a photography hub
As many people during these last few months, I mostly stayed at home working and focusing on my hobbies. Other than making new drawings on ProCreate and watching tons of movies from my never-ending watchlist, I mostly dedicated time to photography.
Continue reading “How I had time (during the COVID-19 lockdown) to re-scan film strips.”
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.
Continue reading “How I organised (and survived) a group trip to Japan.”“(…) 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)
New York is an immense city. It’s the so-called “city that never sleeps” – and that’s my favorite nickname for it. We went there for a 14-days trip, and that still wasn’t enough. Considering that at the beginning I was planning for only 10 days there, I’m happy that Giuditta convinced me to add more days and that we had the chance to spend the most time possible in such a wonderful and multi-faceted city.
Continue reading “How we channeled all the stimuli (and the heat) in the never-ending city of NY.”“Over the great bridge, with sunlight through the girders making a constant flicker upon the moving cars, with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps all built with a wish out of non-olfactory money. The city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘The Great Gatsby’
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.
I suggest reading the article listening to this great piece of japanese jazz – to sync your mood with what we felt during the trip.
Since any of my first two trips to Japan (i.e. in 2012 and 2015) were not enough to satisfy my hunger for experiences in that amazing country, I decided to head back to the narrow streets of Tōkyō and other cities once again. As I did during my previous trip, I went with people I care a lot about and with whom I can share my interest for the country. We chose a wide array of cities to visit, and added Kanazawa and Aomori to my usual tour plan. Moreover we all went on the trip with cameras – and a total of 25 rolls of Ilford HP5 and 10 cartridges of I-type instant film to shoot in a 24-days trip – so everything pointed to it being first and foremost a photo-voyage.
All the images included in this article are taken by me, therefore feel free to advance any critique.
I first went to Japan in 2012. It was by myself and some of the trips I had were part of organised tours: I deeply enjoyed my experience, but also felt that I failed to get the whole experience that the country had for its visitors.
Last summer I finally managed to organise another trip to Japan: I wouldn’t have been by myself, it would have been for 15 days – instead of just 10 – and we would have also visited Hiroshima – other than Tōkyō and Kyōto which I already stopped at in 2012.
Me and a close friend of mine wanted to get in touch with the rather subtle realm of what we think Japan is like. Such an idea usually involves mostly food and temples, while it rules out the imagery of Japan as a land of dark ages’ warriors, modern buildings and anime. Speaking for myself, the country lays between those extremes, and it resembles what’s depicted by photographers such as Moriyama Daido, Shomei Tomatsu, Nishimura Junku and Hashiguchi George. I think of Japan as a land of narrow alleys, unglorified open spaces and publicly open people.
Continue reading “How I ‘hiked’ (but mostly ate) my way through Japan in 15 days.”
All the images included in this article are taken by me, therefore feel free to advance any critique. The photos can also be found on behance.
I have longed to make a boat trip with my friends since I got my sailing license in 2011, but my desire wasn’t accomplished ’til this summer. A good friend of mine was already used to spending his holidays with his childhood friends and his parents while growing up, and he spent even more holidays with such peers once he became an adult: most notably, they drove to Cape North in 2009. Even I went by car with the same group of friends to Corse in 2012. We spent an entire week going around the island clockwise and they proved to be amazing travel companions. One complained about the other’s snoring, the other slept on the beach and woke up drenched, but we all camped together and shared the experience.
This once, we all decided to organise a two-boat sailing trip across the Croatian islands: me and four more people booked Orion – a 37.9 feet boat suited for six people – while other eight people went for Klementa – a 41.9 feet one for eight people. They were just two random boats given us by the cheapest charter that we managed to find, but gave us no problem and just pleasant memories. We left from Sukošan on August 15th and got back there in seven days.
Continue reading “How I sailed (and slept) through a storm in Croatia.”
All the images included in this article are taken by me, therefore feel free to advance any critique. The project can also be found on behance.
Back in August 2014 I was in either London, Brugge or Strasbourg with i Birbanti – the amateur theatre company I work for as a technician – and my friend said “Let’s go to Istanbul for New Year’s Eve”. Either, as I cannot recall exactly where and when he made such a proclama, since it was not indeed considered much weighed as a proposition; it is even hard for me to locate ourselves through our trip to London for the Camden Fringe Festival when my friend foresaw what he would have then neatly planned once the state of soberness had welcomed him back in Milan, as such an exclamation sure seemed an ideal mind image of his, depicting what would have been our ‘next breakaway from ordinariness’. Nevertheless it first grew to be a desire – contagious among the three of us, who grew together for almost twenty years – and then a proper plan.
We would have driven through Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria to land in Turkey, resting online twice – in Zagreb and Sofija. We longed to visit hammams, the Grand Bazaar, hooka bars and any place that could provide us with food, but I myself mostly wanted to roam the streets with my camera.
Continue reading “How I drove to (and through) Istanbul with two friends.”