Sandro Lamberti

I was born and raised into a very expressive Italian family on the east side of Brooklyn. In my junior year of high school, I totally uprooted myself and moved to Italy to finish my education. This was definitely a risky choice, but for myself, it turned out to be the best personal decision I ever made. Italy had everything a young and curious mind could ask for, and then some. I found the cultural richness of this small but vividly alive country to be almost overwhelming, but it was all grist for my artistic mill. The architecture of the ancient buildings and churches, the quaint little streets and passageways, the rolling hills burnished with sunlight, had gripped my imagination and awakened my creative energies. “This country made such an impression to me,” were my thoughts, that I just had to share it with as many people as I could. It was there, in Italy, on the Amalfi Coast, that I decided to study photography.

Returning to America, I enrolled in the Certificate Program for Photography at Queensborough Community College, where I studied under the eminent professor, Mr. Jules Allen. Mr. Allen became both a mentor and a close friend. Under Mr. Allen’s tutelage, I learned not only the essentials of photography, but discovered something of that soaring spirit of adventure so essential to the finding and capturing of images which remain not only in the mind, but the heart. From learning to take a photograph, to developing negatives and printing images on photo paper in a darkroom, I embraced every facet of the photographer’s art. More than just a fun and exciting pastime, I had found one of my creative callings.

At the time I was learning photography, I began shooting for a local community news paper called the Ridgewood Times. I covered community events and locals sports. One of the most memorable moments was when I had the opportunity to photograph the amazingly talented Ron Artest and Lamar Odom, the high school seniors who were competing against each other in The McDonalds Basketball HS Classic. That year they both played an integral role as teammates in helping the Los Angeles Lakers win the NBA Championship, and I helped capture it on film.