A retrospective of Italian photographer Alfa Castaldi (1926-95), Poet Behind the Lens, presents a wide range of Castaldi's images he captured around the world.

Spontaneous, honest and candid, they reveal the photographer's fascination with beauty.

Through his lens we see the evolution of fashion sector in Italy, portraits of various people through the times, reportage of day-to-day life and his lifelong devotion to explore photography techniques as a way of reporting.

Highlights include the photographs he took when he put garments of Walter Albini, Ken Scott, Krizia and Jean-Baptiste Caumont on the streets of Prague in 1968, which soon became a new style of reporting the fashion sector. His innovative approach to review history and fashion made a huge impact at that time.

In 1980, fashion brands were booming and the business was hot - another golden time for fashion photographers. However, Castaldi decided to close his studio and focus on another art form.

For about 10 years, Castaldi created collage works - cutting the pictures he took into pieces and re-arranging them, then shooting a new image. This photography method was his own invention, according to Paolo Castaldi, the photographer's son, who is also the curator of the exhibition.

Another approach Alfa Castaldi tried and often used was cutting the pictures he took into strips and weaving them to make interesting effects, says Paolo Castaldi.

Some pictures exhibited were taken in eastern Europe and southern Italy where Alfa Castaldi traveled. He took beautiful garments with him on the trips and asked local people to try them on.

"Characteristics of the beautiful garments and beautiful people are exposed among the stark contrasts," says Paolo Castaldi.

His father's curiosity spread beyond just the fashion world. He also focused his lens on day-to-day scenes that one might easily ignore amid the fast pace of life. In the 1980s he spent weeks shooting examples of small graffiti in France - images that are also shown at the current exhibition.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/20/2014 page9)