SoFoBoMo - Day 4

The Pope will come to Genoa Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
Everywhere there are frenzy preparations for such an event.

The Pope will speak in front of the masses in Piazza della Vittoria. For the occasion, the authorities have thought right to cut around twenty trees in the end of the square, because they would have occluded the humongous white (throne) stage. Several crews are installing big screens, audio speaker, seats and embellishing roads and sidewalks surfaces.

As part of my project, PROXIMITY, I took a stroll around the area and started documenting all these activities. Naturally I took many photos of the huge stage, very much in contrast to the humbleness professed by Catholicism. Almost expectedly, a large-bellied man, in suit, with I-am-the-boss-here look came to me asking to which newspaper I belonged. I replied that I was shooting as a personal project. He said I could not take pictures.
"I can, I am in a public place, what I can see I can photograph." I contested.
"I can say to you that you can't photograph."
I insisted that I was not stopping.
"Do you want to go discuss it at the police station?"
"Go ahead, call those policemen over there" and then I walked off.

I felt outrageous for this incident. The man did not even introduce himself and I know I had all the rights to photograph the disruption of my city for the Pope's visit. I was resolved to further test what they could do to me. I went around unseen and came back from the top of the large park-staircase, on the lower level of which they are building the stage. From the higher viewpoint I could frame the stage in perspective with the whole square, giving its right proportions: it's big!
Getting closer I noticed foreign workers climbing onto the sidewalls to fix the stage roof. I documented the absence of helmets and safety harnesses.
The man in suit noticed me again and pointed me to the nearby policeman. I started walking in the opposite direction and did not stop at his first calls: "Mister, mister, mister...".
Only when other people joined in the calling, I stopped and turned around. The officer called me to join him, I waited for him to come to me.
He asked for my ID.
"Why?"
"Routine control".
"Here you are, no problem".
"What were you doing?"
"Taking a stroll"
"I repeat my question. What were you doing?"
"I was taking a stroll."
"Were you taking pictures?"
"Yes"
"Did you photograph the stage?"
"In some pictures the stage was included, why?"
"Are you from a newspaper?"
"No"
Then it took him around 20 minutes to check my ID. In the meantime I hid my compact flash in my shoe. I was afraid he would grab my camera and delete the pictures.
When he returned from the car he also asked for my phone number and then said:
"The instructions they gave me say that it is prohibited to take photos of the stage"
"Why?"
"Higher orders"
"So you don't know"
He smiled: "These are the rules, you can act accordingly".
"Here is your ID, you can go."
"Thank you officer. But if a worker falls from that wall he is going to hurt himself".
"I know, I know". He turned around and I strode off.

The next morning I did a quick web-search for the italian legislation about what you can and can't photograph in public places. These are some of the links I found, I'd love if you would share yours:
http://www.dblog.it/public/post/ti-vietano-di-fotografare-non-si-puo-798.asp
http://www.fotochepassione.com/si%20puo%20o%20non%20si%20puo.htm
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:PANORAMA
http://www.citizenjournalist.it/risgiur.php
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fds/discuss/72157603710670288/

SoFoBoMo - Day 3

A quieter day. Not so much time spent photographing and not so much going on in the streets.

I remember one episode of BBC's "Genius of Photography", where one young photographer just arrived in NYC to document the streets, wrote in his notebook: "Don't take boring pictures".
I try to follow his advice, but often times I can't see much happening in the streets of Genoa.

Genoa is the main city of Liguria, a northern coastal region of Italy. Ligurians are notorious for their diffident nature and are easily annoyed by a nosy photographer. I can tell it from the looks they give me if they suspect I am photographing them.

Genoa is not a very active cultural hub, especially on the young side. Milan, Turin or Rome are better territories for street photography, but this is my city, these are the streets I walk every day. Maybe, if this project goes beyond my expectation, I could try to replicate it on another city, but for now I having serious difficulties in capturing good photos.

