Interview with Marco Campanozzi

Camping and hiking in the woods of the St. Lawrence River valley were staples of photographer Marco Campanozzi's youth growing up in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que. But he left that pastoral place, moving to MontrÇal to pursue photojournalism for some of the city's largest daily newspapers. In his first shoot for Canadian Geographic, Campanozzi took a cruise from Kingston to Montreal and then on to Ottawa, visiting the river he knows so well, but has never explored from the water.

		PHOTOGRAPHER Marco Campanozzi Creating a story is all in the editing after a shoot, says Campanozzi."The first thing I look for are narrative aspects, emotion and good aesthetics. I whittle down all the photos to about 100 based on those criteria." To see more photos from Campanozzi's shoot along the St. Lawrence, check out the spring 2011 issue of Canadian Geographic Travel or visit his website.
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Q How was shooting a magazine story different from your work as a newspaper photojournalist?

AMost of the time when I get an assignment from a newspaper I know what I'm getting into and what to expect. Usually I can imagine the scenes and the types of people I'm going to meet. For this story I did a little research, but all I came up with was details about the trip and the boat. Once on board, I was blown away when I met so many friendly and interesting people. And the river was beautiful too. When you're on a boat for a week you end up getting used to it and it creates a rhythm that I found very inspiring. The St. Lawrence turned into a character in itself.

Q What did you like most about the transition to magazine photography?

AIt was the first time I had the chance to work with my subjects for a week without a quick deadline. That was a big change from the daily newspapers I work for where everyday I have to rush to get things done. Here it was all about capturing the essence of the moment. Capturing the ambience and the characters in photographs is important. Both news and documentary photography are trying to transmit ideas and emotions, so whether you're capturing a 45-minute rally or have three days to capture people on a river boat the idea is the same.

QHow does having more time and getting to know your subjects influence your photography?

AIn terms of the approach, it makes things a lot easier. When I arrive on a news shoot I don't often have time to introduce myself to everyone and people can feel like they're being intruded upon. The people on the cruise got to know me. On the first day they were a bit curious about what I was doing, but after a while they forget I'm there. I explained who I was and what I was doing and people became more and more comfortable and more natural. The time allowed me to be more subtle and perhaps pick up on certain nuances I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

QWhat did you want to show about the cruise, the St. Lawrence and the people?

AThe story really came through when I was editing. On the boat I was trying to get the everyday activities of the passengers. It was the little details that came together to create a larger idea of what the experience was. I wanted viewers to feel like they were there on the boat with me by making the scenes about everyday things.

QWhat do you look for in a good photo?

AFirst off, the story. The emotions people are showing and the narrative side of what they're doing is important. Yet aesthetics are also very important to me. I was first inspired by art photography in galleries and museums. So the aesthetics of art photography have always been an important foundation in my work. A good photo tries to maintain a balance between narrative, aesthetics and emotion.

QHow do you create emotion in a landscape shot?

AIt's definitely more difficult, almost impossible. I thought it was important to include landscapes in this story because it was such a big part of the cruise.

Interview by Kelly Greig