Nino Lombardo began photographing in the 1980s and, after years working in other studios, opened his own in Trapani in 1997. His first book, Emozioni di luci ed ombre, reportage di una città a nozze, published in 2001, was a black and white study of weddings in his home city. In 2011 he joined the Wedding PhotoJournalist Association and turned his work firmly towards wedding photojournalism, telling the day as it happens.
He works with spontaneous, unposed pictures, on the view that people who are made to pose become stiff and self-conscious. He photographs the day as it unfolds without interrupting the plans, and sometimes uses unusual techniques to make a single frame stand apart. Black and white is his personal preference, but he also works in colour, either with strong contrasts or in soft, romantic tones. Family photographs, and groups of guests if couples ask, are always part of the coverage.
“I photograph weddings, of course, but above all I photograph people, emotions, precious moments.”
Nino Lombardo
On the day he stays with the couple from the preparations to the end of the party, keeping a discreet distance. Wedding films and short trailers are made by the videographers who work with him, with Nino involved in the editing, and his portfolio includes drone photography of weddings on the coast and islands.
Most of his weddings are in Sicily: Trapani, Marsala, Erice, Scopello, San Vito Lo Capo, Palermo, Cefalù, Agrigento, Sciacca, Menfi, Modica, Taormina and Castelmola, and on the Egadi and Aeolian islands and Pantelleria. In mainland Italy he has photographed weddings in Venice, Camogli, Milan, Pavia, Cernobbio on Lake Como, Reggio Emilia, Chieti and on the Isola di San Giulio in Lake Orta, and abroad a Hindu wedding in New Delhi, a civil wedding in Amsterdam and a couple in Paris. Civil, Catholic, Anglican, Evangelical, Protestant, Hindu and mixed European and Persian ceremonies are all in his record.
After the wedding, couples view, choose and download all of their photographs through a private, password-protected online gallery. He designs the album layout himself, the couple choose the material, colour, format and box, and the finished album book can be sent to their home. His work has been placed in the WPJA world Top 100 every year from 2017 to 2021, and has been published in ELLE Spose and British Vogue.
