhist icons.

Author of many books, his inspiration comes from a wide range of cultural and visual sources: from the poetry of William Blake, to Japanese art, from Film Noir and Hong Kong action cinema, to the cities of New York and Kyoto. In his own words "He has been (in no particular order) a student of literature and religion, a writer and director of two award-winning short films, a professor of English as a Foreign Language, and a builder of Lego castles."

After editing together two of his books, “Now a Geisha” and “A Tayu today” (still to be published), John contacted me again to develop a brand New Website to showcase his work; his goals, besides of course presenting his work at its best, were, specifically:

* to have a user-friendly website optimised both for desktop and mobile.
* to migrate his old blog to the same website platform / HTTP address, optimising its design.

As a long term plan, John was also interested in developing an online shop for prints and a page dedicated to his workshops, with booking possibilities, and a multilingual option to access both English and Japanese speaking public.

All these needs pointed us in the direction of Squarespace, which has all these features already embedded; among the 3 custom designs that I created for John, he decided for a beautiful vertical parallax scroll which could summon up in its homepage all the main sections, giving the public an overview of John's whole work; this design also works very well for adding "sections" in a second moment, without having to re-design the site's architecture. Not just this; it's also perfectly suited for duplicating pages in another language, without building them from scratch.

The deal breaker for John, though, was the Blog migration; he was keen in trying Squarespace only if the whole content of his old Wordpress blog, including pictures, texts, categories, tags and all the numerous comments of his public could migrate along with the rest. A fair enough request, since John's blog counted more than 150 posts, each containing all these elements, and manually recreating each one of them was definitely not an option.

So, this is where we started from; John prepared for me an .xml file containing all his old WP Blog data, and I was able to quickly import it using the Advanced Import option in SS settings; after importing the content, I just had to optimize it deleting some double pictures and, following John's directions, style the main Blog page with the features and design he preferred. All in all, considering the amount of material, it was a super successful migration.

Over the course of 4 weeks, John and I worked pretty intensively: John collected for me all his material, neatly divided in folders each containing some very accurate notes, while I started tackling the editing and sequencing for the new architecture, trying to organize and gather his huge production into a simple, straightforward menu.

As it often happens, once the design has been chosen, and the first sample edits are in place, the new website identity suddenly emerges; it is an exciting moment, when both the photographer and I start having confirmation if our ideas were right.

If the main structure and idea work, we proceed with the rest of the edits and sequences, to then tackle the texts' edits, the About and Contact page, and eventually all the last styling touches, including some CSS customization, monitoring together every step to see if still works and makes sense in the whole.

Here you can see the result of our hard work. Please have a look, and let me know if you have any feedback.

John has been so kind to share with me a brilliant “Question and Answer” testimonial on our work together :

“When I decided to have Raffaela build my new site, I had already worked with her twice, to edit and sequence images for  two of my books. Both experiences were very positive, so I trusted her and admired her ability.
However, when it came to the site, I had questions that I’m sure many other photographers would have in the same situation, so I’m including them here to help any who read this have an easier time making a decision.

1. I’ve been using WordPress for 8 years! Will I be able to have a better site on Squarespace?

I have nothing negative to say about WordPress, but I definitely like my Squarespace site better. Of course, this is mainly due to the fact that Raffaela built my SS site, and I did my WordPress site by myself. You can customize a blog more on WordPress because of all the widgets available, but I am still happier with the way my blog looks on SS than the way it did on WP, especially my photographs! 

2. Squarespace seems to be so easy that I can build the site myself. Why do I need Raffaela (or anyone)?

I think this is the biggest overstatement that every CMS or website builder makes. It’s so easy you can do it yourself! Completely wrong, at least for me. Squarespace has dozens of templates, and some recommended for photographers. Raffaela picked 3 for me based on my specific needs, and I wouldn’t have found the one I choose by myself since it is not on the list for photographers. And there is absolutely no way I could have designed my home page, the pages for my books, or my blog the way Raffaela did. She made changes to the templates that I would not have even imagined to do, let alone know how to do. 

3. Raffaela is a photo editor, right? Can she really design a website?

The first 2 times I worked with Raffaela, it was to edit and sequence the photos for my book projects. I was looking for a photo editor, so I did not pay much attention to her other services. I thought of her as a photo editor, which is quite different from a designer. Did she really have the necessary skills, or is this an overstated claim?

