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Official Web site:
www.alexardenti.com
Alex Ardenti’s talents for creating images were first apparent when he would play director with his sister
using a Super 8mm camera with no sound. Born in Rome Italy, Alex’s family moved to Wollongong,
Australia when he was 3 years old. The pristine natural beauty of Australia was a perfect canvas for Alex’s
new toy. Armed also with an instamatic still camera Alex would carry them everywhere and pretend he was
shooting movies, often even without film in the cameras.
“The world was more interesting through a lens,” Alex thought. "People and objects just take on another
surreal dimension, evenif you are documenting actions as they happen”. His cinematic eye was already in
tune at an early age of 8. He would watch TV and was able to distinguish what was shot on film and what
was taped on video. He realized very quickly what images were pleasing to people and what looked cheap
and unprofessional. "After moving back to Rome in 1975 I kept taking still pictures but left the movie
camera in the box, simply because our projector was broken and it didn’t make sense to shoot films and
not be able to see them so I played with my still camera a lot more.”
A chance of fate that unknowingly steered Alex towards the world of photography. He would create
scenes with his little cousins dressing them up as cowboys and would make them re-enact old western
movie scenes. "I still have those early photographs. I love them. To me they were movies because I would
put them all together and they would tell me a story. ”Fate would have it that Alex got bit by the proverbial
“Iron bug”. At age 12 he started working out with weights. He was an under developed skinny kid possessed,
to the point of training so hard in the gym that he won the professional Mr. Italy and Mr. Europe titles as a
teenager. Blame it on adolescent hormones, Alex put down his cameras and started getting in front of them
as a model and actor. His notoriety in the fitness magazines that published countless articles and interviews
on the wonder-kid brought him to Los Angeles in 1989. He fell in love with California and the new people he met.
After some time as a struggling actor Alex started booking some major national commercials for Miracle Whip,
Blockbuster, Miller Lite, The Travel Channel etc.. He also had countless “meathead” one-liners in TV shows and
features which, as he stated without dismissing it, paid the bills for years.
“I remember working as an actor and being more fascinated with the world behind the cameras instead of the
limelight. I would listen to every word the director would say. At lunch time I would want to sit with the crew and
listen to them talk shop instead of talking about acting with the other actors.”
About the same time he re-discovered photography and bought his first ever professional camera in 1990 to shoot
head shots of his struggling actor friends. Hs success as a photographer in L.A. was immediate and soon started
working for top agencies and most importantly the same fitness magazines who’s covers he adorned for so long.
Now he was the one creating the covers. Advertising campaigns were soon to follow and his finances became ever
more healthy as his fees increased and his notoriety in his field grew into an international career.
“I work for over 30 publications at the moment and I average at least 6 magazine covers every month worldwide.”
Commercial still photography pays the bills, and then some. So I don't see myself abandoning it anytime soon.”
Alex Ardenti Photo Gallery
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