Paolo Roversi

Paolo Roversi is an Italian photographer. Born in 1947, it was in 1964 that Roversi picked up a passion for photography. Returning from a Spanish vacation, Roversi set up a dark room and began printing his black and white work. Soon after, Roversi started apprenticing for Nevio Natali. Initially, Roversi took portraits and covered assignments for the Associated Press. However, in 1971, he met Elle art director Peter Knapp who invited him to Paris. Arriving in November 1973, Roversi never left. By the following year, Roversi was assisting photographer Laurence Sackman.

After nine months, Roversi began his career in fashion photography. Known for shooting with 8×10 Polaroid film, Roversi discusses his work with The Talks. My photography is more subtraction than addition. I always try to take off things. We all have a sort of mask of expression. You say goodbye; you smile; you are scared. I try to take all these masks away and, little by little, subtract until you have something pure left. A kind of abandon, a kind of absence. It looks like an absence, but in fact, when there is this emptiness, I think the interior beauty comes out. This is my technique.