As with my other concerns, this one was unfounded as well. Raffaela showed me 3 different designs using 3 different templates, and all of them had different layouts, colors, and fonts. And all of them looked good!  I am very happy with the different page layouts and the fonts Raffaela chose. In fact, she did a better job than the graphic designer I worked with on my branding did!

To sum up, Raffaela has the knowledge of Squarespace and taste in design to build you a site you will be very happy with. And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that Raffaela edits and sequences all your work, which I think is even more important than the design of the site! 

You get a Squarespace expert, designer, and photo editor all in one package, and a very reasonably priced package at that. I can’t recommend Raffaela any more highly.”

Jonathan Goldberg is a London-based portrait and reportage photographer with a passion for Sustainable Living stories and a great talent for creating contemporary, dynamic portraits.

Jonathan contacted me as he needed a hand for editing and presenting his long term project “Grow Heathrow”, a story about a small community of people living off sustainable energy and food in the outskirts of Heathrow Airport (UK); he had been working at the story for a few years, and he had troubles “seeing” the pictures with fresh eyes and creating an editing which could be descriptive and enticing at the same time.

As it often happens with long term personal projects, the number and variety of images was pretty wide, and their style would vary accordingly.

We started editing the work so that it was a bit more focused and showed off his strengths and skills in capturing real moments, especially with environmental portraits, keeping a cohesive style all through. Then we proceeded to sequencing it for his website, giving a rythm to the whole story by making the portraits the core structure and using the great landscapes and details Jonathan had shot as “breathers”.

Shortly after the publication of Grow Heathrow’s new editing, Jonathan was awarded a grant by One Planet Living, for an assignment on Sustainable Transport to launch during Brighton Photo Biennial in October 2014.

Jonathan has been so kind to share with me his thoughts on our work together:

“During the first one to one session Raffaela whittled 150 images down to a more manageable number, before proceeding to create a web edit with a far more suitable number of images. I was surprised at the inclusion of some images, but when placed next to several of my favourite pictures, it is clear that they add much-needed breathing space into the project as a whole. I'm really happy with the final cut and sequence, as I feel it has become more coherent and far stronger despite the omission of several pictures that I was previously reluctant to lose. Her method of consulting in person, then emailing back an edit was very efficient. I also think the tone of the pictures in the final edit is strong, and contributes to the success of making them a coherent set.

Since working with Raffaela I gained an important commission on Sustainable Transport, part of the One Planet public space commission, to launch at Brighton Biennial 2014.”

Flavio Tecchio is a Street and Travel Photographer based in Milan area (Italy); his photography is proudly black&white and analogical, old-school in the most precious and rarest sense; he shots film because he’s a real film photographer, not because it is trendy, if you know what I mean. And he's damn good at it.

I have had the privilege to work with Flavio since November 2014 when we started a year-long mentoring program; the goals that we fixed back then seemed huge, and the professional challenge he threw on my table looked extreme.

Flavio wanted to re-build his image and the structure of his work completely; from reviewing and editing more than 20 years of pictures, to creating and learning to manage a new website from scratch - from finding a consistent visual brand, to structuring new productions - from postproduction support, to self-promotion - he was keen and ready to start completely anew and learn all that he could. He didn't have any digital files, nor any experience in digitalizing pictures and postproduction.

All that he had, was his huge archive of stunning analogic images, some beautiful self-made prints and of course, hundreds of negatives.

We started with drafting an Action Plan for the year we would be working together which we divided in 4 phases:

Phase 1 – Setting Out

The first phase was related to “The Past”, the complete review of all the material Flavio had produced until then; the goal was that of re-defining his photographic profile with the highest possible standards, both artistically and technically.

This involved:

o A complete Review of his work

o An enlarged Editing of his entire prints and negatives’ archive as a basis for Exhibitions, Books and for the Web

o Interfacing with the Printing Lab for re-scanning his best pictures

Phase 2 – Production

The second phase was focusing on “The Present”, the new personal project on which Flavio was working, with the goal of supporting him in finding a cut that could be at the same time deeply meaningful, contemporary and in line with his previous productions.

This involved:

o An Update Coaching : studying together the work of other contemporary b&w photographers, interesting photography platforms and newsletters

o Production Coaching: envisioning a cut and content for his new project

o Postproduction Coaching: basic tutorials of PhotoShop and Lightroom

Phase 3 – Presentation

The third phase was all about the presentaition of Flavio’s work (old and new) to the public, as a basis for professional credibility, sales and promotion.

