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Photography Does Not Exist (Until the Eye Makes It)
Foreword This post is the first of a series meant to organise in a logical and structured corpus the ideas collected in this blog throughout years of taking photos in various environments. Introduction A preliminary misunderstanding that should be addressed immediately is that a photography does not exist per se. The photograph begins only when the eye intervenes—when it selects, isolates, and organises a continuous visual field indifferent, in itself, to interpretation. This means that an image is not discovered but constructed, and this construction may even fail, as when a narrative is imposed that later proves to be incorrect. From the outset, therefore, photography must be understood as an…
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The Sorcerer
This is a photo taken from the reportage of an actors’ collective’s ‘opera prima’. This time, the venue was a smaller theatre than those I usually work in. This meant there was less room for movement and only a few limited angles from which to take the shots. As a result, I mainly framed shots from below stage level, with very little freedom to move laterally. This forced me to rely almost entirely on timing rather than geometry. I therefore tried to draw the viewer into an uneasy proximity with the figure. This enabled me to focus on capturing expressions to reveal the character’s psychology.
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Professional Courtesy
Chasing news lies at the core of any journalist’s work. The professionals who walk the streets instead of enjoying the comfortable seats on talk shows, discussing ‘life, the universe and everything’ (cit. Douglas Adams), are like sharks with a sense of blood. They can smell news from a distance or are part of an ‘intelligence’ network that tells them what and where. Indeed, photojournalists experience a particular challenge: reclaiming a vantage point from which to take the shot. This necessity often ends up in being ‘assertive’ when entering a scene or ‘elbowing’ those nearby to make room. Sometimes, though, there is also a show of professional courtesy, like in this photo…
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Labour Spilling Into Transit Time
The underground systems in Tokyo, where this photo was taken during rush hours, offer countless opportunities to take interesting photos. It’s no surprise that coaches and platforms are an irresistible temptation especially for foreign photographers. Like every other first-time visitor, years ago I indulged in taking a few pictures in this environment, which, as often happens with photos taken by non-locals, were pretty similar in concept and composition to countless others. This is why I slowed down and tried to make sense of a photo before taking it (not only in Japanese underground). Sometimes, indeed, impromptu shooting works, but you have to be in a state of grace to actually…
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Three-Card Monte in Rome
Every now and then, Three-Card Monte scammers appear in unexpected places such as the narrow cobblestone streets between the Parliament and the Pantheon, in the centre of Rome. This was a textbook execution. The game was fast-paced. Hooks pretended to be casual passers-by and traded 50-euro banknotes as if they were Monopoly money, hoping to lure victims into bidding. A muscle was monitoring the scene, ready to intervene at the first sign of trouble. I tried posing as a casual observer, but there was a high risk of being spotted and confronted by the unfriendly lad at my left, so I was unable to set up a properly composed shot…
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Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 135/4 – A Demanding Use Case
For shooting Rossini’s The Barber of Seville at Teatro Marrucino, I took a Carl Zeiss Jena 135/4 lens as a backup for long shots. Master Adriano Lolli replaced the original Contax mount with a Fuji X mount, saving me from the inconvenience of using an adapter, thus extending the lens up to around 200mm because of the crop factor.
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Relentless – A One Shot Story
When in Tokyo, I don’t go to Shibuya unless I have a specific errand to run. Least of the usual ‘things are not what they used to be’ lament, the place never struck me as it deserved more than a cursory glance. This time, however, I had a specific photographic objective: to capture the Shibuya backdrop, i.e. things and people that keep the place running ‘smoothly’ which are in plain sight but go unnoticed by tourists, residents and passers-by. Crowd management and safety control are two such things.
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Don Giovanni@Teatro Marrucino
Yesterday night I was on the (back)stage of Teatro Marrucino for the premiere of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Director Paul-Émile Fourny had a brilliant idea: to portray Don Giovanni as a vampire. This choice was essentially coherent with Don Giovanni’s ‘predatory’ attitude, while maintaining a visual style for the mise en scène that was consistent with the time in which the story was set. The lighting design by Patrick Meeus and the video design by Mario Spinaci created a dark overall mood without losing the play’s main characteristic: the alternation between drama and humour.
