Gigi Cifarelli Guitar Solo (feat. Michele Di Toro) – Live@Florian Espace Pescara
This the reportage I did on behalf of Rockol.it with a Canon 5d Mk III and the venerable Canon EF 70-200/2,8.
These frames came from a night where the light was scarce but the music was abundant. I knew from the start that I would have to work with the available stage lighting, which meant pushing the ISO well beyond my comfort zone. The result is a grain structure that feels almost filmic — not something I tried to hide, but rather embraced, as it adds texture that suits the intimacy of live jazz.
The composition developed naturally: Gigi Cifarelli to the right, fully immersed in his guitar, and the pianist to the left, head bowed in concentration. The microphone stand, leaning diagonally across the frame, could easily have been a distraction, but here it works as a dividing line that separates yet connects the two musicians. The negative space above and around them isolates the performance, stripping away the crowd and any unnecessary visual noise.
The exposure was a fine balance between holding detail in Gigi’s black shirt and not blowing out the highlights on the pianist’s jacket under the stage spots. The shadows fall deep, but they don’t swallow the essential form — the light carves just enough definition into the subjects to keep them alive on the page.
What I like most about this shot is its stillness. Despite being made in a live setting, there’s no visible motion blur, no frantic energy. Instead, the frame catches a shared, unspoken moment in the music — one that, ironically, feels silent when frozen like this.
The theater was small and few were the angles to be exploited. Thus I’ve decided to focus on close-ups and american shots.