This involved:

o Choosing the best template for a brand new website, capable of showcasing the consistency of style through all his Travel and Personal Projects

o The creation of the new website, both under a design and administrative profile

o Editing and Sequencing all projects for the new Website

o Copyediting and Copywriting of all textual content

o Content management and editing of all pages

o CMS Management Coaching

There’s still a last remaining phase which Flavio and I will tackle together after the summer and it will be related to Promotion. For the moment, we are enjoying the results of our hard work which you can see here:

www.flaviotecchio.com

Working with Flavio has been for me a fantastic and extremely rewarding experience at all levels; artistically, it came as a confirmation that digging deep in a photographer’s drawer can often have amazing results, personally, as I have met a special person with a real special, poetic soul.

Flavio has been so kind to share his thoughts on our work together:

“I met Raffaela at one of her workshops in Milan and it immediately struck me how friendly and affable she was with anyone, far from the pretentiousness and arrogance that we so often encounter in our lives.

I had long felt the need to take some serious steps in growing as a photographer, and the easiness of approach that I felt during the workshop made me decide to contact her to find support: she has always had a constructive and determined approach to tackle all the difficulties that I was encountering, especially about new technologies, using her great knowledge to share informations in a simple and sympathetic way, never judging.

Definitely a place of privilege in my affections I reserve it to this talented girl with whom I worked really well; competent, professional, helpful and of great humanity, her empathy of thought is tangible; without being intrusive and preaching, she offered her preparation and knowledge in a way that I could fully appreciate during our long dialogues, a humility that is characteristic only of beings of great intelligence, and that to my eyes appeared disarming.

I would like to continue to build my professional future with her aid, availing myself of her valuable collaboration that I highly recommend to those who want to deal with a professional prepared and sincere.

Thanks Raffaela. “

Thomas O is a Fashion photographer based in Venice area (Italy); he is part of ART & Commerce by PhotoVogue Italy as young emerging talent and he's regularly commissioned by important commercial and editorial clients in Italy.

Thomas and I have been working together on several projects during the last 4 years and I'm genuinely honoured to have witnessed his spectacular growth both in the number of commissioned work and in quality since we started, at his very beginnings; from a few local clients and small revenues, Thomas is today almost always fully booked, has a solid visual identity, and has started collaborating with important stylists and models. All along the way, his kindness and friendliness have made our collaboration absolutely delightful; it's always a real joy for me working with Thomas and I couldn't recommend him more for his high professionalism and integrity.

After 1 year from the full re-brand, which included a New Website, Thomas contacted me again to refresh his site with a Web Edit + new Blog; he had several new projects he needed to edit, but mostly, he had great publications to show!

Thomas' dream is to work more with the Editorial market, so we opted for a short homepage "projects portfolio" which showcases a tight selection of his most recent editorial work, making sure to "mix" images with publications.

Just a year before, this wouldn't have been possible, for lack of material; today, the quality and quantity of his editorial work is absolutely fantastic, his style is clean, crisp, consistent, the concepts, the models, everything is just "there", to the point we were able not just to be very bold and selective in his homepage portfolio, but also to group all his projects in 2 separated categories on the Menu, Editorial and Commercial; simple, very useful to clients, great for avoiding mixing two worlds that are not always mergeable.

Besides, the number of publications made possible for us to create an extra item on the menu for the Media, which always adds to the photographer's credibility.

After editing and sequencing the images, we also refreshed his About and Contact pages, we added a map and an address for his new Studio and re-styled the fonts, to be more inline with the mood of his newly consolidated style.

The last part of our work was dedicated to Thomas' new Blog; our aim was to give space to publications which weren't used in the Media portfolio, start a dialogue with the public directly on his site, increase visits through the diffusion of posts on social media and improve SEO positioning.

Using Squarespace embedded Blog functionalities, we created several posts' drafts featuring Thomas' latest news, but also his feedback on other photographer's work, and spontaneous reflections upon the world of Fashion Photography, keeping the perspective of the Blog as a "dialogue tool" rather than a mere promotional one. The Blog is still in a draft phase, ready to be published soon.

Instead of a testimonial, I have asked Thomas permission to publish a small excerpt of a recent e-mail, as for me these lines summon up all the work we did so far. And because they made me happy, and proud.

"Thank you, because you know how to charge me, keep me alert on the goals with an enthusiasm that I have not found in anyone else.

