We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pietro Milici a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Pietro , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love asking folks what they would do differently if they were starting today – how they would speed up the process, etc. We’d love to hear how you would set everything up if you were to start from step 1 today.

I don’t think starting over will bring you back to where you are now. Every step we make has a particular reaction that brings us to the reality we live in today, and if we only change a small element of our life/work everything will be different.
So, I believe that starting over will create a completely different parallel story of me, and possibly with another mission and another set of rules that will control my journey.
Before becoming a professional photographer, I was a marine biologist, and thinking about that period, I would probably change the city where I was studying. But that change would cause a series of consequences that will never give me the possibility to embrace the art of photography as I am living it today. And maybe today, I would not even have the luck to talk about my expertise as a photographer, and I would not even be here in this city.
But if for a moment, we can accept that small changes do not affect our entire life and future, I would have start much earlier than I did.

Pietro , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am from Palermo, a city in the south of Italy. Thanks to my parents I was able to travel when I was a teenager, experience different cultures, and have completely different experiences. Those small contrasts between my city and others, made me understand that that was not where I wanted to live my entire life, so I started traveling alone at the age of 16; Europe, South America, etc, until now, that I am stable in the US. Of course, those are not the only experiences, my life is full of wonderful memories and moments you can only experience in those parts of the world. And those are the most important things I share today, through my photographs, my words, and my actions. I shot my first photo when I was six years old( 1990). A photograph of my father and my mother hugging each other. We were in Rome. I still have that photo with me, it is a reminder of how everything has a meaning and happens for a reason. I care deeply about photography, it is how I express myself and my point of view to the outside world. I am inherently interested in this discipline as a way of conceiving the city, the architecture, the people, their emotions, and their stories. I search for the unexpected, the untold, the overlooked, and reveal any hidden facets that the subject – be it a person or a city street – might withhold. Today I based in Miami, and my work is mainly based on architecture/interior, and portraits. “I love how architecture can be a portrait of the society and the world we live in, and how a portrait of a person is the structure of the life each one of us lives every day.” It has never been and it will never be a smooth road! Some moments are the best you will ever live, and there will be others where you will need to breathe deeply and think about the next idea. Moving from Italy to Spain, then back to Italy and now to the U.S., is a testimony that being a photographer is not an easy ride. And living in a new country is basically starting each time from zero. I never think of myself as special or different from other photographers aside from having a different eye and different experiences. I bring poise, enthusiasm, and a professional demeanor to every personal or commissioned photo shoot, because I deeply believe in the use of the image, and in its power to communicate and give feelings.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I think there is a book that really changed my view of things and gave me the impulse to travel, and put myself in a unconfortable position in my hometown. The book is called “Historias Marginales”by Luis Sepúlveda. It was gifted by my cousin when I was 14 years old. I always carry this book wiht me! Its like a amulet that gives me hope. It push me to discover more and find a new language to use for my work and continues to inspire me everyday.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative in your experience?

Being an artist/creative today is tuff! There is no limit to how low or high you can go.
The possibility of sharing my work and story is definitely rewarding, but to know that some people have prints of my photos in their homes is priceless.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pietromiliciphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pietromilici/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pietromiliciph/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MiliciPietro
• Other: https://www.behance.net/pietromilici https://vimeo.com/user15236767

Image Credits
Pietro Milici