Portrait of a city

Fellini’s La Dolce Vita made photographer Ram Rahman look anew at cities
My photography or rather my approach to photography is undeniably linked to Federico Fellini’s film,La Dolce Vita,(1960). I first saw it at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square (Cambridge,Massachusetts,US) in 1975 while I was a student at MIT. Shot in widescreen black and white,La Dolce Vita is amazing as much of it was based on the tabloid photographs of photographer Tazio Secchiaroli,who made pictures for the gossip tabloids in Rome. Inspired by him and his work,Fellini created a film persona named Papparazo,the origin of the word papparazi.

The film was an epic fresco portrait of the high life of Rome seen through the eyes of a journalist played by Marcello Mastroianni. It made me realise how an artist could use his medium in a deeply personal manner and make a portrait of a city—its people,its society — in a completely poetic way.
The film is episodic and self-conscious,with a sharp critical vision,but is also full of humour and love for human follies and weaknesses. Visually,every frame is stunning. Fellini was a master at making frames which look spontaneous and casually informal,but are carefully constructed. The details in every corner convey so much about the times and the culture of the moment. Fellini was also a master at seeing the fantastic in very ordinary situations. It inspired me to look at my own city across all class boundaries and make a continuing portrait which is non-judgmental,even though I do it with still pictures.