This is the Seattle acapella group, A Moment in Time.  Their music stopped me in my tracks.  I write to you all about my bromance with my BFAM.  These guys remind me of him.  The videos are of this group. My video skills are no good but I wanted ya’ll to hear the soul and spirit of these guys.  Hopefully it’ll touch you as it did in this moment in time.

I recently had the opportunity to work on a promo video for the DPReview Connect Contest and talked about the connection that mobile photography/arts is more in tuned to not just the art aspects (which I believe is fundamental) but also about the relationship building that happens on the social networks that are unparallel to anything else that has happened globally.

I remember my world was based on relationships and interactions.  It really was about the vicinity.  It was always an experience to travel across the Puget Sound to get to Seattle when I was younger.  It was exciting to think about meeting people.  Those were limited though.  The vicinity still kept any relationships to grow.  Don’t get me wrong, the telephone was cool but it wasn’t what it was now.

But the mobile…shit the mobile has made it a totally different story.

I have the opportunity to meet and interact with people on a daily basis.  I get to see  their world on a daily basis.  I get to hear their stories on a daily basis.

This discussion is left out of a lot of the conversations I see on any site about mobile photography / mobile arts/ iphoneography / any type of mobile anything.  AND when I do, it’s about analytics, its about likes, its about follows.  This is where I am coming from for this post.

I have made dear friends, brothers and sisters, all virtual from these social networks.  I met these artists, gain mutual respect for them, discussed surface stories, dug into deeper life stories, hear the tragedies and comedies that they encounter daily, weekly, so on and so forth.  I get to view the art that they share with the world to communicate these tragedies and comedies.  It’s a crazy world.

For many of you who interact with me on any of these networks, you know about my BFAM.  BFAM stands for Brother From Another Mother.  Before I go into more detail about this BFAM of mine, I’d be remissed to not mention the other folks who I have created nicknames for – mostly for my sanity – DB, Fam, BWF, LILB, Sista M…there’s so many…but it all started from BFAM.

BFAM and I connected on many avenues.  Again it was all visual based right?

“Great shot my friend”

“Nice caption with that Brad”

“Brilliant lyrics on that shot, Ale”

This all grew from the visual to then the audible.  We started the #LifeToMusic tag and IG Band with many other people who loved the idea of music captions to our photographs.  We challenged each other on our art and I’ve always been proud when Ale was able to tell me my work is progressing.

Our first Life To Music challenge contest was The Beatles.  A lot of you all didn’t know but I started this contest not just to bring the community together, but Ale was going through hard times and I wanted for him to log onto IG and see the beauty of some of the art that people would put together under LTM.  That he as the “Axl Rose” and I as the “Slash”, was able to bring together a community of like-minded folks within a larger community of like-minded folks under not just visual but sound.

We were going to put each other “On the Couch” and present each other to all of you, only as BFAMs can.

I wanted to introduce you all to the man who many of us know already.  He doesn’t need any introduction really.

BFAM.

Alessio Castaldo. Principle of the Minimals.  Juxter. Life To Music DJ.  AXL.

BP: Alessio Castaldo. Photographer. Lover of Music. Lover of life. Storyteller. Lover. Father. What are some of the things you feel people out in the virtual world would really want to know about Ale?

Ale:  Personally I think I am the one in need of listening to others stories, not many others are interested in mine. I don’t think it would matter even with all the words I’ve used are boxes full of memories and images and perfumes to link to stories of my forty years of life. Maybe I am into any of that words, but I’m not specifically one of those. One of the stories of my life is just that, the being everything and nothing at the same time. Maybe that’s why I always was “the strange guy”, some times dark and romantic, other times the bright and contagious smiley kind of guy.

…Til we’re talking about it, not stepping around it
Maybe I don’t want to take advice from fools
I’ll just figure everything is cool
Until I hear it from you… (Gin Blossoms, TIL I HEAR IT FROM YOU)

Storyteller I think is the best definition I could possibly ask for my epitaph, like “sometimes, in his bright days, he was able to listen and to tell some good stories about Life…”

BP: In you’re art, you capture the tender side of life. A lot of things that many street photographers may miss when they shoot are the people. By this I mean, people are subjects or a part of the composition, yet in your work, the people are the composition. What do you see when you walk the streets? What captures your eye?

Ale: The tender side of life might be the perfect novel I am trying to write and the best definition possible for my curiosity over people. I am probably not a streetphotographer, or not only one. I am nothing more than a silent eye looking at people, the way they move the expressions on their faces, the poses and the expressiveness are my fav keys to profile persons. Yes, I am a profiler.

Do you remember when we talked about trying to get closer and closer? You seemed to be so attracted by people’s faces. Their big smiles or the mad and angry facial expressions around your world of characters. We were both tryin to catch a singular act of an extended play, and our characters were just entering the stage.

BP: You helped me greatly in the continuing development of my work.  Recently our brother from The Minimals asked about our work when you and I connected.  We were really heavy in color and yet I feel that color or not, we still captured the same photograph, whether highley edited or not, stripped down it was still the same photograph.  What are the top 5 tips for up and coming photographers and fans of  your work?

Ale: Exactly BFAM, the same desire to tell a story!

In colors or in black and white, with one or two apps, the touch remains the same. We are tryin to tell a story. Maybe many times we don’t even get close to that, maybe we lose on quality, maybe we can’t resist the multiple boosts we receive day by day. I mean the music, the social, the games and the fun might bring us from here to there sometimes. But i know that when we reach the score, it’s all about the story told. No “cool” or “you rock” count when we break the surface and reach the core of the story behind the photo.

No frills, less edits…

My tips are run away from the scientists, the big rockstars are so often full of themselves they are not worth your time. Interact with the kind souls, often a pic tells a lot about its author. Watch photography, eat photography, dream photography. look at books made of photography. Search for photography on the Web, look at all kinds of it, don’t get stuck on one “style”, there are many possibilities you need to explore and no fear in doin it. If you stop at one flavor, you will miss the best from life.

So now you know.  My BFAM is the coolest ain’t he.

There are many of us out there in the world who love Ale.  This post would contain thousands and thousands of names of people who have been touched by Alessio Castaldo.  His art, his passion, his Italian romantic personality.

If you feel the same way, leave him a comment. Send him an email. Message him on Kik. Hit him up on all the dang social networks he is on and balancing.

BFAM – from Seattle with love!

I send this to Italy.

 

About Author

Brad Puet

Latest stories

• StoriesFebruary 13, 2015The Sendoff
• StoriesDecember 5, 2014PhotoPhilanthropy – 2014 Activist Awards
• StoriesNovember 12, 2014The Terry O’Neill Photography Award 2014
• 1000 WordsSeptember 14, 20141000 Words Windows Phone 8th Edition