For today’s Cameo we’re having 46 year-old Italian photographer Claudio Rasano who shares with us Similar Looking We Refuse to Compare, a series of portraits of the young students of a South African school all wearing about the same uniform. See here for all the photographers who previously made a cameo in FotoRoom. Similar Looking We Refuse to Compare was recently shortlisted for this year’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

Ciao Claudio, how are you?
I’m fine. I’m busy working on a photo project in Basel which is a bit complicated, but I’m doing my best to stay positive.

What is photography for you? 
Photography has always been a part of my life. I think I first picked up a camera when I was about 16, at my grandmother’s house in Sicily. I had been looking at my family’s photo albums since I was a little boy, and had always been fascinated by their pictures from the 1930s-40s.

What is Similar Looking We Refuse to Compare about?
During a visit to a friend in South Africa I happened to see the young students of a school for engineers in the street, all wearing the school’s uniform—the uniform, its history and aesthetics, was what made me decide to create this project. I took the portraits in natural light right outside the school, 4 hours a day for 7 days. I photographed about 50 students and had a chat with each one of them. Two days after starting the project everyone knew about me: I didn’t have to ask anymore, they wanted me to take their picture.

Where can you be found online?
Here’s my website, and I’m on Instagram and Twitter.