Sometimes I think back where we started, we had nothing (I speak for myself) but much desire and enthusiasm …you managed to refine and improve my skills, giving us a clear vision and a consistent way of working. And a style.

I will never tire of thanking you for all the patience and courtesy you constantly dedicate to me. And to think that everything was born from a couple of messages on Linkedin :-D"

Paola Meloni is a Family and Wedding Photographer based in Milan (Italy).

Her style is vibrant, candid and fun,  her skills for capturing real-life, genuine moments of joy are really remarkable.

Paola contacted me to create her new website: she wanted to make the most of the different work and imagery she gathered during the last years of her work, finding not only a consistent “language” but also a brand which could contain Weddings, Parties and Portraits at once.

After a careful editing of all her projects,  where the Fun and Vibrant quality emerged as the most prominent and interesting visual trademark, we decided together to create a brand new name for her work: we called it Family Events Photography, a concept appealing both to Families, Couples and to a broader spectrum of clients interested in Events.

Out of the three design proposals for the new site, Paola picked a very modern and minimal theme where images could be easily grouped in the 3 main categories of Weddings, Fun Portraits and Parties, with an initial slideshow where her new brand and the showcase of her work could be visible at once.

We also decided to re-process her entire work with a postproduction style which could enhance the Fun element and be consistent all across the categories. We started trying the new style on the Weddings pictures first, which Paola liked very much, to then apply it to all the rest.

We also considered the same light, cheerful approach in copyediting her Services, About and Contact pages where we focused on creating an open dialogue with her public, something that is vital for a B2C photographer.

After transferring her domain and the last final reviews, we were ready to launch a very fresh, contemporary new website in 3 weeks, all included.

Have a look at our work here!

www.paolameloni.it

Paola has been so kind to share her thoughts on our work together:

“I really enjoyed it working with Raffaela. I have found her to be a competent and very helpful professional. I'm really happy with my new website: Simple but effective! "

Tammy Marlar is simply one of the most creative people I know.

Not only a very talented fine art nature photographer, she also has a natural, emphatic sensibility for portraits, especially of family groups, children and pets. Based in London (UK), I would especially recommend her for commissions, for her fantastic artistic and human qualities and further, for her deep knowledge of the global conservation community. For 20 years, she has worked at the forefront of environmental protection efforts, working for and collaborating with leading UK organisations such as Tusk Force, the Environmental Investigation Agency, WildAid, Flora & Fauna International and the Born Free Foundation. Her work has been published internationally in magazines and newspapers such as Elle magazine, Outdoor Photography Magazine, and The London Evening Standard. Further, she has also won several awards including a New Shoots award in the 2016 International Garden Photographer of the Year, and her botanical work will be exhibited this year at the prestigious 2017 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Tammy contacted me with a long list of dreams, hopes and requests. Being extremely creative, she also has many creative ideas that she would love to make happen at once!

My work with her so far has been mainly to organize, prioritize, schedule and plan the most pressing priority: to provide her with the most powerful and beautiful new website we could imagine – so as to present and market her images in a really effective way.

My first challenge was to give Tammy the answer so many photographers ask me for; could she showcase all her work, in this case both nature and portrait work, on the same website? Normally, with keen editing and a good, consistent styling – if the fields are not too far from each other – my answer is yes. In Tammy’s case though, the amount of excellent pictures, and the extraordinary impact they could have if separated, made me opt for 2 different websites.

Initially we looked together at different layouts and designs I shortlisted for her. We selected two themes that suited her work very well.

For the Nature Photography website, we decided to create not only a showcase of her pictures but a real Project, which will channel her experience and knowledge of the conservation community into marketing her fine-art prints in a different, more contemporary way, whilst contributing to the cause at the same time. The powerful social sharing tools embedded in the platform we chose, Squarespace, along with its e-commerce and blog possibilities, made the task much easier, letting us focus on the creative aspects of the Project.

You can see the results here: www.tammymarlar.com

I had an excellent time working with Tammy; her positive, sunny, smiling attitude and great professionalism are such precious rays of sun. Tammy, if you’ll read this, you are special! :)

Thomas O is a Fashion photographer based in Venice area (Italy); he is part of ART & Commerce by PhotoVogue Italy as young emerging talent and he's regurarly commissioned by important commercial and editorial clients in Italy. He also teaches Fashion Photography at the Fashion Ground Academy in Verona.

