Interview with Valentina Benigni | A Professional Photographer & Owner of VB Production from France

Hi, my name is Valentina Benigni. I started photography with silver cameras at 5, turning it into a profession in 2020. As a fine art photographer, I exhibit my limited-edition photos, especially flamenco. In 2022, I self-published a fine art book with a selection of them.

My photographic approach takes on the literal meaning of "photography": writing with light. I love light and being able to tell stories with it. The camera is a magical tool that allows you to tell unique stories that can take the viewer's mind to unknown places of the soul.

I see fine art photography as a captured moment in the language of emotions. Dance photography has deep roots in me: it has been practiced for almost 20 years. Today I dance through my eyes, capturing the emotions displayed on live shows.

I am self-taught: I learned mostly by testing and playing with the camera, but also by reading books and doing workshops with important photographers that allowed me to learn new points of view, to learn, and to find my own photographic style and language.

I don't remember my first shot, but I remember why I started: I liked to capture unrepeatable instants and spontaneous emotions that could live forever. With time it also became a way to express myself, using creativity during the shoot: framing, long pose, black and white contrast, and geometry. They all served to convey more than just a static shot and to tell a story.

I have always used Canon, I love the underlying logic and quality. I currently use the Canon R6 with several R-series lenses. My favorite? The Canon RF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM, a gem!

I hope to capture emotions around the world and make them eternal in my photographs. And then I dream that these photographs will travel around the world, leaving traces of emotions everywhere. Art has the ability to touch intimate chords in strangers, make connections, and open doors and reflections in people we don't know. I dream that photography can have this magical power and leave footprints of light.

I always feel an intense emotion seeing people move in front of my photographs, with tears in their eyes. Unknown people thanked me because my photography had given them a strong emotion and touched intimate chords.

My photographic approach takes the literal meaning of "photography" - writing with light - and develops into "painting with light". I like to transcribe movement and bring a photograph to life, conveying more than a static pose of a dancer on stage, and giving whoever looks at the photo the feeling of having witnessed the performance: hearing the music, seeing the steps, feeling the emotion.

An artistic approach that, through dance and photography, aims to sensitise people to recognise their own emotions, to accept their vulnerability, to give it space, and to live it without barriers. Vulnerability as a strength rather than a weakness, is an essential tool for staying connected to oneself and living a fulfilled life.

Emotion, intensity, and movement. Maybe just saying "Emotion in motion".

I love movement, as an expression of change, of life's unpredictability, of evolution, of the need to adapt, of the need for balance. I love light as a source of energy, hope, strength, passion, faith, and inspiration, but I also love shadow as a source of contrast, intensity, comparison, and depth. I love sincere emotions, spontaneous moments, and intense instants.

In my photographs, you'll find interwoven stories in which light, movement, shadow, and emotion dance together to create a unique and eternal moment.

Thanks! It's an incredible and unexpected thrill! I am honoured to receive these important recognitions, it incites me to continue and gives me even more strength and energy to believe in my work and passion.

This series is part of a larger project of limited-edition fine art photographs taken during live flamenco performances between 2020 and 2023 in France and Spain. The aim is to represent the universal language of emotions through flamenco dance in a two-step between light and emotion. Dance is a powerful way of channeling and releasing emotions, capable of expressing them unfiltered and transmitting them even to those unfamiliar with dance.

An artistic approach that, through dance and photography, aims to sensitise people to recognise their own emotions, to accept their vulnerability, to give it space, and to live it without barriers. Vulnerability as a strength rather than a weakness, is an essential tool for staying connected to oneself and living a fulfilled life. Flamenco, a traditional dance inscribed on the World Heritage List, was born in the popular environment and expresses itself through improvisation, the spontaneous expression of emotions with intensity, authenticity, and strength, without fear of showing its vulnerability. On the contrary, it becomes the only means of expressing one's feelings and emotions.

In a world that encourages us to wear masks to be accepted, to filter our emotions and conform, the aim is to reconnect with ourselves, to look our emotions in the eye, to accept our vulnerability, and to make it our strength.

So far I have not yet reaped the benefits of these awards, but they certainly help my notoriety and credibility, as well as increase the value of my photographs.

Vivian Maier, Letizia Battaglia, and Sabine Weiss. 3 women, 3 different approaches, but in all of them there is spontaneity, important storytelling, and intense emotion laced with a mystery that allows the viewer to get excited and at the same time travel with the imagination.

A few years ago I had the good fortune and honour to take a workshop with a very inspiring photographer. Although I had been taking photographs for many years, I had never shown them to anyone. In his workshop it was mandatory and I was afraid of it.

He told me, "There is something brilliant about your view of the world, but you are still too afraid of other people's gaze because you think you have to conform to be accepted. Trust your instinct and follow it, your uniqueness is just waiting for you to authorise it to blossom".

I would tell him/her to be passionate and not to stop believing. I would tell him/her to listen to others but continue to do what he/she feels is best for himself/herself because this is a tough, complex, and obstacle-filled profession that can stay on its feet above all if the main fuel is passion.

My engine is my passion for photography and a positive approach to life, which both drive me every day. Defeats and disappointments also come, fatigue and difficulties are not lacking, but perhaps the key is to never forget why I started and to take every event that happens (good or bad) with gratitude as an opportunity to learn and evolve.

I subscribe to many newsletters and look for news online, to stay informed as much as possible and always take a new opportunity to learn and seize opportunities that I may not have thought existed until then.

Thank you so much to the judges who gave me these 10 awards! thank you for your sensitivity and for adding even more energy to my future projects!