Photography, for me, represents the gift of presence - of truly being in the there and then - through light. My project Almost Adrift - of which I am presenting here a selection from the first chapter, April in Africa, - is intended as a testament to this. Almost Adrift is born as a systematic photographic diary of the journeys where I had no role whatsoever in choosing the route or the purpose. Journeys like this are very interesting because they are clear of all the preconceptions of intentional voyages. They can happen for many reasons, work, emergencies, love, all urgencies of life. April in Africa is the first chapter of the project - that I imagine and hope very long. Work reasons lead me to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. This powerful journey - where I travelled pushed by a stream to places and people I had not been searching - served me as a precious occasion to reflect on things very close to my heart: photography, photojournalism and the power of seduction in humans. These reflections will be the underlaying themes of Almost Adrift. First, photography. Traveling where we had not planned to go the camera gives us the priceless tool to be there in full. Presence. This feature of photography is clearer in unintended journeys but is true and fundamental at all times. Photojournalism, second. At a time where the discourse on life and the world is strongly affected by speed, polarisation, punchy content that can climb on top of the hyper-abundant and constant offer of information - visual and not - it seems to me that photojournalism is less and less immune by working with a clear, effective picture of the desired end-game of the shooting, with an agenda of sorts, with a pre-conceived vision. This is very disquieting for me. And very contrary to the roots of my love for photojournalism. In Almost Adrift - having not chosen my destination - I wish to explore the extent to which this allows me to encounter and take pictures with total presence and total lack of a preconceived agenda. Finally, seduction. There can be no voyage and no encounter without an extent of seduction. Surprisingly, the Latin origin of the word had a negative connotation: to lead astray, to push someone away from their way. An unintentional journey is the perfect occasion to see how seduction actually becomes a positive, fundamental force in human lives pushing us out of comfort and towards encountering the great elsewhere.
Author biography
Antonio Denti is an Italian cameraman and photographer. A Reuters staff video journalist for over 20 years, he covered conflict in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon. He reported about the beginning of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and the epic human migration across the Mediterranean, the 2004 Tsunami in Banda Aceh and the 2023 earthquake in Turkey.
In 2018, he won the Royal Television Society (RTS) Award for Camera Operator of the Year.
Antonio’s personal photography projects won a number of awards (POY, LensCulture, Head On Exposure, Ippawards, All About Photo, Feature Shoot Emerging Photography, IPA, Gomma, Lucie and Urban Awards, among others).
He strongly believes that boots-on-the-ground visual story-telling can bring a precious contribution to counter the contemporary tendency towards a results-focused, speed-obsessed, screamed and over all standardized journalism and help generate a push towards a more authentic, respectful and meaningful way to tell about the world.
He lives in Rome with his wife, Sara, and their 10-years old son, Martino.