Tag: photography

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How I went back to the origins (and tardiness) of analog photography.

Back in September 2017 I bought an Intrepid 4×5 camera, a wood-made modern version of the original view camera – the kind of camera that has been around for more than a century, and that is as simple as it gets: a lens, a base to hold the entire structure and a ground glass where to frame and focus. Many companies still make them (e.g. Toyo, Linhof) and, although developments in technology exploded since the first daguerreotype in the first half of the 19th century, the concept behind them have not changed much.

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How I went to ‘Biennale Cinema 76’ (and woke up at 6AM everyday).

Three years have passed since my first and only visit to ‘Biennale Cinema’ – Venice’s film festival – and this year I finally managed to head back there. Back in may, after I realised that I would have had only a few summer vacation days since I used most of them to go to Japan in Easter, I decided to plan two brief long-weekend trips in August: one in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival to attend a friend’s play, and another in Venice. I thorougly planned the the movie schedule I would have tried to stick to during my four days in the sultry september weather that plagues the festival every year, in order to get inside the dark venues where movies were screened all day long.

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How I shot pictures (sometimes on request) underwater.

One month ago I had the chance to exchange a lens that I was not using anymore for an underwater camera – the Minolta 35DL – in a camera shop, and I took the deal. I immediately used it a few days later during a pool party that a friend threw in his house on Elba. Before that, I never used an underwater camera – at least that I can remember – and the results enchanted me. Once I got back in Milan I immediately developed the two rolls of film that I shot in such occasion.

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How I walked around Tōkyō (twice) for unusual pictures.

During my latest trip to Japan I decided to make a small photo-project based on infrared pictures of brutalist buildings around Tōkyō. I previously did much research on which buildings to photograph, and Blue Crow’s map really helped me. I ended up drawing a sketch map of the route I would have taken, to understand whether it would have been possible to make it in just one day – also considering that I would have been able to make it only during the first few days in Kyōto, since they were more relaxed. Luckily I managed to plan a round trip around the city starting from outside the Tōkyō station and ending a few train stops from it, and taking the shinkansen back in the evening proved to be easy.

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How I organised (and survived) a group trip to Japan.

This was my fourth trip to Japan. Seven years have passed since my first time there, and photography has always been one of my main drives while travelling there: the way people react to being photographed, they fascination for something that still is ‘unusual’ to my eye. It still is and I kept experimenting with it even during this trip – as I did more and more during each of my previous visits: in 2012 it was with digital, in 2015 it was with film in a rangefinder camera, in 2017 it was with both film in a reflex camera with a flash and instant pictures. This year I decided to try taking both portraits and street photographs on the same camera, in order to capture different perspectives on how people live and behave there, might they be turists or locals. I wanted to be able to show people both as individuals, and as part of the environment they live in and influence with their actions.

“(…) Being able to reach such a mental state doesn’t imply that one has managed to create a masterpiece. Yet, to create a masterpiece one has to know such a mental state.”

Soseki Natsume, “Kusamakura”
(草枕, Grass Pillow)
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How I always end up having more and more pictures (and thoughts) to share.

By developing and printing pictures in the weekends and spare hours at the end of the day, I noticed that more and more extra pictures are piling up – waiting for some recognition. Single pictures that don’t fit into any themed article I share on this blog, but still portray a moment of everyday life – which i mostly spend with a camera around my neck or in my pocket. Some of these pictures even date back years, while others are more recent and just were previously underappreciated and only now noticed.  Since sorting through sleeves of negatives is time consuming – as much as setting up the dark room is – I need to focus on discipline and consistency. And I have to accept that I might not ever be able to print all the pictures I take. Luckily, this thought does not frighten me: I believe that such acceptance of the incomplete power that all of us have over the events of life is an underlying element of any aspect of life itself; accepting the limits of what can be done. Therefore, time management and satisfaction. I have tons of hobbies and interests, and I’m happy even with the little I can get out of any of them. Having at least some pictures to look at, to remind myself of the moment I took that picture – in a visually appealing photograph, giving me the chance to see, or at least imagine, the life of the people portrayed in it –  is enough.

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How we filmed two trailers (and I shot instant pictures for backstage).

Back in March this year me, my girlfriend and some other cinema-loving friends filmed a teaser trailer for the new theatre show produced by the amateur company iBirbanti – company founded by some high school friends  and in which I also help  as a technician. This is the second year since attending the Civica ‘Luchino Visconti’ cinema school in 2016 during which we have the chance to write, produce and shoot a short movie. Satisfied with our previous results, we attempted an even bigger challenge: making two different trailers, with different tones and styles, in order to fit them into the promotion campaign. Giuditta and I were in charge of the first one, and I decided to test out during the shootings both my vintage Polaroid instant cameras (i.e. Spectra Full-Switch and SLR680) for some backstage candids.

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How I spent my winter holidays in Paris with my girlfriend (and a total of 5 cameras).

Ahead of this trip, I went to Paris only few times and did not manage to create enough memories of it: the first time was about 20 years ago, so I was too young to fully comprehend the experience this city gives. The second time was for just one night in 2014, while driving back from our theatre company’s show for the Camden Fringe Festival. Therefore this can be considered my first proper visit in Paris – and its beauty stunned me nonetheless. Looking down on the city from midway to the top of the Tour Eiffel and from the verge of Montmartre, and viceversa getting glimpses of the sky through the glass vaults of the passages: not something easily done anywhere.

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