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Saturday Night Fight Fever
On October 18, I was ringside to shoot the European Boxing Union‘s female super-lightweight European title fight. The crown vas vacant and the two contenders were both Italians. Silvia Bortot, a former two-time European champion, and Sonia Fracassi, the Italian champion. The match was pretty intense. All along the 10 rounds of the bout, Fracassi put her opponent under a great deal of pressure, and she responded with equal energy. Ultimately, Bortot emerged victorious. However, the close referee scores (96-95, 96-95 and 97-93) show that the two fighters were closely matched, and that Fracassi could have won if she had thrown a few more punches, or if the match had been…
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A Few More Shots From An Urban Exploration Trip
Hip-hoppers and skateboarders are often seen together in many urban landscapes. Actually, these performing arts come from different US social and geographical milieus. However, in a world where different paths of life, cultures and traditions matter less and less, and everything is a ‘fusion’, this doesn’t look like an issue. So, while wandering around in search of some subject to test a 50mm Summicron M mounted on a Fuji X-T4, I was fortunate enough to kill two birds with one stone.
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Gravity on Pause
This a casual shot taken while I was wandering around without actually thinking about taking photographs. Setting aside the photographic quality of the image for a moment, I was amazed that it looks far better in black and white than it did when it was initially shot in colour.
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Al Di Meola, Peo Alfonsi, Sergio Martinez – Live @ Teatro della Villa Comunale – Roseto degli Abruzzi
Last night I “covered” the Abruzzo leg of Al Di Meola’s tour, where he performed in a trio with Peo Alfonsi (second guitar) and Sergio Martinez (percussion). As a musician, I wore out the vinyl records of his albums through sheer use, and I later met him over twenty years ago when I acted as his interpreter during a tour with Chris Carrington and Arto Tunçboyacıyan—the World Sinfonia Tour, which marked his acoustic turn after epic electric albums such as Elegant Gypsy, Casino, and Electric Rendezvous. Work aside, it was a pleasure to see him again and exchange a few words, even if, understandably, he couldn’t remember anything about that past meeting. The gallery…
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Inside a Master Luthier’s Workshop
Craftsmanship is fascinating. It’s almost magical how we can see things in our head and make them happen. This is true for every bit of wisdom that humans have come up with, but musical instruments – and guitars, in particular – are among the best examples of this skill. There’s nothing more unnecessary than music and musical instruments, but we —well, at least many of us— can’t live without them. So, it comes naturally to those who enjoy an active relationship with music to begin learning how to play an instrument and, therefore, to become familiar with the technical side of the story. This is why, sooner than later, one…
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On Tips’n Tricks to ‘take you photos to the next level’
I recently asked a friend, who works on the editorial side of the music industry, to share his thoughts on one of my photographs taken during a flamenco concert. His response was a deep and thorough analysis, which I will spare the readers in full. In brief, however, he praised the lighting as particularly effective for flamenco photography, noting how the chiaroscuro effect recalls the classical paintings of Caravaggio. Regarding the composition, he observed that the bailaora’s body fills the frame dynamically, without ever feeling cramped. In his conclusion, he remarked that the image captures the very soul of flamenco. As flattering as this commentary was, I must admit that none…
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DSLR-like…?
I decided to write this post after having stumbled across the next ethusiast review of a smartphone published on a reputable magazine, claiming that the device can deliver ‘DSLR-like’ photos. In fact, as is often the case with ‘camera experts’ who work for a magazine or earn money by posting videos making funny faces on social networks, it was just a rewrite of the manufacturer’s product specifications and promotional material. There are few things, in photography, I dislike more than than these ‘DSLR-like’ claims made in the advertising of smartphones and compact cameras because ‘DSLR-like’ is the archetype of a meaningless statement made to lure people into using an arbitrary benchmark…
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A Night at the Opera – Plays and Opera Photography
This is an abbreviated version of a talk I gave to a local chapter of the Italian Federation of Amateur Photographers (FIAF) on the challenges of photographing in a Teatro all’italiana environment. A word to the wise: this post has just a few pictures because it talks about what happens behind the camera and not about what happens in front of it Initially published by 35mmc.com To approach professional photography in Italian-style theatres, it is essential to understand and deal with a series of difficulties and critical issues that characterise this particular environment. The Italian-style theatre, with its architectural structure, lighting layout and show dynamics, imposes a series of technical and…
