Mike Ciarleglio | Photographer

A good friend of mine once said, “From now on you are to travel everywhere with me and document my life. I really feel like you capture the essence of me.” As someone who really appreciates the connection people can make to a photograph filled with real emotion, I could only respond by saying, “That’s exactly what I was going for.”

My journey as a photographer has been a long one. During the time when digital was not yet an accepted form of photography I attended Paier College of Art, where I earned an award for outstanding achievement. At Paier I was encouraged to use a simple camera with no auto settings whatsoever. This forced me to learn the basics of “the study of light”. All of my photos were shot on film and my prints were processed in the darkroom. This meant there was no looking at the back of my camera after every shot to see if I got it right. There was no room for error with things like exposure, composition, and focus. After getting the basics down, I took more advanced classes such as View Camera Photography, Portrait Lighting, Product Photography, and Zone System Theory.

After graduating from Paier, my journey continued. I tried nearly every aspect of photography including photojournalism, which I thought would never keep my interest. I now have a newfound love of photography. Had I known how much I’d love waiting for that perfect moment to capture the natural emotion, I would have tried it earlier. Another area that I’ve recently ventured into and fallen in love with is underwater photography. As a lifelong dream of mine, I finally just decided to go for it. I traveled thousands of miles to Curacao and, about a thousand images later, I realized I was addicted. For now it is just a passionate hobby, but maybe someday I can make it my profession.

My education and firsthand experiences have given me the skills to be the best I can be. I am in no way a stubborn old school film purist though; I am always learning new things and improving myself as a photographer.

Some may look at my timing as being unfortunate, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. My time at school was spent perfecting the technical aspects and refining my techniques, which help me as a photographer today. I shoot digital now, but because of my experience, I rarely have a need to look at the preview of what I shot because I know I got it right!

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