The day Filippo was born

I wasn’t the mother, or the aunt, or the godmother. I was just the photographer. And I couldn’t have been more moved. Filippo was born in the afternoon, to the sound of an old-school ’80s song. His mother couldn’t stop smiling — and it wasn’t out of nerves. His father almost fainted a few times, always in silence, but his eyes gave away everything he was feeling.

I think all of us in that operating room were feeling more or less the same things. I was worried myself. About the lighting, the focus and angles, the bright red blood, the pain, the element of surprise that could happen at any moment. But in the end, the happiness of witnessing and capturing the birth of a life… so tiny and so beautiful. Was overwhelming.