Filippo Tommasoli

Canon Ambassador Filippo Tommasoli was given his first camera when he was just four years old. He comes from four generations of photographers and grew up in a family studio dating back to 1906. And yet, despite his background, he says one of the most important lessons photography has taught him is when to leave the camera in the bag. "Sometimes the most ethical decision is not to take photos," says the Italian documentary photographer and filmmaker. "We have to have the courage not to take them."

Photography was so embedded in Filippo's childhood that he initially struggled to see it as a profession. His mother and father were photographers, as were his grandfather and great-grandfather, and he followed his parents on assignments from an early age. "I grew up considering photography as part of my life, not a job," he says.

Today, his work often explores water, migration, inequality and environmental injustice. A project in Africa in 2019, following a man able to locate water in the desert, helped make water scarcity a recurring concern. His approach is deliberately slow. When working with communities experiencing hardship, he may spend the first week or two not taking any photos at all. "It's not fair for me to steal stories from people," he explains. "You have to put people first. Everything else comes later."

That principle reshaped Nativos, his project with indigenous communities in the Gran Chaco, in central South America. Filippo arrived intending to explore shamanic traditions but soon discovered that this reflected his own European ideas about what was interesting or exotic. Instead, the community wanted to preserve its disappearing hunting traditions for younger generations. "I don't impose my vision," he says. "Together we build the relationship and a project that can be useful for both of us." The reworked idea subsequently received a grant from the British Museum.

Filippo's work can move from long-term anthropology to fast-moving investigative journalism. During an investigation into PFAS – so-called ‘forever chemicals' – in Italy and India he was forced to abandon his usual slow methodology when the team encountered a dangerous situation and had to leave India earlier than planned. The experience reinforced rather than weakened his preference for patient, relationship-led documentary work.

Looking ahead, Filippo wants to continue investigating water, inequality and injustice while developing multimedia work combining photography, video and installation. He is also writing his first fiction film.

Becoming a Canon Ambassador, he says, gives him something particularly valuable: access to an international community of photographers and filmmakers with whom he can exchange ideas and experience.

How do you know when you have earned the right to photograph somebody's story?

"It depends on the situation. Sometimes the most ethical decision is not to take photographs at all. About 10 years ago, I spent about six weeks in a refugee camp in Greece. I had my camera with me, but after talking to people and understanding what they were living through, I realised my photographs might not be useful to them. As photographers, our first instinct when we see something emotional is often to reach for the camera; sometimes the best choice is to leave it in the bag."

Can documentary and art occupy the same image?

"I usually try to distinguish them because they have different goals. If I'm working for a journalistic publication, questions of truth and representation are fundamental; an artistic installation can work differently. But sometimes it is impossible to separate them completely. I once made a small number of portraits in a refugee camp and then did nothing with them for almost 10 years. Those photographs eventually became part of an art installation, in which the prints slowly disappear in seawater. Something that began almost as reportage became an artwork years later – sometimes the final form of a photograph takes a long time to reveal itself."

What gives an image the power to change the way somebody thinks?

"I think it is a very rare combination of things. Emotional value is important, but you also have to be in the right place at the right time. You can be good at what you do, but there is always an element of luck. The other important thing for me is sincerity. You have to be honest about what you are seeing and honest about what you want to represent. You can do everything correctly and then, in the end, you throw the dice and hope the image reaches people in the right way."

What piece of Canon kit can you not live without, and why?

"If I could choose only one piece of mirrorless Canon kit, I would probably choose the Canon RF 24-105mm F2.8L IS USM Z because I can use it with different cameras and it covers almost every focal length I need. When I used it with the Canon EOS R5 C in Paraguay, one body and one lens gave me almost everything I needed in the field. I could work wide and then move into portraits without changing lenses, while maintaining the same maximum aperture and optical quality."

What else could we discover in your kitbag that helps you elevate your work?

"Good microphones are essential because I always try to get the best audio quality I can. One of my teachers once told me that bad video with good audio can still be a documentary, but good video with bad audio is a mess. That stayed with me. I also carry a filter for interior filming, which softens highlights and introduces a subtle cinematic glow, along with timecode synchronisation equipment for working with multiple cameras, recorders and microphones."

"Important things need time. When I was in my twenties, I didn't have enough patience. The idea that a documentary project could take four years would have driven me crazy. Now I understand that if you want to make something important, with the kind of approach I believe in, it needs time. I wish I had understood that when I started."

Website: Studio Fotografia e Video | Tommasoli / Tommasoli Visual Factory

Instagram: @filippotommasoli