His work combines an extraordinary creative talent for moods and concepts – which he creates with the aid of a specialized team of make-up artists, stylists and retouchers - with an unshakable discipline, a great attention to details and a remarkable ability to juggle a myiriad of people, problems, briefs and budgets; in one word, he’s made of the stuff real Fashion Photographers are made!

Thomas contacted me to re-brand himself with a more definite profile; he felt he was ready to get to the next level and get his work in front of international clients and he needed a hand.

After talking extensively about his dreams, plans and possibilities we decided to divide the work in 3 different phases, over a 6 months plan:

- A First Phase related to the Presentation of his work, online and in person. This involved:

o A Review of his Website (design, content, copy)

o A Review of all his Projects (artistic & technical)

o The Re-Styling of his website (menu, structure, some design)

o Copy Editing of his About, Books & Prints and Contact pages

o Photo Editing + Sequencing of all his Projects

o Photo Editing + Sequencing of a Print Portfolio

- A Second Phase focusing on Production, with the aim of identifying a style in line with his real strenghts and goals and strenghtening his skills in managing the photographic set / coordinating his team. This involved:

o An Update Coaching: study together the work of contemporary Fashion Photographers

o A Production Coaching: management of the Photo Shoot / Production Team

o Photo Editing of his latest production

- A Third Phase, still ongoing, related to Promotion, with the aim of Improving his PR, Communication and Marketing skills and reaching a more specific target market, refining his online presence and tools for promotion. This involved:

o Coaching: how to identify and contact targets ( first contact, follow up e-mails and group messages)

o Online curation: curating the profile of 3 Social Network (profile photos, content editing, copy editing )

o Coaching: how to use Social Networks to build Real Relationships with the public

o Creation of a brand new ESP-based Newsletter; from choosing the right Design, to Content Editing, to a Management Coaching session (design, editing, maling lists, permissions and privacy)

Since re-styling his website and working on his PR and promotional skills together, Thomas started being contacted by a much wider range of clients; he recently wrote me a couple of enthusiastic e-mails – and we quantified his increased business percentage in about 50% (in 5 months only!); I truly believe this is just the beginning, as if there’s someone who got the stamina and talent to reach some BIG dreams, that is him.

PS For Thomas: if you are reading this, I hope you’ll remember to send me that invitation to your MOMA exhibition ;)

This is Thomas’ feedback on our work together:

"During my career I have worked successfully with many people, but working with Raffaela was definitely a pleasure.

She’s a very kind and respectful person, with a positive and sunny disposition, who transmits serenity at every meeting. Her great experience and knowledge in photography and marketing allowed me to grow significantly as a photographer; for the first time, it felt like someone was as passionate as me about my career, really understanding what I deeply wanted, making me actively work to achieve my goals.

It was neither easy, nor short, but the results are really good.

Her reviews have changed the way I look at my own work and her editing has added a substantial extra value, giving rhythm and accentuating meaning in my projects, while with the postproduction restyling that we made, she managed to show me how to create a more consistent and contemporary mood in my portfolios.

Raffaela has put a practical emphasis on my goals and thanks to the clarity of her method she was able to make me evolve both in the quality of my work and in my communication & marketing strategy."

JC Candanedo is a Fashion and Portraits photographer.

Originally from Panama, he has lived all over the world before moving to London where he’s now based and where we have crossed paths.

JC is one real exception in the world of Fashion photography, which can often be standoffish and cold: his kind, warm personality shines through all his work and his love for photography is nourished by a very strong set of values. In his own words: “I have a passion for real, genuine beauty in photography which translates into a commitment to an ethical approach: my aim is to avoid promoting the fictions of eternal youth and falsity in general.”

How refreshing is that?!!

JC asked me to help him getting to the next level with a full Web overhaul.

Now, a Web Edit sounds a pretty easy process; it’s just about choosing which pictures taking off from one photographer’s website, right? This is very seldom the case.

Photographers today have multiple sites, multiple portfolios scattered on the web, sometimes, such as in JC’s case, even multiple names; their versatility translates into such a multitude of styles, productions, experiments, that finding the “file rouge” that binds their personal style with the needs of the market is sometimes a very complex process: a Web Edit works only as far as it reflects the online identity as a whole, so my work needs to take an holistic approach and normally starts with digging into a much wider series of identities that have somehow “materialised” during the photographer’s career, to find, ultimately, who the photographer truly is and wants to be.

