9 September, 2014
Date, place of birth and place of residence:
I was born on August 10, 1960 Ospedaletti (IM), Italy, where I live yet ...
Website:
http://www.umbertogerminale.it
http://www.phocusagency.com/controller/germinale
How did you ended up in jazz photography, starting from jazz or from photography itself?
The music, and jazz in particular was my love at first sight.
I remember the first live concert Blood Sweet & Tears around the first half of the 70s with Lew Soloff on trumpet ... But my favorite instrument was the saxophone, so I started studying clarinet and then saxophone.
Unfortunately by the time I stopped playing .... and I miss it, but I think the music we've earned.
During middle school I attended a friend who had the whole family a passionate Jazz and followed many concerts, so I started going to concerts with them forever (Chateauvallon, Nice, JuanLes Pins etc ...) The father of my friend was also photographer and so, in addition to the Jazz transmitted me the passion for photography .... the two things I find now indivisible ....
Is jazz your main activity as a photographer?
Mainly photographer jazz, but also other musical, theatrical or otherwise, and of course trips .... even if at this moment I'm quite busy with other things ....
Do you have any other activities related to jazz? Do you stay in touch with the musicians that you photograph?
For many years, in addition to photographing the Jazz, organize concerts, exhibitions and more.
Here Ospedaletti we completed the eleventh edition of "Jazz Under the Stars," which has seen over the years many musicians performing important (Tom Harrell, Kenny Barron, Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Richard Galliano, etc.) and this also keeps me in touch with some musicians.
I could not place my way to photograph .... in general I like the story, and my favorite photographers are not limited to the portrait on stage, but they tell a little more and maybe something different; For this reason I think it is important to establish a direct relationship with the musician, to say something about him not only as it sounds.
Do you think that there’s a relationship between the quality of the music in a concert and the quality of the photographs you take there?
I do not think that a good concert make making good photos, and vice versa, it all depends on so many factors, from many components and your mood at the time.
What side of jazz photography is more attractive to you, the creative side or being a jazz reporter?
As said before I prefer the stories and who says; as in the Jazz I love the "storyteller" as Bix, Pres, Dexter, Chet .... Herman Leonard, Roy De Carava, Guy Le Querrec etc. ....
Some so called ‘jazz festivals’ diversify their offer in favor of other styles of music. Do you think that this trend is a thread for the consistency of jazz photography?
The view of some of today's Jazz festival I find it very "ambiguous" ... everything seems to be Jazz Festival, then simply be a meeting with music in a bit of everything. For this reason I prefer, small to large parades situations of Stars; although the big festivals provide an opportunity to enrich the photographic archive with important names and therefore are "useful" ....
Thanks, Umberto