Frank Armocida

A Photographer Capturing Emotion in the Documentary Style

When I was a child, my father, Francesco Armocida, used to bring me to his little darkroom in our home in Brooklyn, where I was born. He was working as an artist and re-toucher for a large advertising agency in New York at the time. He had the great fortune to meet photographers like Avedon and Kertesz, who would shoot and print their photos where he worked. The darkroom was like a rebirth for me. It was a magical feeling to see the images appear slowly. This was my fantastic introduction to photography. We soon moved to Calabria, Italy, where I now live with my wife and children. As a young university student, I adored photographing the wonderful aspects of nature. I loved using selective focus and shallow depth of field to create magical atmospheres that reminded me of my father’s paintings. I soon developed a great interest in portrait photography and studied lighting techniques. I took portrait courses and followed many wedding photographers helping them during wedding shootings: then I found out that not only in wedding photography you have to be a good photographer but you really should also have a certain behaviour to achieve a certain kind of photography, the one I was and still seeking for today: capture moments with low photographer ‘interference’. I prefer the documentary style, the one that captures the real, emotional moment. Unlike ‘fixed’ pictures and concocted scenarios, I am aiming to capture genuine life moments. It is an honour to be part of the WPJA. Not only is it a guideline for B&G, but it is also a tool to help photographers meet couples’ needs.