Practically, this means considering everything: fine-art personal projects against commercial revenues, strength of an established brand name against how well it reflects the visual content, potential of multiple skills in different fields of photography against a simple, functional web menu … and of course, all pictures, all projects, all texts…

It’s quite an intense process but eventually, simplicity and clarity reaffirm themselves;

* for JC Homepage’s Portfolio, after a careful look at all his production, we decided to “sacrifice” his most commercial work and unify his beautiful Portraits with the most personal, strongest shots of his Fashion and Beauty projects.

* for his Projects, we decided to create single galleries, one for each, but all accessible from the same menu page, in order to give JC’s public an overview of his work, while having at the same time the possibility to dig deeper and see each project in its fullness. We also made sure that each picture could open up in full page format, something that editors and publishers always look for in a photographer’s website.

* besides, we decided to create a new item in the menu for Media, gathering all the publication of JC’s work, which were many and greatly added to the “credibility” factor; we thought at the Media intro page as a publication in itself, adding a little text below each work, to help the “magazine” feeling.

As often happens with full Web Edits, we eventually had the strong perception that we had created something that was simultaneously brand new and already “there”, just hidden below the surface.

When I finish my work, and the photographer publishes it, I spend quite some time looking through it as I have never seen it before, and if it just flows, I know something good has happened, and we are where we should be.

But the best reward comes when my work helps a photographer gain some new deserved confidence in his own work: as JC recently told me after a series of portfolios reviews “I am glad that we did all the work that we did because I feel now that I am competing at the level that I should be competing”.

JC has been so kind to share with me and on his fantastic blog his thoughts on our work together:

“Raffaela and I gathered all the images that I have shot over the course of my career and put together an online portfolio that presents a more accurate version of who I am as a photographer.

It wasn't an easy task; we had to come up with a portfolio that was strong and coherent but that would also balance all the different types of photography that I shoot. 
Our main goal was to make the website appealing to those who are looking for my fashion work but also to those who want to see what I can offer as a portraiture photographer.

Raffaela helped me unify the Beauty & Fashion portfolios with the Portraits one, finding a consistent style all through. Also, she managed to build a Homepage Portfolio which could be appealing to Editorial and Commercial clients at once but also suitable and interesting for the general public. In the process, some of my favourite images were left out. But we had to sacrifice the most obvious commercial shots in order to give a contemporary edge to the website.

I am really happy with the result and I think that we nailed it!

It was a really difficult process because as photographers we are emotionally connected to our work. Having someone else take control over our work and tell us what we should and what we shouldn't present in our portfolios is probably one of the hardest things an artist can go through. But, in the end, it has been a relief. Just having the weight lifted off my shoulders of having to decide what to display in my portfolio has made the whole experience completely worth it.

Working with Raffaela not only helped me present a more accurate version of myself as a photographer, but it has also made me realise that the quality of my work was better than I gave it credit for.”

photographer:   Valentina Quintano

project:             In The Absence of Things
client:                Emblema Photoagency
publication:      Burn Magazine
work:                scouting, photo editing

Emma Marshall is a portrait photographer based in London (UK). Her photography, which focuses on people in Creative Business and in the Rights Development environments, has a fresh, upbeat tone, and shows a reat talent in capturing the personality of her subjects.

Emma decided to contact me because she was having trouble making sense of a very large body of work and productions; working on many different assignments, while shooting various personal projects at the same time, had created a great variety of portfolios and galleries, which looked really nice but that somehow muddled her style and made the navigation of her website a little too convoluted.

After individuating together her ultimate goals and a plan of action, we decided to give her website a full overhaul, starting with the complete editing of her work; among the pictures that Emma sent me there were real gems that she had been shooting on film, which totally belonged to the her visual brand and gave a unique feel to her whole portfolio.

We sequenced the selected galleries, then we proceeded to online curation and structuring a new menu which would give immediate access to her work, putting her fantastic portraits front and central.

The results in the re-styled website tell much about Emma; the unique relationship she’s able to create with her subjects, her genuine love for the unusual, creative side of life, and for people. I’m really rooting for her, I can’t wait to see her published everywhere.

