Paulo Raeli captures moments of intimacy, youth, movement, love, lust and freedom in his photographs of young men and women. This Sicilian photographer uses a Nikon D800 with a 24mm lens to photograph his friends and lovers, while they are aware of being photographed usually at dusk or in his words at “the blue hour when the light is soft.”
Raeli’s is motivated by a “fear of forgetting” to photograph moments of intimacy and pleasure experienced by youth. “Memory is temporary, so I’m going to document youth, my own and that of my friends before I forget it” he says. The lighting is beautiful and natural, hazy blues and pinks and blurry city lights with long exposures on traffic to capture the moving lights. The people in the photos are kissing, riding a roundabout, leaning out a window or over a bridge. They feel spontaneous and natural.
In one image the entire photo is coloured pink and a couple are kissing in bed. In another a female gay couple are naked and kissing in a cloak room. The images are raw. One shows a boy smeared with blood casually smoking a cigarette with his eyes cropped out of the photograph.
In an effort to document his own youth Raeli has explored the transience of relationships in his generation. Love and heartbreak are a recurring theme. He asks permission before he takes photos of his friends
“How many times can you fall in and out of love? And, when it’s all over, which it so often is, what next?” Raeli says.
The use of motion creates the idea of freedom and spontaneity. Raeli reinforces the carefree nature of youth and the emotional highs and lows.