Christian DiLalla: Looking At Egypt With Ancient Eyes

Christian DiLalla is an internationally published photographer whose work is reminiscent of the melding of art and fashion in photography—which hit its peak in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Figures are juxtaposed against architectural backgrounds, framing the subject and backdrop in a bold, arresting and powerful way.

Recently, he and his companion, Barbara Intermaggio—his muse, he says—returned from Egypt. The Southampton Press caught up with the photographer, who splits his time between Southampton and Manhattan, to chat about his Long Island roots, washing dishes for legendary photographer Bill Silano and his escapade overseas.

The Southampton Press: Why Egypt, in the middle of the turmoil there? Wasn’t it dangerous?

Christian DiLalla: It was a lifelong dream to go there. I always wanted to do a fashion shoot there, using the ancient sites, to bring back the past out in my photos. Because everybody thinks Egypt is dangerous now, I could not interest a magazine, so I did it on my own. When I finished the shoot, I had a sense of completeness and serenity—a dream had been fulfilled. I felt like I was looking through ancient eyes when I was there, like I had been there before in another life.

The Press: But wasn’t it risky to be there? The situation is still unstable.

DiLalla: We felt absolutely no danger. We walked through Tahrir Square and saw the burnt-out building of Mubarak. We went all over the place, by ourselves, for five weeks. It’s not expensive and the economy is suffering because so much of it is based on tourism. Everyone we met was friendly and welcoming. We met a lot of kids and they all said, “We love Americans! You are Number One.” Now is actually a great time to go there because no one is there. It’s easy to see the Great Pyramids, Luxor, the Temple of Dendur, anything.

The Press: What experience was the most moving?

DiLalla: Being in the King’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid alone. Twice.

The Press: How did you get started in photography?

DiLalla: My father gave me a Vivitar 110 when I was 10. He was entering a photography contest in the local paper in Southold, and he encouraged me to do so also. I took a picture of my brother’s dog—a mutt named Phoebe—dressed up in a suit and tie, and posed in front of a hand-thatched rug with the American eagle on it. I won. When I was 14, my father gave me a better camera. I took a lot of pictures of trees, especially spruce trees with snow on them.

The Press: So that was the beginning?

DiLalla: Not really. I took pictures for the high school yearbook but didn’t do anything with photography for years. After college, I drifted into modeling and ended up in Milan. But I’m 6-foot-4-inches and was too tall. My roommate asked me to take a few shots of him for his book. We went out to a site that had these fantastic ruins and columns. And once I pointed the camera at him and I saw the shot, that was it. I knew that is what I was supposed to do.

The Press: Fashion photographer Bill Silano, who lived in Bridgehampton, was your mentor for many years. How did that come about?

DiLalla: I went to his house one day—he wasn’t working anymore—and told him I wanted to be great like him. I showed him some of my work and he said, “It’s not that good.” But I knew that he would help me see the subtleties of things. So I hung around and did stuff for him—washed dishes, cleaned up his house, put on a new roof, pulled weeds. He told me to take a picture of a bridge. I did—Brooklyn Bridge. It had to be a picture of a recognizable bridge but with a difference. Then he told me to take a picture of a martini—I found two mailboxes next to each other and in the negative space between them they made the shape of a martini glass. Then he told me to take a picture of trees. He said it was shit.

The Press: You have some magnificent fashion shots of Jan Cowles, wife of the late publishing magnate Gardner Cowles Jr., in her later years. You seem to be drawn to older people.

DiLalla: That’s true. I feel comfortable around them. I like to help them. Make them smile. I have no answer as to why that is, but it feels like God put me here to help these people and they helped me. I painted with her, traveled with her. We had a show together at North Main Gallery in Southampton. She had this closet full of Diors and amazing clothes and jewelry. She was a Hollywood starlet once. She was in “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” She had Alzheimer’s at the time I was around her, but I saw her as a woman dressed in the most beautiful fashions reflecting a lifetime of glamor. You got that? Reflecting a lifetime of glamour.

The Press: What do you aim for when you take a picture?

DiLalla: I don’t seek acclaim. When I show a picture to someone and they say, “Wow,” I love that. That makes me happy. That’s better than anything else.

The Press: What are you shooting now?

DiLalla: I’m still working on the trees. Bill was right. I don’t understand the trees—yet. The trees are everything.

Christian DiLalla’s photography has appeared in numerous magazines, including international editions of Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, and locally in Hamptons Magazine. For more information, visit christiandilalla.wix.com/home.