Anyway, another characteristic of Ligurians is that they always complain, as I am doing right now. Better stop.

I chose a title for my book: PROXIMITY.
I think it well reflects the content and concept of my project: my place and the people that live very close to me and that I do not know. Who are they? What do they do? Naturally I am not bold enough to go and ask, but try to infer the answers for these questions by attentively looking.

SoFoBoMo - Day 2

Day 2 has been less intense than the starting day. I had less time to dedicate to photographing. I tried to be more daring, I even asked a stall vendor at the local market if I could take his picture and got it. I think the market, with its colorful stalls and bizarre people and the hustle and bustle of the shopper will be a main focus of the project.

I also had a problem with one of my compact flash, a four-year old Sandisk Ultra II 1gb. My Nikon D70 started displaying an annoying CHA error, which means that the photo I just took did not write to the CF. Turning off and on the camera seemed to temporarily correct the issue, but it would present itself randomly later. It is very annoying because I don't know when I could lose a photograph.
Strangely enough it happens only with this CF, with an identical one, but a little newer and less used, never had a single problem. I contacted Sandisk: since the CF has a lifetime warranty, maybe I can get it replaced.

Today it will be the third day, I hope to manage to hit the streets later at sunset and exploit the low light.

Good SoFoBoMo to everyone!

SoFoBoMo - Day 1

Yesterday I started my SoFoMoBo, the Solo Photographic Book Month. In 31 days I will try to shoot, edit, compose and print a finished photographic book.

We, amateur photographer, hold in mind that a photographic book is a very important photographic achievement, but always procrastinate committing to one because we feel our photos are not good enough, we don't have a precise project and we think it will take too much time. The SoFoBoMo is a shaking initiative, aimed at defeating these fears and get the damn thing done!

My project will consist in photographing the streets and their life around my home in the city center of Genoa. I'm not a street photographer and find difficult photographing strangers. But the photos that most inspire me are street photographs. I think that a good one is capable of conveying in artistic form strong emotions, emanating from the disposition and appearance of the people photographed. I think at Henry-Bresson, Willy Ronis, Meyerovitz, Egglestone, Parr, (this list will expand as I remember other names).

For my project I chose a place very accessible to me, a place I could return easily day after day. A place I know very well and it is interesting how I will start seeing it differently with the book in mind.

Yesterday I shot my first photos, around a Gigabyte of them. I still have to download to the PC and check what I have shot. But even without seeing them I have learnt that I have to be braver, don't be ashamed of photographing strangers in their face or ask their permission to take their photograph. I tried to not let them know I was photographing them, but maybe I should let them know, let them take part in this project of mine.

Today is the second day and I will try to be less shy. I am very enthusiastic about my SoFoBoMo: in 30 days it will be a finished book, good or not doesn't matter. It will be something I have done and an experience I have lived.

Quote of the day

"An artist is a man who seeks new structures in which to order and simplify his sense of the reality of life."

John Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye

Analfabeti d'Italia

Siamo un popolo di ignoranti!


Tratto da un articolo di Tullio de Mauro per Internazionale:


"Solo il 20 per cento degli adulti italiani sa veramente leggere, scrivere e contare.

Cinque italiani su cento tra i 14 e i 65 anni non sanno distinguere una lettera da un'altra, una cifra dall'altra. Trentotto lo sanno fare, ma riescono solo a leggere con difficoltà una scritta e a decifrare qualche cifra. Trentatré superano questa condizione ma qui si fermano: un testo scritto che riguardi fatti collettivi, di rilievo anche nella vita quotidiana, è oltre la portata delle loro capacità di lettura e scrittura, un grafico con qualche percentuale è un'icona incomprensibile.

Secondo specialisti internazionali, soltanto il 20 per cento della popolazione adulta italiana possiede gli strumenti minimi indispensabili di lettura, scrittura e calcolo necessari per orientarsi in una società contemporanea."

LEGGI L'ARTICOLO

Stop the Clash of Civilizations - NOW