Emma has been so kind to give me her feedback on our work together:

“Raffaela worked with me to refine my edit of my work and its presentation on my website, and helped me get more clarity about where to focus my efforts in developing my portfolio and attracting the kind of clients I want to work with in the future. Her extensive experience as a photo editor and hirer of photographers was really important to me in this process, helping to give me confidence that I'm on the right track. Raffaela is knowledgable, honest and a pleasure to work with. Overall, an extremely useful experience.”

Stefano Parisi is a travel fine-art photographer based in Milan (Italy).

He’s currently working on a long-term project called Global Landscapes, on the effects of globalization on the anthropized landscape.

What really strikes me in Stefano’s vision, is his ability to “widen” the usual perspective we have on our environment, including those elements that our eye normally disregards, to the point of not seeing them anymore, because they are not beautiful enough or because they clash with the “postcard” image we are all unconsciounsly seeking; as Leonardo Brogioni says in his beatiful review of Stefano’s work “The Environment is therefore presented here as almost accidental, discordant, where nature seems temporarily or irredeemably defeated.”

Stefano contacted me to create a new website especially tailored for this project.

He needed some for help on presenting the work and the concept of the project at their best, developing at the same time an online shop for selling his prints.

We started with a global review of all his material, both under a technical, artistic and commercial profile, individuating his real targets and points of strenghts.

We then explored together different layouts possibilities. Stefano chose a Squarespace template with a minimal look where his beautiful images could be center stage and would allow him to take advantage of the fantastic embedded e-commerce system of the platform.

The work involved some extremely strict editing of his vast production, selecting only those images which could immediately convey the project’s concept and offer a consistent style all through.

To enforce this, we chose a very distinctive postproduction styling which strenghtened the consistency of the style and made the idea of landscapes “ that increasingly looks the same all over the world, for better or for worse” coming across at full force.

Other work involved chosing the best SEO friendly domain name, the most effective architecture for the site, Copyediting of the Project text and About page, the full web development, the domain transfer and of course a last session of CSM coaching to help Stefano managing his website in full autonomy.

Have a look at his beautiful project here: www.globallandscapes.photography

Stefano has been so kind to share his thoughts on our work together:

"Raffaela has made possible the realization of my wish: to create my new photographic identity. All this in a very short time, which is absolutely commendable. Very competent, she has a 360° vision of contemporary photography, both for the Italian market and the international one.

An important point of reference for photographers for developing their work and present it in the best possible way! "

Manos Chatzikonstantis is a Travel Photographer based in London (UK) and Athens (Greece); his fantastic eye for details, combined with a natural gift for understated, authentic-feeling imagery, makes him one of the most talented Travel photographer I have crossed paths with. His work has been published by several international clients for which he produced many assignments, mostly on Travel & Food topics.

Manos asked me if I could help him on a mentoring basis for a complete re-launch of his work on the market. We went through his website together and brainstormed about his work possibilities, his goals but most of all we individuated his real dream: to work more as an Editorial Travel Reportages photographer.

We outlined an Action Plan together and divided the goals that we had set in different Steps:

1. Defining a strong Visual Brand on the basis of existing stories, possible future stories, existing targets, desired targets, commercial needs, inspirational photographers etc;

2. Re-organizing his entire body of work (Commissions, Personal Work, Published Work etc) in a way that conveyed the Editorial work he wanted to create, while showing his skills for more Commercial oriented projects;

3. Reviewing of all existing material under a Production Profile (both technical and artistic) with the aim of setting the highest possible standards for future productions;

4. Individuating a personal, recognizable style for Post Production, which would enhance past and future work and at the same time strengthen his Visual Identity;

5. Providing new skills for Finding/ Researching/ Networking (with) new Contacts.

Manos and I worked together over Skype and emails for some very intense weeks; after a complete editing and sequencing of all his work, we selected the stories that would give him a strong new visual identity and we were thrilled to see that some of his personal projects, which he never shared before, would fit perfectly with the rest of his work and actually greatly enhanced his profile. At the end of the First Step, when he saw the results, Manos wrote me an email: “Do you know – he said – I think I would hire this guy! ☺” It put a big smile on my face!

We then proceeded working on a new Website Structure which would meld his Personal work with his Commercial and Editorial one, we rewrote his About page from scratch; eventually we talked about new productions, postproduction, marketing and contracts to create the best possible ground for new clients and new work.

