Archivi per la categoria ‘Manfrotto School of Xcellence’

Con quale fotocamera è stata scattata questa fotografia?

Un recente premio ad un prestigioso contest internazionale e una sterile discussione su di un social network mi hanno fatto riflettere nuovamente sul “mezzo fotografico”.

Non penso che a nessuno sia mai venuto in mente di chiedere a Conrad se “cuore di tenebra” fosse stato scritto con una stilo o con la macchina da scrivere.

Non penso nemmeno che qualcuno si sia posto il problema se i pennelli di Matisse fossero più tecnologici di quelli di Picasso o se la tromba di Miles Davis fosse di una lega talmente particolare da farlo diventare il trombettista più bravo del mondo.

In fotografia invece, o meglio, purtroppo, c’è ancora oggi chi pensa che la fotocamera faccia il fotografo.

Ormai non mi stupisco più di nulla, ci sono fotografi dilettanti per i quali una bella fotografia è la fotografia di qualcosa di bello, un tramonto sul Grand Canyon o gli occhi particolari di un bimbo africano.

Fortunatamente i professionisti più ambiziosi, sono consapevoli che quanto vale per la pittura, la musica o la scrittura, vale anche per la fotografia.

Dorothea Lange diceva: “Non è per caso che un fotografo diventa fotografo come non è per caso che un domatore di leoni diventa domatore di leoni”

Allora domando: con quale fotocamera è stata scattata questa fotografia?

San Francisco, ArtHaus Exhibit Runs From April 5-June 30 2012

Per chi fosse a San Francisco, Indifference, vincitrice del Mobile Photo Awards, verrà esposta all’ArtHaus e successivamente al San Francisco Fine Art Fair e al Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA)

Manfrotto School of Xcellence

This photograph, taken more than one year ago with an iPhone in a village in Malawi, is among the winners of an International contest: CreativeHive. From 29 November to 3 December it will be exhibited in London, at The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea Park, and auctioned on 2 December to raise money for Kids Company, a humanitarian association dealing with the supply of an educational support to the most helpless children in the city of London.
This recent award and the fact of being a member of Shoot 4 Change, a nonprofit Italian organization made up of photographers, designers and artists socially engaged with photography, offered me the possibility to think about photography and social commitment.
My iPhone follows me everywhere, has allowed me to tell stories during my life in Africa, has granted me to take photographs without being considered a photo-reporter and to communicate with the rest of the world through the social networks.
The impact of these technologies on photography is incredible and recent events in northern Africa have proved that, but there is another very interesting point of view an image could and maybe should aim at: social commitment.
A shot with a Smartphone is possible for everyone, uploading it to one’s contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ is easy as well, however how many of us have ever thought that one of our own photographs can contribute to change things? I think only a few.
The purpose of a photograph can exceed the perfection of an excellent shot to aim  higher and reach some goals.
Over the years I have learned that, most of the time, the stories to tell are right before our eyes, in our everyday-life. It is right when you start looking at this everyday-life with unconcerned and new eyes that you take the shot that tells and makes a difference. You need time to be familiar with the reality around us, together with a bit of distancing effect that makes reality look clearer and sharper. This is what happened to me in Africa with the picture of Annette.

Manfrotto School of Xcellence

It’s been a bit since the first mobile phone allowed everyone to take a picture and since then, as for many things, technology has advanced and the photographic means have reached characteristics unimaginable till a few years ago. The big brands of the photographic sector announced the birth of the smaller “mirrorless” cameras; mobile phone cameras boast more and more megapixel, as well as the possibility to add external lenses…

Manfrotto School of Xcellence

Manfrotto School of Xcellence: Into the black

At the limit of photography

The synch a photographer reaches with light is always a frail love/hate bond. Sometimes you can deceive this relationship to get the shot, but theory is very far from practice. Without light you have no photography and cannot catch the “moment”.
I was in the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia during a night safari. My Canon was stable on my Manfrotto 498RC2 head and assembled on my Manfrotto 055CXPRO3 carbon and magnesium tripod to allow me to have reasonable exposure times in the darkness of the bush.
I needed the highest stability with light conditions “at the limit of photography”. Many years ago the sensitivity of films wouldn’t have allowed that shot, it would have been just a dream. Now, the possibility of increasing Iso and modern technologies of digital reflex cameras have made possible these pictures.
Bumping into a lion in the night is one of the most exciting moments of a safari, but you can certainly not stay with the lights of your 4×4 on for a long time, you have to save the batteries! Complete darkness is not a benefit for a photographer, I needed a little light at the right time.
When the lion started sniffing the air, probably because of the arrival of some hyenas in the area, I turned on the torch for a few seconds, a few moments that allowed me to “write” with light on the sensor and catch this portrait of a lion proud to defend his territory. © Stefano Pesarelli

Manfrotto School of Xcellence