Professional photographer · Como, Italy
Elia Vanni
Photographer since 2012, professional since 2016. I live on Lake Como and work wherever there’s a story to tell and light to wait for.
Biography
My story
I was born in Como in 1986 and studied architecture in Milan. For five years I designed houses for other people, and meanwhile I spent my dawns on the lake with a second-hand DSLR. In 2014 a friend asked me to photograph his wedding in Bellagio: I hardly slept for a week, but I understood what I wanted to do. Two years later I left the studio.
I work slowly. I study places before I set off and stay until the light is done. At weddings I talk little and watch a lot; with the people I photograph, I have a coffee first and pick up the camera second. I carry pared-down gear that I know by heart, and a drone that only takes off where it’s allowed. I process every photo myself, on a calibrated screen, without presets.
I look for light that doesn’t last: the ten minutes at Vestrahorn, the mist parting over Milford Sound, the last sun on the lake before the first dance. I’m interested in places when they are empty and in people when they forget about me. I don’t chase effects: I’d like anyone looking at my photos to feel the cold, the wind, the silence of that moment.
The right light lasts ten minutes. My job is to be there when it comes.
Since 2012
The milestones
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2012
My first DSLR
I buy a second-hand DSLR and spend my dawns on Lake Como before heading to the studio. I get almost everything wrong, but I learn to recognise light that lasts only a few minutes.
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2014
My first wedding
A childhood friend asks me to photograph his wedding in Bellagio. I barely sleep for a week and deliver three hundred photos. I realise this is the work I want to do.
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2016
Photographer by trade
After five years I leave the architecture practice. Weddings in summer, portraits and landscapes in winter: photography becomes my full-time job.
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2021
Airborne
I pass my drone pilot exam and learn that the most important part of flying happens on the ground: airspace, permits, wind. The drone only takes off when it makes sense.
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2023
One big trip a year
Morocco, Skye, Kenya, Monument Valley: I start setting aside a few weeks every year for trips of my own, to photograph without hurrying and get to know new places.
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2026
Six continents
In January, Fiordland takes the archive to a sixth continent. The first limited-edition prints are released: 30 copies per image, numbered and signed by hand.
In the field
Where I spend my dawns
Four o’clock alarms, a backpack on my shoulders and a drone that only takes off where it’s allowed. It’s the part of the job you don’t see in the photos.
In numbers
The archive, so far
How I work
Three things I never change
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I study before I set off
Maps, ephemerides, weather forecasts and, when I can, a site visit at the same time of day as the shoot. I arrive knowing where the light will be.
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I wait for the light
I arrive before dawn and stay until the light is done. I shoot less than you’d think and watch a great deal more.
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I edit every photo myself
On a calibrated screen, without presets: colours true to what I saw. I take away distractions; I don’t add anything.
Now booking for 2027: write to me about dates
Tell me about your project
I reply within 24 hours, Monday to Saturday