Explaining what inspired the project, he said: “There is a saying about wine that I really like and it’s something like this: ‘The first glass of wine is all about the food, the second glass is about love, and the third glass is about mayhem’.
“I really wanted to see it for myself if that affirmation was in fact true.”
According to Alberti’s website, the series initially ‘started as a joke’ but ended up becoming a roaring success.
He began by taking a picture of his friends when they arrived at his studio ‘to capture the stress and the fatigue’ on their faces.
The photographer explained his mates had endured ‘a full day at work’ and had to make their way through ‘rush hour traffic’ to get there, so some of them weren’t exactly on top of the world when they arrived.
But after their first glass of wine, they already looked a lot happier.
After each glass, Alberti took pictures of his pals to capture how their facial expressions continued to change after they consumed more alcohol.
“At the end of every glass of wine a snapshot, nothing fancy, a face and a wall, three times,” Alberti said. “By the end of the third glass, several smiles emerged and many stories were told.”
Alberti added: “I started this project because if you search for alcohol on the internet, you only can find bad stuff about it.
“I wanted to show the good side of it – of course, between friends who are drinking responsibly in a good environment. It’s like portraits during happy hour.”
Alberti’s muses appeared to be a lot more relaxed after having a few tipples.
Although most of the subjects seem to look quite serious and composed in the first image, they loosen up a little bit more with each glass of wine.
By the final shot, they each sport huge grins and look like they’re having fun in front of the camera.
In some sets of images, the participants are pulling funny faces, laughing and winking, while others have their eyes closed.
Alberti said that he shot the series, titled ‘The Wine Project’, over the course of six nights.
He explained that he invited people ‘from all walks of life’ to participate and purposely brought together some of his mates who hadn’t already been introduced – and by the end of his experiment, they all became great chums.
“They came stressed by traffic and work,” he told Mamamia.
“When they arrive, I made a first photo right away, I didn’t gave them time to interact with the environment, so I could capture the real stress. Then I gave them the first glass.
“I tried to invite friends from different circles, so a lot of them [wouldn’t] know each other.
“It was very funny to see how they interact before and after wine. They all became friends.”
You can find the full collection of images here.
What happens when you drink alcohol?
According to NI Direct, when you consume alcohol, it travels via your bloodstream to your heart, brain, kidneys, and liver. On average, your liver takes an hour to break down one unit of alcohol, with several factors including your age, weight, and how much food you’ve eaten having a considerable impact.
Northwestern University says it takes alcohol five minutes to reach your brain and starts to affect you within 10 minutes.
If you have a blood alcohol level of 0.08 per cent, then it would take five and a half hours for your body to fully process it and leave your system.
When the alcohol enters your bloodstream, this causes your blood vessels to widen, which can result in physical reactions such as blushing, a temporary feeling of warmth, heat loss and a decrease in temperature.
And as the concentration increase the more you consume alcohol, you’ll begin to slur your words, lose coordination, and have blurred vision.
If you drink on an empty stomach, then it passes straight into your bloodstream, whereas eating some food beforehand slows down the process.