“I’m not a mirror,” says the Italian photographer Giovanni Gastel. “What I’m trying to do is to portray you as I feel you, through my joys, my moments of sadness, my sorrows.” At MAXXI, 200 such portraits are on display. All are in black and white, and all are people who, as Gastel explains, “have passed something to me, taught me, touched my soul.” Gastel, now in his mid 60s, is a renowned fashion photographer, known for his powerful and often moving fashion campaigns. Here the focus is on his friends, mostly from creative circles, but there are also people he respects and admires, such as Barack Obama, Ferruccio Ferragamo, and Roberto Bolle. —E.C.