Brick factory

I visited an artist friend who is now living in a brick factory. Quite an incredible place, still close to the town but surrounded by fields and caves of clay. Her loft is hidden amongst warehouses used by artist to stock their work, most of which is done with clay and bricks. Strange stuff indeed… There was an incredible warm and bright light, filtering from large, long windows... but I did not make much of it. The most interesting subiects ended always up to be the ones in the shade.

Nikkor 24mm F2.8 AF

Got myself a new lens, nikkor 28 f 2.8. For the first time in my life I own a fixed focal. Gosh… this course is playing tricks on me!!! I tried the new lens on my mum (left) and aunt, on Easter day. They are thinking hard, adding up scores after a game of scrabble. Good news is that I won. I was the proud composer of long words like “amnesia”…

"Documentary photography" in Fascist Italy

Interesting afternoon, taking zillions of pictures of a camera-shy-friend who needed a portrait for his editor but could not stop making funny, wrinkly faces… We also discussed the object of its most recent study: the history of an infamous journal published in Fascist Italy, “La difesa della razza” (The defence of the race). We looked the use of “documentary pictures” in it.

He showed me pictures of Jews at (forced) work which were used as proof in articles discussing how Jews would only work if forced. In another issue the picture of a line of black factory workers at a medical visit was misquoted as the picture of a line of an army visit in France. The point of the article was to demonstrate that the (enemy) French army was corrupted by the presence of so many blacks. It was then pointed out to the editor that the picture did not represented soldiers but factory workers. The answer, published in a successive issue, was that this was irrelevant: as the picture could indeed illustrate a true fact, its use was perfectly acceptable. This journal makes a very depressing reading after a while, but it made me willing to learn a little bit more about the use of photography in the two decades of Fascism in Italy.

Ex 4d: group potrait, librarians at the Faculty of Architecture, Torino

I finally found (better late than never?) a suitable subject for the group pictures: some librarians of the Central Faculty of Architecture in Torino. It was interesting to observe the dynamics of a group portrait: at the beginning everyone just stayed in line, but then the initial fear dissolved and more more creative set up could be put in place (walking around shelves and using the small ladders, for example). Time, as usual, was a constraint. The librarians could only dedicate a small time to the picture which is a shame because they were great subjects

Nights in Roma

Andrea and Micol -colleagues from the Milano office - came to Roma and we managed to realize our old commitment: photo walk around Roma, at night. So for two nights in a row we walked miles and miles in the center (I am doing good exercise, considering that on Sunday I had followed a friend running the marathon with my bike for a good part of the race to take a few pics of him... but I shamefully manged to miss his arrival as I got bogged in the crowd!!!).

It was lot of fun, and it was all really about trying different exposures, set up and techniques rather than taking good pictures. Andrea also kindly lent me his 50mm, 1.8 in the attempt to convince me that fixed focal are much better than zooms. I am not sure I will ever be persuaded to give up the easy of use, when travelling, of my 18-200mm.. but I confess that such a luminous lens was a joy. Also, having a real fixed lens (and not a zoom which I had blocked as I did in my assignments!!) made me feel more at easy in accepting the “limitation” of a fixed focal length. So, great learning, to be repeated.

Plane delays

Plane delays can turn out to be nice when I travel with a bag full of books… no distractions (airport shops definitely are not my thing), a cup of something on my table, plenty of leg space, plenty of time to read. In Cardiff Airport I looked at few photography books (including “the Bosnians”) and read a “children book” which is really a beautiful work of art for all ages. It is called “The arrival”, by Shaum Tan and is the story of a migrant settling in an unknown land. The same quality seemed to link the images (of realty and fantasy) that I liked more: an attempt to capture that special thing behind the images that makes them profoundly human.

Ex 4c: Portrait of Val, Oxfam shop in Penarth

Val has been a volunteer in the Oxfam shop in Penarth (a beautiful little town near Cardiff) for more than 5 years. She was the answer to my call for help to my friend Heather: “I will came and visit but I also need to work on my portrait assignment…Any suggestion?”. At the beginning Val was not entirely persuaded she could be good portrait material, and I was clearly not giving the impression of being that special photographer capable to transform any creature in a beautiful portrait. Anyway, we had plenty of time to relax, cool down and chat about the shop and her volunteering. All her colleagues worked hard to ensure the needed bit of Oxfam visibility in the picture: money tin, badge, pins… so set was buzzing… Being myself an NGO person also helped to bond (ActionAid was seen as a competitor, but of the good sort after all).

Two things really helped Val to relax and pose a bit. One was cheeky joke of a man volunteer, according to which Val was ready to feature on “page three” of the Oxfam magazine. The other one was my confession that I was desperately trying find that “magic spot, magic angle” (as mentioned in our on line class) that makes a great picture.

I had to work in the space near the till where Val was serving, and I tried to use the big poster at her back as part of the composition. Sometimes it worked: I felt that Val rightly belonged to a picture of happy boys” as she spent so much time in their support. Sometimes, however, it was all too cluttered. I was not great with light, ideally I should have had some more light on her face to make it stand out.. mmm… definitely lighting is an area for improvement. But all in all lot of learning and fun also in this portrait session.