Angelo

Angelo o Verdone? L'aperitivo trasforma le persone oppure e' la pellicola che le trasfigura? Chi si preoccupa della "veridicita'" dell'elaborazione digitale dovrebbe soffermarsi un momento anche a pensare che la pellicola rappresenta solo una versione della realta' che il fotografo ha in mente. Pensare che la pellicola sia "reale" ed il digitale sia "finzione" significa illudersi per il solo gusto - magari inconscio - di sentirsi custodi di una verita', di una tradizione, del giusto.
Questa e' pellicola, dannazione, se non e' distorsione della realta' ditemelo voi cos'e'...!
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Angelo or Verdone? Is the aperitif which transforms people or just film to do that? Those who care about the "authenticity" of the digital workflow should instead take a moment to think that film renders just a scene in the mind of the photographer and not reality. Thinking that film is "truth" and digital is "fiction" means to be fooled into thinking to be - be it just incoscious - keepers of a truth, of a tradition, of good.
This is film, goddamnya, if it isn't a distorction of reality please tell me what it is...!

To one of the funniest geeks I've ever known!

Happily shot with a 1959 Zorki 4 rangefinder on Ilford HP5 400 film.
Piombino - Zibibbo - a summer evening

via Carducci - Piombino

cosa fai stanotte? misuri la citta' in una passeggiata, con una vecchia macchina fotografica tra le mani e una pellicola veloce; non e' esattamente quella che un paio di amici definirebbero una pellicola veloce, solo un fedele rullino di Ilford HP5 400 e tutto quello di cui hai bisogno e' una presa solida e qualche volta un muro o un palo su cui fare affidamento se la luce e' *davvero* troppo poca. Piombino e' una citta' quasi deserta, e conti i passi per lasciar passare il tempo, pensando che non ci sia nulla da fotografare quando all'improvviso noti una macchina che si avvicina alla rotatoria; e' questione di secondi, devi mettere a fuoco, esporre, inquadrare ed essere pronto a far fuoco nel momento esatto in cui la macchina entra nell'inquadratura. Puoi avere una pellicola veloce, ma non c'e' pellicola che possa aiutare *te* ad essere piu' rapido. E' solo azione. Smetti di pensare che stai sprecando fotogrammi preziosi, spenderesti quello che risparmi per bere una birra in piu'. Scatta, maledizione! Ecco perche' io ho la foto e forse qualcun'altro avrebbe avuto semplicemente una birra in piu'.
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what d'ya do tonight? you just pace a nonsense stroll along the town, an old camera in your hands and some fast film; that's not exactly what a couple of friends would call a fast film, just a faithful roll of HP5 400 Ilford film and everything you need is a firm grip and sometimes a wall or a signpost to rely if the light is *really* low. Piombino is quite a desert town, and you're counting the steps to spend time, thinking there's nothing to shoot while you suddenly see a car approaching the roundabout; it's matter of seconds, you have to focus, expose, frame and get ready to fire in the exact moment the car enters the frame. You can have fast film, but there isn't any film which can help *you* to be faster. It's just action. Stop thinking you're wasting precious frames, you'd be spending savings to drink one more beer. Fire, goddamnya! This is why I got the photograph and maybe another one would have just gotten one more beer.

Shot with a rat Yashica FX-3 on Ilford HP5 400 film

seagull

When I'm fuckin' angry as I was this morning I usually hate shooting. Shooting is something exciting, something you can't afford to do in a hurry, or nervously, or without being in the proper mood. Unfortunately today I *had* to shoot pictures of a house to collect documentation about a project downtown, and this unexpectedly relieved my mood even if it was lunch time, it was damn hot under the sun and I just quarreled with a couple of technicians supposed to accept some documents which they didn't. I started to shoot lazily and without much interest, then the infamous seagulls which populate my hometown started grazing the ledges of our beautiful square upon the sea. I like shooting seagulls but I don't like pictures of seagulls and I was mid-way between complaining about the lack of interest and the firm intent of shooting a decent picture of one of those assassin birds. I had - to get things worse - a D50 with me, a bulky D-SLR I dislike, but in the bag there was an old Nikon zoom, a 70-210 which turns out to be the optical equivalent of a 105-315 if mounted on a digital body. Nice. I wanted a closeup of one of those fucking birds and I didn't want to shoot it when the bird was resting, it had to be the equivalent of a gunshot. Sometimes you just need somethin' to relieve the pain and let the rage blow. I started focusing at 105, following the seagulls and then extending the zoom up to 315; these old zoom lenses have to be pushed and pulled to zoom in and out while focusing and following the subject. I succeeded in shooting the picture I wanted in fifteen minutes: a seagull showing fiercely its wings and entering the gunshot line just a moment before shooting. Oh, really, I'm not looking forward to fire bullets at seagulls, don't get alarmed; I love these aggressive noisy stinky condor-like birds, they're one of my hometown's symbols. They just *rule* here. If I ever have to be born again, I hope to be a majestic seagull from Piombino. Oh, yes, and shit all over the city, just for fun...

Shot with a Nikon D50 and a fuckin' heavy 70-210 (105-315) zoom

Red bug on green geometry

Red bug on green geometry. Botanical gardens are interesting enough even when the season is not so fully in to show you everything you'd like to see! I visited this garden on the last Arkansas Chuggabug's trip to Parco dell'Orecchiella; There was this small and well kept garden but early May is too early to see anything too interesting in a botanical garden upon the Appennini, even though you are able to recognize blooms and also naked branches. Elena was walking befor me and noticed this little red dot upon the leaves; you are usually frightened by a tiny red dot, well, if you are a spy, or a sniper I mean. This time everything was safe: just a little tricky bug showing us its microscopic tongue... I shot just three pics, and I figured this could be the best, meaning in focus, nice lighting, nice geometry in the bokeh.
I wonder how much time will this camera last, as its lens after the two repairs makes a terrible noise when retracting and if ever it breaks again I fear I won't be able to fix it for the third time. Its swiveling lcd screen is a gods'gift, really.

Copyright 2008 by Alessandro "RonJe" Melillo

Camera: Nikon Coolpix 5700
Film: digital
Focal Length: 100mm
Aperture: 4.6
Exp. time: 1/250
Filter: CPL

Location: Parco dell'Orecchiella
Soundtrack: light breeze
Other: ---

Bug

Here's what I call fun. You got a deep blue Bug, it's got a jolly roger over the back seat, you got good glass, nice reflections and the worst film you could think of: a two-years expired roll of Kodak Elitechrome Gold 100 pushed to 400...!
Nice to see you can safely get good b/w pictures out of it.
Would you have ever thought about it?

Copyright 2008 by Alessandro "RonJe" Melillo

Camera: Pentax MX - SMC M 50mm
Film: two-years-expired Kodak Elitechrome 100 pushed to 400
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: dunno
Exp. time: dunno
Filter: none

Location: Viareggio
Soundtrack: ---
Other: ---