Stefano Rellandini

Stefano Rellandini

Based
Milan, Italy
Born
Milan, Italy
Status
Photographer
“I respect all photographers who work to show our world in real time and report honestly.”

Beat

I cover news, sport and fashion.

One Shot

. Aviano, Italy. Reuters/Stefano Rellandini
A fighter jet takes off from Aviano Air base in northern Italy over a cross erected for Easter by a pacifist group.
“This shot was taken during the Bosnian war, at a time when U.S. fighters took off from Aviano NATO Air Base every day. At Easter, thousands of pacifists were demonstrating against the war outside the base. I like how, in this image, just two very visual elements tell the whole story.”

Profile

My earliest memory of photography is shooting pictures at alpine skiing events, following the valuable advice of my mentor Armando Trovati. For the first downhill race it took me 10 athletes to manage to get a skier in the frame. There was no autofocus lens at the time and manual focusing wasn’t easy. It was a real nightmare.

I approached the world of photography by working with a photo agency that specialised in winter sports. I did a couple of internships with them where I processed and printed black and white pictures in the darkroom. As I started taking pictures later on, this experience helped me a lot.

In 1996 I covered the funeral of the Italian designer Gianni Versace in Milan. I was inside the cathedral but our location was really bad. During the ceremony, Lady Diana embraced and comforted pop singer Elton John who was crying next to her. That was my story. I left the funeral to develop the films and sent the file to newspapers.

Any assignment with a human dimension reminds me how complicated life is. The earthquake in Pakistan was one of them. I witnessed how one’s life can change in an instant and how it needs to be restarted all over again. I saw the challenges of having to build up a new life. As a photographer, I try to be as invisible as possible whilst shooting, yet still capture the depth of the story.

My biggest lesson has been to keep calm to capture the key moment. Having said that, your reference points differ with every assignment and I’m still learning.

I respect all photographers who work to show our world in real time and report honestly.

Behind the Scenes

Italy. Alessandro Trovati
Reuters Photographer Stefano Rellandini files pictures from the back of a motorbike during the giro d'italia cycling race in 2004.