Nature: Trees (PROFESSIONAL) - HONORABLE MENTION
Parisian Woods

Photo © giuliano ottaviani
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According to the United Nations Data Center the Parisian urban area is the most densely populated zone in Europe. Stats are always a tricky matter, but If you manage to cross the capillary streets that envelop the twenty districts of the French Capital and finally made it to the city ring, stay vigilant!
If you don’t know your way, you may find yourself walking for hours surrounded by crowded freeways, concrete fortesses and construction sites.
The great majority of the Parisian population and a good percentage of visitors perceives the suburbs as an unfriendly area, unworthy of exploration and – except for some rare cases like Versailles and Giverny – quite uninteresting. The 2005 French Riots and the terrorist attacks of 2015 have strongly contributed to this vision.
But the “Île-de-France” region has a well preserved secret. It’s the home of some of the most beautiful and savage green areas in Europe. The ancient royal reserves, which were kept for decades in their savage state for the hunting purposes of the aristocratic families, are today one of the best examples of suburban forests Europe has to offer.
I am a stroller, a photographer and I love portraying forests just like human beings. I’ve done it in France, Italy, British Colombia and Spain. More importantly, I feel as my escapades in these regional reserves as a basic component of my Parisian life, and I want to share this feeling.
I consider these woods as a fundamental part of the Parisian experience. By presenting the viewer this series I invite him to discover places like the Forest of Fontainebleau or The woods of Senart instead of plunging in the “clichés” of the French mass consumption tourism.
Thanks for reading, thanks for watching.
At the end of 2013, after four years spent learning photography techniques while working in the e-commerce business he decides to start a freelance career.
He plunges deeply into his great passions, architectural photography and portraiture, inspired by the example of his masters: Polidori, Avedon, Basilico, Burtynsky, Witkin…
His very first series, La Petite Ceinture, a 2-year photographic research on remains of the first Parisian urban railway, obtains a certain visibility in the French and Italian press. This work pushes Giuliano forward in the visual study of a wide subject: Matter and its relationship with time and environment.
His second series : « Behind The Fence » explores the different states of decay of several 18th century manors in France and Italy and gets exposed in several galleries in Paris.
In 2015 his research oversteps the boundaries of pure photography and he gives life to Urban Hymns, a series of digital collages in which narrow and grey views of the city of Paris get covered by a colourful layer of graffiti and illustrations.
Today Giuliano works as a portraitist and interiors photographer in France : in his free time he continues his photographic quest deep inside the heart of French forests.
BACK TO GALLERY
According to the United Nations Data Center the Parisian urban area is the most densely populated zone in Europe. Stats are always a tricky matter, but If you manage to cross the capillary streets that envelop the twenty districts of the French Capital and finally made it to the city ring, stay vigilant!
If you don’t know your way, you may find yourself walking for hours surrounded by crowded freeways, concrete fortesses and construction sites.
The great majority of the Parisian population and a good percentage of visitors perceives the suburbs as an unfriendly area, unworthy of exploration and – except for some rare cases like Versailles and Giverny – quite uninteresting. The 2005 French Riots and the terrorist attacks of 2015 have strongly contributed to this vision.
But the “Île-de-France” region has a well preserved secret. It’s the home of some of the most beautiful and savage green areas in Europe. The ancient royal reserves, which were kept for decades in their savage state for the hunting purposes of the aristocratic families, are today one of the best examples of suburban forests Europe has to offer.
I am a stroller, a photographer and I love portraying forests just like human beings. I’ve done it in France, Italy, British Colombia and Spain. More importantly, I feel as my escapades in these regional reserves as a basic component of my Parisian life, and I want to share this feeling.
I consider these woods as a fundamental part of the Parisian experience. By presenting the viewer this series I invite him to discover places like the Forest of Fontainebleau or The woods of Senart instead of plunging in the “clichés” of the French mass consumption tourism.
Thanks for reading, thanks for watching.
About author:
Giuliano Ottaviani is a Roman born photographer who lives and works in ParisAt the end of 2013, after four years spent learning photography techniques while working in the e-commerce business he decides to start a freelance career.
He plunges deeply into his great passions, architectural photography and portraiture, inspired by the example of his masters: Polidori, Avedon, Basilico, Burtynsky, Witkin…
His very first series, La Petite Ceinture, a 2-year photographic research on remains of the first Parisian urban railway, obtains a certain visibility in the French and Italian press. This work pushes Giuliano forward in the visual study of a wide subject: Matter and its relationship with time and environment.
His second series : « Behind The Fence » explores the different states of decay of several 18th century manors in France and Italy and gets exposed in several galleries in Paris.
In 2015 his research oversteps the boundaries of pure photography and he gives life to Urban Hymns, a series of digital collages in which narrow and grey views of the city of Paris get covered by a colourful layer of graffiti and illustrations.
Today Giuliano works as a portraitist and interiors photographer in France : in his free time he continues his photographic quest deep inside the heart of French forests.
BACK TO GALLERY