Working with Manos has been simply great: his enthusiasm, professionality and sense of humor made the intense work much less daunting and seeing the results on his new website is truly rewarding. At the moment he's is travelling the world on 4 (!) new big assignments and promised me to keep me updated soon. Good luck Manos, I’m looking forward to hearing all about it!

photographer: Federica Di Giovanni

client: Emblema Photoagency
work:                scouting, photo editing

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Federica Di Giovanni
publication: Terre di Mezzo

photographer: Aldo Soligno

client: Emblema Photoagency
work: scouting, production, photo editing
publication: Gioia

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Enrico Genovesi
publication: SportsWeek Italia

Michela Taeggi is a photojournalist and documentary photographer working between Milan and Bergamo (Italy). She’s also a very fine portrait photographer, whose images have been recently shortlisted and have received Honorable Mention in important international contests, such as the Sony World Photography Awards 2014 and the Annual PAA 2014.

Michela contacted me with a very specific request; she needed an Editing and a strong Postproduction style for her new project “The Silence of the Trees”; the project, as I first saw it from the contact sheet she sent me, was a fantastic series of portraits of children she had taken and crafted along two years, expressing the spontaneous deep relationship that they have with trees and nature. Both the concept, and the way she had imagined the portraits were outstanding, and the images were so strong that making a choice wasn’t easy; in addition, finding the right tone for the greens (the most difficult colour for a photographer!) was proving very difficult for her.

After giving a cohesive cut to the story through a very strict Editing, we made some tests for Postproduction; Michela chose the style that suited her pictures best, we then proceeded to apply it to all pictures and sequence them for her website in a way that enhanced her vision.

The result is a dreamy little gallery in which the timeless elegance of her portraits flows in a suspended atmosphere.


Michela has been so kind to share her thoughts on our work together:

“I worked with Raffaela on the Post Production, Editing and Sequencing of my latest work, “The Silence of the Trees”.
Her experience has been very valuable to me: since our first meeting, she understood exactly what I was looking for and what "mood" I wanted to give to my project. From the very first post production tests I could see that she exactly hit the target I had in mind.
As for the Editing, she managed to select and sequence my photographic project at its best, adding value to each single image. Working with Raffaela was a very interesting and instructive experience. Thanks!”

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Federica Di Giovanni

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Aldo Soligno
publication: Vanity Fair Italy

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Elio Colavolpe

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Filippo Massellani

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Filippo Massellani

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Filippo Massellani

photographer:   Aldo Soligno

project:              The Facebook Syndrome
client:                 Emblema Photoagency
publication:       Vanity Fair Italy
work:                 concept, styling, photo editing

client: Emblema Photoagency (2011)
photographer: Daniel Duart
publications: Condé Nast Traveller UK, 2nd prize Sony World Photography Awards, 2013 - Travel-

client: Emblema Photoagency
photographer: Aldo Soligno

I’ve been working with Fine Art photographer Luisa Lanza on a mentoring basis since May 2013 .

Luisa arrived to me looking for help with editing her portfolio; she had a round of important reviews coming and she wanted to give her best shot.
Being also a very talented graphic designer, she had imagery that used both photography and graphic elements in a very powerful way, but that somehow worked against the subtle, truer spirit of her art.

After an emergency editing for the reviews, during which she had very positive feedback, Luisa decided to go deeper and start a real “search of herself” through her own work; we agreed to go back to the basics and start all over with the unprocessed files and make a complete editing of all her work, to find the strongest themes, a cohesive style but most of all the real stories hidden behind her very delicate and yet extremely strong pictures.

The result has been an incredible journey into raw feelings, moods and dreams that brought to the surface Luisa's symbolic vision with such force as to leave both amazed. Even more, what was emerging was an unpredicted, natural storytelling gift, something that I have seldom seen in a Fine Art photographer.

We chose a much less invasive postproduction style for each story, sequenced them carefully, and then decided to relaunch her work with a brand new website; we found a perfect Wordpress linear theme which would showcase her storytelling skills at their best, organized a very simple structure, and launched it.

After 2 weeks from the new website’s publication Luisa received an email from a private collectionist who bought two complete series of her work.

Working with Luisa has been and keeps being a very creative experience for me; the talent, the vision and the courage that little elves can have!!



Luisa has been so kind to share her thoughts on our work together:

“I met Raffaela through "The Photographer's Room" (Milan, Italy), and there was an immediate understanding between us. From there it’s been a continuous progress for me, she greatly helped me to enhance my projects and grow as a photographer, developing the true characteristics of my work. The work we did together was fun and truly helpful; it’s great to know she’ll always be there when I need her.”