When people ask me: “What do you do for a living?” the drama begins! I never know how to answer, I never know how to explain what I do and why I do it. For 15 years, I was a professional photographer, and even though my life changed completely almost two years ago (once again), most people who know me superficially don’t know this. Today, photography still plays a central role in my “new life,” in fact, I hope it can be even more central than it was during my years as a professional photographer.
So, what do you do then? I’m a missionary, yes, a missionary, you understood correctly! And when I answer like this, a series of other questions begin, to which I have to answer to try to explain what it means to be a missionary in Italy in 2025. Most people don’t even know that it’s still possible to be a missionary today, or what it might mean. The only obvious thing I can say is that being a missionary requires faith, in my case, Christian faith, and then it requires the willingness to do everything possible to put people at the center of everything we do. And especially in today’s world, which is extremely self-centered, it’s not easy to choose to focus on others, to dedicate our time to those around us, to do something not just for the people we like, but also for those we say, don’t drive us crazy.
And perhaps this is the aspect that most tests what I do and its motivations. I realized that “loving” the people around us is difficult. People often don’t know how to be loved, don’t want to be loved, and some are really unpleasant to love. And this is where photography becomes an incredible key to getting closer to those people who, because of the harshness of life, are not emotionally easy to reach.
In the past few weeks, I’ve been wandering through time, retracing 15 years of photography, slowly reviewing all the work I’ve done, all the photos I’ve taken. I’m completely lost in my photo archive and the confusion of my early years as a photographer, and I can’t help but notice that in the exhausting search for technique, in the effort to discover and define my style, my obsession with the human being, with their uniqueness, is obvious. The obsession of seeing beyond what is visible, and in every shot, I also see my discomfort.
I’ll reveal a secret to you. After all these years, even today I still feel uncomfortable when someone asks me to take a portrait. Even today, when a person stands in front of my lens, and I don’t know exactly what they expect from me, someone who is trying to trust me despite the embarrassment and insecurity, I feel uncomfortable. Yet, I can’t resist the need for that discomfort. And then, when I start pressing the button, it’s like entering a trance. I no longer feel, I no longer see, I’m no longer there; I am transported to another place, an intimate place, where suddenly, all that matters is knowing who I have in front of me, understanding how I can love that person, how I can show them who they are to me, sincerely, without compromise, and show them a beauty they are not always accustomed to.
Well, it’s not very different from what we do today. This is what it means to be a missionary in Italy in 2025. It means choosing to see the people around us and doing everything possible to discover who they really are, giving what we can to make their lives “better,” even if only a little.
Ask me again what I do for a living, and I’ll probably say that what I do is no different from what I did before. I still take photos; only the priorities have changed. Now, at the top of the list, it’s not money or recognition from the world, but ordinary people and my attempt to love them as I can through my art, knowing that every time I choose to do this, God participates in my choice, and extraordinary things happen!
Paolo