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Gioacchino Rossini – La Cenerentola@Teatro Marrucino
This is part of a reportage I did on December 13, 2024 for the Teatro Marrucino in Chieti (IT) during the performance of Gioacchino Rossini’s La Cenerentola. Gear: Fujifilm X-T4 and X-T5 cameras, Fujinon XF 18-120 F4, 7-Artisans 35/0,95 X-Mount Find out more at https://andrea.monti.photography
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Portraits in Skating
In sports photography, portraits are as important as snapshots of crucial moments such as a win, a loss or an unpredictable event, for they are an excellent way to capture the humanity of the athletes, often and mistakenly seen – especially in high-level competitons and before the start – as soulless cyborgs. Initially published on 35mmc.com The very first moments after the game is over are a gold mine. Athletes are still full of adrenaline and eager to discuss their performance with their teammates. Before they shower, before they change into normal clothes, before they return to ordinary life their focus is on what went right or wrong. And when…
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The Stupidity of Being Stubborn
I knew exactly that I was going to fail, but I did it anyway, irrationally thinking that for some not well clear reason the law of physics and optics could be defied by the sacred mission of the photographer. Thus, contrary to basic common sense, a few weeks ago I brought a Nikon 35TI loaded with a Ferrania P33 (ISO160) to a jazz manouche concert of the Tchavolo Schmitt trio at the French Embassy in Rome. The outcomes, as it was easy to predict, were just (euphemistically) poor – Initially published on 335mmc.com Let’s start with a test shot to ascertain if there was some issue with the hardware: Apart…
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Shooting Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA)-like Events
Historical reenactments are everywhere, and the volunteers who keep alive the memory of our past deserve our highest praise. Along with pure re-enactments, where the fate of the participants is already predetermined by history, and HEMA, where athletes compete using European weaponry and armour, there is a middle-ground discipline that is gaining momentum in Italy: Sport Reenactment – Initially published by 35mmc.com In short, SR players take part in reenactment events wearing faithful replica of the coats and arms of ancient Italian, Greek, Celtic and German tribes. But they also meet in forests and mountains to fight following a ruleset but without knowing in advance who is going to win. The…
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Learning to Shoot Boxing Matches
Taking pictures in a boxing gym during regular training is a unique way to learn to understand when ‘the moment’ – a hit, a miss, a bob or a weave – is coming and develop an instinct for composition – Initially published on 35mmc.com This is important for two reasons. Firstly, as always with sports photography, you need to know the discipline you want to shoot and practice different options. But, in a classic Catch 22, if you don’t attend a fair number of bouts at ringisde, you won’t know the discipline and learn how to photograph it. Spending time in a gym, then, is the best second best option…
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Photography and the Importance of a Proper Training
In photography, among the various activities falling under the ‘preparation’ label, training is oftend underevaluated. Just as many newcomers to the world of guns think that buying expensive equipment will make them better shooters, many photographers think that mastering a bunch of exoteric camera settings will be enough to get decent pictures. This is summed up in a common piece of advice to novice shooters (of both guns and cameras): get out there and shoot. Results will just happen. I have nothing against a ‘Zen’ approach to things, based on instinct and intuition, but my Western, Benthamite mind does not allow me to forget that preparation is necessary to achieve…
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Actors, Autumn, B&W, Bruxelles, Colour, Daily photo, Fighters, Fighting Disciplines, Photography, Spring, Summer, Winter
What Does ‘Professional’ Mean in Photography?
Pro’ is the photographer’s blessing and curse. It is the status we all – well, many of us – aspire to. It is the marketing gimmick created by the exploiters of the Gear Acquisition Syndrome to make people believe that tools make the craftsman. ‘Amateur’, on the other hand, is a word associated with casual photographers, ‘wannabe’ artists, and people who want to make you believe that tools make the craftsman. I have always been unconvinced that such a difference exists, at least in the general meaning associated with the words ‘pro’ and ‘amateur’, and in relation to the idea that the equipment used or the quality of the shots…
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Pentax – In Praise of Usability of Cameras and Lenses
The Internet is full of columns and videos about why ‘I left brand X for brand Y’, magnifiying this or that ‘new feature’ that forced a photographer to ditch his previous setup in favour of a brand new one. Sometimes there is a genuine motivation behind such a choice, sometimes – often – it is just a clickbait set up by the need (or hope) to monetise a piece of content published on a social network. This long introduction violates the golden rule of journalistic writing – tell the reader what’s the matter in the first paragraph or so – but it was necessary because this article is exactly that:…
