Yvonne De Rosa Click on image to enlarge and learn more about the photo.

	In This Article
	Telling a Story A Range of Cameras and Secret Subjects Atypical Days Definitions of Success In De Rosa’s Camera Bag De Rosa’s Biography

Scary movies. Rollercoaster rides. Photos by Yvonne De Rosa. Lately, they have a lot in common. A street photographer who held her first exhibition just two years ago, De Rosa is working on a new project, the “After Dark” series, which she hopes to exhibit next year.

She explains, “It is all happening at night. Most pictures are very dark, and it is all about streets and dark places. In some pictures you have human figures, but they are very, very small, and mostly women alone. Very spooky, very scary, but we know where they are going.”

A native of Naples, Italy, who is now based in London, De Rosa takes obvious delight in sharing the emotions behind her photography. “I love the sensation of being outside in a scary place, but feeling not really in danger,” she says. “I know that [I’m not in danger] because I’m in the countryside and nobody is there. So it is this kind of balance between ‘I could be in danger, but I’m not in danger.’”

Night or day, De Rosa loves shooting outside. This got her noticed by Kodak and Women in Photography International (WIPI), who invited her to participate in the recent exhibition “One Gallery, One Night, One Chance: Emerging Women in Photography” that took place simultaneously in London and New York City. To prepare, De Rosa was given a consumer KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE Zoom Digital Camera and set loose to capture whatever she liked. Of course, she headed for the streets.

“I think street photography is mostly what photography is about, because it is about reality and real people,” De Rosa says. “You know, if you look at pictures that you have taken in the street a lot of years before, you really have the feeling of what it was like at that time.”

Because De Rosa likes to capture moments as they happen, she tries to be as unobtrusive as possible. For the WIPI exhibition, she found that using the KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE Zoom Digital Camera helped her blend in with crowds.

“It was very nice because with this little camera, everybody thinks that you are a tourist, so nobody gets scared,” she says. “They are natural and you can take good pictures.”

Her favorite image from the exhibition is one of a little boy in a moving car, his face framed perfectly in the reflection of a nearby building’s window. “I was waiting for the bus, and then the car stopped there,” she says.

And it’s many small moments that make up De Rosa’s big picture.

“If I describe London, of course I can describe it with one picture,” she says, “But if my work is made of 30 pictures, it is like a story, so I would like people to see all of them. I would make a book because it is more appropriate.”

To support herself, De Rosa shoots portraits and stock photography, and takes the occasional job assisting other photographers. She finds almost all of her work by networking with friends who are also photographers.

“It depends on time and need of money,” she says. “I try to not always be busy. For example, if I just want to take a picture at night, if I don’t have to work the day after, I can just be out all night and take pictures. I have to try to have as much spare time as I can for my personal projects, which is what I like the most.”

Her personal projects sometimes lead to paying work, too. She speaks to us from a studio with a lot of background noise; she is planning a CD cover photo for a U.K. band. The group chose De Rosa because they wanted her to capture a mood similar to photos she’s taken of dancers in rehearsal at London’s Royal Ballet, the Berlin Opera, and at a local samba school. The dance photos have the same spontaneity as her street photos—and the darkness of her “After Dark” series.

“It is quite dark, there is music, and they dance,” she says simply. “So, there is nothing I could ask better than that. I don’t interfere with the rehearsal; I just wait for the right moment and enjoy the show.”

De Rosa prints her dance photos on KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Metallic Paper, which is known for rich blacks and shimmering, almost three-dimensional color. “The photos look fantastic on the ENDURA Metallic Paper,” she enthuses. “It has this glossy, glossy look.

“I like dark pictures with something that captures your attention, like a little light or pink,” she continues. “I was looking at the Kodak Web site and there was an advert for the paper. [I used it and] I found it stunning. The ENDURA Metallic Paper is my favorite.”

She uses a long exposure time to accentuate the dancers’ motion. “My exposure is as long as the movement is long,” she says. “Very, very close aperture and long, long exposure. I sometimes move during the picture; they move, I move. That is why some are like panning, but without tripod, which I hate.”

“I love them so much that I could try every kind of camera that exists in the world,” she says. “I do pinhole pictures. I work with toy cameras. I build my own cameras. I work with digital cameras. Every project has a different kind of challenge.”

Specifically, she works with NIKON D100 and DSX Digital Cameras, an instant film print camera, and a pinhole camera, which is the one she built herself.

“The camera that is always with me now is the EASYSHARE-ONE Camera,” she says. “I use it for taking pictures of locations that I like, like a diary, basically.

“You know, you give me a camera, I will take pictures,” she continues. “Even with my mobile [phone], I grabbed hundreds of pictures. I’m just a very prolific photographer.”

