Luca Ferrara
Photography is an essential part of my way of life.
More specifically, photojournalism, documentary photography, and visual storytelling, particularly stories about people.
Even before the finished product, I strongly identify with the photographic process…
…a commitment to exercise the senses, explore new ideas, embrace diversity, inclusiveness, and self-renewal, bring the unknown to light, tell stories to make sense of everything, and share it with others.
I balance rigorous work to remain objective and truthful with a personal desire to use my work to convey a positive message, even when the subject reflects adverse conditions.
Some of my work is produced serendipitously during my travels, while others are personal projects I build with intention over the years.
short BIO.
Where I have been, figuratively and non-figuratively.
L’Aquila (Abruzzo, Italy), 28th December 2009
1979-2004
I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN L'AQUILA, a small Italian town in the Abruzzo region with roughly 60,000 residents and 110,000 sheep. I majored in classical humanities in high school and electronic engineering in college. I filled the rest of a quiet, small-town life with cultivating personal interests ranging from playing the jazz saxophone to practicing kung fu, reading ancient Greek philosophers' works, and studying the Chinese language.
I didn’t wait for graduation day to realize that being an engineer wasn’t the best path to quench my thirst for experience. I moved to Milan to earn a master's degree in business, and from there, in 2004, I eagerly chased the action where everything was happening: China.
2004-2008
The first city I landed in was Shenzhen, in southern China, where I worked for a well-known investment consultancy. I stayed there for a little more than a year and consulted a dozen multinationals on what to make of the sign “Open for Business” that China put on their front lawn during those years. I saw innumerable banana fields turned into factories and old neighborhoods into multifunctional complexes. In 2006, a London-listed multinational offered me the opportunity to relocate to Hangzhou, in eastern China, to lead their China manufacturing and procurement operations. Go someplace new to confront even bigger challenges? Of course.
2008-2022
In 2008, I decided to move to Shanghai and start my own business, the first of many that have followed. My first business was in renewable energy, one of the most timely and successful decisions I ever made. In over a decade, I have started, owned, and managed several energy, environment, and commodities businesses, with alternate results. Some scaled up to be multinationals with generous exits; others were less successful but eventually left me with valuable lessons.
During those years, I have traveled and done business in five continents, dozens of countries, and hundreds of cities, engaging with thousands of individuals of all cultures and personalities.
2022 to date…
In 2022, after spending 18 years in China, I decided to seek fresh adventures and move back to Europe.
While I maintained some involvement in my former industry of renewable energy, I didn’t settle for the status quo. I have always been, and will always remain, a hard-core entrepreneur - someone who embarks on an adventure - in business just as in life, and it is my deep belief that life has so much in store for each of us until our very last moment if we summon the courage to work on our constant renewal. I am already working on new ventures that will take me to new places to do things that will continue to challenge me and make me a better person.
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GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY
This website is a serendipity vehicle. If anything you found here resonates with you, I would love to hear from you.