The Photographer (Ignazio Boschetto Fanfiction)

Chapter 18

Chapter 18

          Before Il Volo started their tour of Christmas concerts, Michele had a promotional week scheduled, in which the boys would appear on a few morning shows, late-night shows, and radio programs scattered throughout the country.

          That meant our time being hugely occupied with flying from place to place, giving me much time to work on my project, an idea I had pounced on from an earlier observation. I was thrilled with the ideas I flirted with, and I was engrossed in my work, constantly on my laptop forming designs that were subject to my whims.

          I kept my plans to myself, wanting them to be quiet until I could carry them out, and also savoring that they were exclusively my secret. Though I never told any of the other Il Volo “teammates” that I had begun my own project, I thought everyone knew something was up, especially Ignazio, who constantly noticed my involuntary smiling, approving nods at the laptop screen, and the way I typed in hyperspeed.

          It wasn’t a particularly ambitious venture, but it was mine and I was in total control of its progress. When Ignazio had brought to my attention my to my own importance and influence in the Il Volo community, the first thing that came to my mind when I thought of being in control of my own projects was the Il Volo merchandise, or lack of. Excluding the CDs, of course, there wasn’t much else available for the Il Volovers, and after reading through some discussions on a fan website, I realized that this was the general consensus.

          So I had immediately set to work designing an Il Volo poster and T-shirt. The poster was nice, one of my pictures of the boys in concert against a red background, with images of the boys’ signatures under them in gold, and the words “Il Volo” in huge block letters above them. I really liked it, and I was secretly arranging to have it printed.

          But I was especially proud of the design I had come up with for the T-shirt, after many discarded documents of inferior imaginings.

          The shirt was the Italian flag, with the left side a green stripe, the middle of the front and back white, and the right side a rich red stripe. I planned for there to be a picture of one of the boys in each color, Ignazio in the green, Gianluca in the white, and Piero in the red. Arched above them were the words “Il Volo” in block letters across the chest of the shirt, and their signatures in gold were below the pictures of the boys. The back of the T-shirt was a quote I had found online that I thought was perfect: “LOVE makes the world go around, but ITALIANS make it worth the trip!”

          I was ecstatic about the T-shirt, and very eager to get it printed. I kept returning to the design and staring at it, diligently trying to determine if it could be better and ending up just admiring it every time. I had eagerly observed that many people like to wear flags of countries other than their own, like all the British-themed merchandise in the U.S.!

          The fans widely embraced that the boys were from Italy, and I thought they’d go crazy over the new T-shirt. I was dying to get it printed and hold the shirt in my hands, but it was still missing the essential photos of the boys!

          I wanted a new photo of them singing, with each of them holding the microphone and doing specific characteristic actions I wanted to capture from each of them. I wanted to get Piero’s hand over his heart and the way he occasionally closes his eyes when he sings, Gianluca’s serious look and dramatic pose he adopts every so often onstage, and Ignazio’s shining eyes and his excited expression when he hits the high note of a song.

          I knew exactly at what points during their music they would assume these positions, and I was determined to catch them the next time they sang together.