"This photo looks like a painting!" How many times has a photographer heard this compliment? A hyperrealist painter, on the other hand, might hear: "This painting looks like a photograph!"
Painting and photography are two seemingly separate worlds that have often intersected over the years, sometimes in conflict. In its early days, photography was considered a lesser art than painting. At the end of the 19th century, pictorialism emerged with the aim of elevating the photographic medium to the level of painting or sculpture. Subsequently, in the first half of the 20th century, "straight photography" emerged, opposing pictorialism and, more generally, any form of image manipulation outside the specific linguistic boundaries of the photographic medium.
Despite this, some photographers today, taking advantage of the infinite post-production possibilities afforded by digital photography, still seek to impart a painterly quality to their landscape, portrait, or still life photographs.
Personally, I have never followed this trend. I've also never tried painting because I quickly realized that I'm much better with a camera. I've often wondered if the criteria I use in choosing subjects and composing images are somehow similar to those commonly used in painting.
Recent advances in AI tools have allowed me to transform some black and white photographs into paintings. I've selected 40 of my shots from various photographic genres: street, landscape, and portrait.

Pino D'Amico