Summer
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On Composition. Or: the eye sees what the mind is prepared to comprehend
This shot, taken during the Italian Road Running National Championships, is a fair application of the French philosopher Henri Bergson aphorism to composition: the eye sees what the mind is prepared to comprehend. In fact, although there is not a direct, cause-and-effect relationship between this image and renaissance painting, the learned observer may find some connection with works such as, for instance, Michelangelo’s Battaglia di Cascina. The connection between present and past may be loose, but this does not affect the principle. When I framed the shot I something ‘clicked’ in my mind and I instinctively decided to press the button. Photography (at least in all its variations, such as…
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The Expired Film Series – Episode 4 – Ferrania Solaris 100 – Dec. 2006 shot in August 2023
This is the fourth episode in a series documenting the use of expired film in various contexts. Episode 4 features a Ferrania Solaris 100 shot with a Voigtländer Vitoret DR and a Color Lanthar 50/2,8 in the vicinity of the sea of the city of Pescara (Abruzzi) .The film was overexposed by one stop as it is customary with expired film to allow more light to impress it.The results are just subpar, however the pictures have some sort of ‘individual’ trait.
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Red Moon at the end of August
Shot handheld (no tripod) with an X-T5 and a Fuji XF 150-600. Image stabilisation worked very well.
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HeadButt
Sometimes the difference between a pleasant result and just a plain wrong, missed photo may be challenging to tell.I took this picture years ago, during an MMA fight and, to be honest, I can not even remember framing and setting the camera accordingly for this shot. In other words, it happened almost by accident.The outcome is blurry and shaky, however, the overall result has a ‘painterly’ feel, almost like an ink sketch.
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From Waltham to Boston
‘From Waltham to Boston’, an offshoot of a bigger project on documenting Boston’s pulse, is now available on Amazon as a Kindle e-book.
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UnortORTOdox (Ferrania)
This is an unorthodox use of an orthochromatic film (namely, Ferrania Orto.) It is not supposed to be the first choice for reportage or travel photography, but rules are made to be broken, aren’t they? As per the photo, it was taken in North End, Boston’s Little Italy.
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Content Creators
There are many reasons for the lack of details in this image.The main one is that this roll of Kodak BW400CN expired about 15 years ago. Secondly, the Nikon 35TI used for the shot was set to ‘P’ mode, which does not allow ISO to be changed, and exposure compensation is broken: this made it impossible to use longer exposure times, as it would have been necessary.
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Coffee at Caffè Nero
On the technical side, this photo was a test of the X-T5 capability to handle scenes with both strong highlights and shadows without increasing the standard dynamic range. As per the quality, despite the similarity of the name, definitely no, it has nothing ado with the ‘Nero’ one can taste in Trieste which —unbeknownst to many — is the Italian capital of coffee.
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A Ferrari 812 GTS
In a sea of wannaby italians, the original shines.
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Justice measured as the distance between Words and Facts
This photo, in itself, is nothing special. Bur it carries an implicit message about law and rights: the level of democracy in a country is measured by the distance between bold statements and the daily courtroom’s reality.
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A Cornhole Board – Independence Day Edition
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Elishéva live@Faneuil Hall
Boston is an incredibly vibrant city and hosts many live events in theatres and outdoor venues. At Boston’s Faneuil Hall, I took some pictures of Elishéva, a soulful jazz singer, while she was rehearsing.
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Tesla Coils@Boston Science Museum
Not a great photo, taken on the fly at Boston’s Science Museum. Nevertheless, Tesla Coils hold a special place in the hearts of early Command & Conquer players, so I had to take it.
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Guarding Democracy
Maybe it is just me, but I couldn’t get the best out of the Ilford XP2 Super 400.
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DSLR film scanning: episode three
This is, by far, the most pleasing result I have ever had from digitising a film negative with a DSLR.Contrary to many suggestions found on Youtube, I did not invert the negative RAW curve by tweaking the Master RGB option. I did it, instead, channel-bychannel minding each clipping point. This approach allowed for a better reproduction of the grey tones, and in the end a fair result.
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Another attempt at DLSR film scanning
Still trying.I digitised the negative with a Pentax K-1 and the FA 100 2.8 Macro lens using the JJC clone of Nikon ES-2. Postproduction is done in Pixelmator Pro. I used a Nikon 35TI and a Kodak BW400CN to take the original photo. Strangely enough, the JJC does not allow a 1:1 ratio with the Micro Nikkor 60 2.8.The instructions advise to mount the 62mm to 52mm step-down ring, the #2 52mm barrel-shaped tube and finally the film holder. These instructions are clearly wrong, as it is not possible to get 1:1 magnification with this setup.So I removed the tube and mounted the film carrier directly on the 62mm to…
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An attempt at DSLR-made film digitization
This is the first usable result of the attempt to DSLR-scan films. I tried several approaches, including the standard tripod holding the camera perpendicularly to a flat, LED-lighted surface. However, I finally went for a different solution: a horizontal rig with two moving plates, a micrometric head holding the film and three-axis and a panoramic head holding the camera.
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A Step Ahead
Another photo from the Track & Field Mediterranean Championships – Pescara 2022 reportage featured on the website of Chieti-Pescara university’s Scienze Motorie degree. Also in this case the Sigma 150-600 Contemporary did not fail.
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Alessandro Valle – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella
When I cover singers’ concerts, I make a point of not leaving band members behind. On their shoulders lies the burden of getting the show right. Without them, there is not much a singer could do unless he is gifted with a beautiful voice and proper technique. Still, they often come unnoticed. Kudos to these musicians who make the magic happens.
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Venditti&DeGregori – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella
Here is the link at the gallery of the 10 August Antonello Venditti and Francesco De Gregori concert. A rather unpleasant experience, indeed. Photographers have been confined on the extreme left of the stage and not allowed to move. Of course the show comes first and any annoyance imperiling the performance must be prevented. A tad of flexibility for people who is there to work, though, would have been much appreciated.
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José Ignacio Franco – Live@Auditorium Petruzzi
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LP – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella
More pictures available on Rockol’s Gallery section.
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LP – Live@Anfiteatro La Civitella – The photogallery
This is the full photogallery of July 22 LP’s concert at the Anfiteatro La Civitella. I was covering the event on behalf of Rockol.it.
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Three Lamposts