De Rosa develops KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome 100 Film using C-41 process instead of E-6 to achieve a different effect. “It has a very fine grain,” she says of the film. “I like to use all KODAK 35 mm Slide Film. They are very good to cross process. I am able to achieve much punchier color for my pictures.”

She is also enthusiastic about KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100G. “It has very fine grain at 100 ASA,” she says.

Her most ardent endorsement may be for a film that she uses regularly and develops herself, but the results of which she never exhibits. “I use KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX Film for my very, very personal work which I don’t exhibit. Maybe I will one day,” she says.

She explains further, “As a young photographer, I don’t feel I’m ready to show [images that are] very personal. I know that artists sometimes show everything about themselves, but it is not me yet. Just because photography is part of my own life and I take pictures of everything doesn’t mean that I have to show everything.”

What she does exhibit ranges from the documentary to the experimental. “I had an exhibition with a group of photographers [of photos taken] in Trafalgar Square,” she says. “For that I used a digital camera. Then I took instant prints [of the resulting photos] just because I love the fact that they are unique pieces. I encapsulated those photos into glass spheres, because the concept is, the work of art is in this sphere, but you will never touch it. If you really want to get it, you have to break the sphere. It is like a challenge for the viewer.”

Incidentally, she is serious about giving the viewer the option to break the sphere. “If you buy it, you can keep it like this or you can break it,” she says. Then she laughs, “I would break it. I couldn’t refuse.”

“I am an emotional photographer,” De Rosa says. “All the things that I do, I do just when I have the inspiration. There is no typical day for that. There are some days where I just wake up and I go and take lots of pictures. Or some days where I am all day at the computer working. Or some days that I am all day at the lab. Some days where I am working for money.

“I could go out and take hundreds of pictures but I need just one picture that I have to feel excited about. It really makes my day,” she says. “I can’t wait to go home and put the picture on the computer and work on it. I love to work on the computer. It gives me lot of power of intervention, and I love it because the final result is really what I wanted to do. You can just give [the Pro Lab] the final file exactly like it has to be. It goes out exactly like you want.”

She does print inkjet photos to test her color. “Then I work with a lab,” she says. “I will say I am a very fussy client: ‘No I don’t like that. Let’s do this again.’ So I spend hours at the lab.”

De Rosa uses a variety of labs throughout London, ranging from Pro Labs Tapestry and Metro Imaging to the chain mini lab Snappy Snaps. You can find Metro Imaging locations through Kodak’s Pro Lab Locator.

After a few seconds, she responds, “I guess I have no idea because a lot of people could say money, but it is not about that—although I wouldn’t be sad to have a lot of money! I think success would be if I could tell when I make something that is good. I am very critical of myself. After I do something, I don’t like it anymore. Maybe one day I will tell myself that I have done a good job. That will be a success.”

Her advice to other young photographers? Create your own definition of success.

“Enjoy it and play with it because to find your own way, you just have to experience the whole field of photography, which goes from pinhole camera to digital camera. You should try to play with every tool and to find your own style.

“Or play, like I’m still playing,” she laughs again. “Be a kid using everything, like I do.”

In De Rosa’s Camera Bag: [ Back to top ]
KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Metallic Paper KODAK PROFESSIONAL ENDURA Metallic Paper opens a whole new dimension for commercial and portrait output. Its glossy finish and metallic appearance create images with exceptional visual interest and depth that will appeal to both photographers and display designers seeking a unique look. And it delivers rich, vibrant colors and flattering flesh tones.
KODAK PROFESSIONAL EKTACHROME Film E100G A new generation of transparency films brings you RMS granularity of 8 for virtually grainless enlargements, low D-min for brighter whites, and Kodak’s legendary reproduction of skin tones, colors, and neutrals. Enlarge E100G Film and see amazing detail and clean highlights. And with this high-tech generation of 100-speed color transparency films, your enlargements will be virtually grainless. Use E100G Film, with its neutral balance, for shooting in the studio or on location.
KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX Film Proprietary T-GRAIN®  Emulsion in KODAK PROFESSIONAL T-MAX 100 Film lets you see every detail with razor sharpness and nearly invisible grain. For more speed  with remarkably fine grain and high sharpness, choose T-MAX 400 Film or ultra-fast T-MAX P3200 Film.
KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome 100 Film KODAK PROFESSIONAL ELITE Chrome 100 Film delivers extremely fine grain, pure colors, and natural skin tones. It’s ideal for close-ups, portraits, and enlargements.
KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE Zoom Digital Camera The KODAK EASYSHARE-ONE Zoom Digital Camera is the world’s first Wi-Fi consumer digital camera, allowing instant file sharing. The EASYSHARE-ONE Digital Camera features a 3.0 in. (7.6 cm) rotating touch screen and stylus, 256 MB internal memory, 4.0 MP and KODAK Color Science Chip, and a SCHNEIDER-KREUZNACH C-VARIOGON 3X Optical Zoom Lens.