With no formal photographic education, Tommaso Carrara started snapping in order to alleviate anxiety and connect with his surroundings.
This was in Soho in the summer of last year. Covid restrictions had been finally lifted and we were gradually returning to normal life. Thousands of young and alive people flooded every corner. I spot a couple kissing. The moment was so liberating and spontaneous, made more so by the isolation we had just emerged from.
It was early morning on a ferry on my way back from the Shetland Islands, a very long journey from Lerwick to Aberdeen which takes half a day. I was trying to kill time and, right after breakfast, I saw this old man looking outside the window while leaning on an armchair. What was he thinking? What parts of his long life was he seeing reflected back at him in the blue sea? I didn’t want to disturb him, so I didn’t ask.
A different ferry journey this time. While crossing the Gulf of Finland on my way back home after a road Latvia-Estonia-Finland road trip, I noticed this passenger looking outside the window. His calm contemplation was in sync with my own tranquility.
I was in Clacton-on-Sea in September 2020 and I’d just stumbled upon an old lady sunbathing. I couldn’t help myself and so hid behind a nearby beach hut to make this picture. I’m glad I did.
One day during my daily walk, I came across this woman playing basketball by herself. She was so determined, so passionate, so willing to succeed, and she was her own opponent. I was struck by the beauty of this scene: I had to capture it and I’ll treasure it as a rare moment of inspiration.
It’s the first day of 2020 and Chinatown in London was typically full of people. I noticed one of those old double decker buses parked right in the middle of Newport Place. The lower floor was dark and inside there were two blokes, chatting heatedly and gesticulating wildly. Using the light from a shop behind I frame what seems to be the silhouette of the accuser standing, pointing his finger at the other man.
