Mordor: First Print Sale

Mordor

I am proud to announce my first limited edition print sale.

This photograph is called Mordor, because when I was there, with the clouds closing on this high altitude pasture in the Gran Paradiso National Park, I felt I had entered the evil-crippled land of Sauron. I tried to impress this feeling by converting the original color slide to black and white and emphasizing the dark tones.

There are two sizes available, A4 and A3+, each limited to 25 signed and numbered prints on HP Satin-Matte archival paper with pigment inks.

The prizes are 25 € and 45 € for A4 and A3+ respectively (excluding shipping costs).

To purchase one or more prints leave a comment to this post and I will contact you directly.


Availability:

• A4-------23/25
• A3+-----25/25

What to do with all this internet photography?

http://www.lizkuball.com/blog/2008/05/now-is-time.html

http://www.robertwrightphoto.com/writing/?p=233

http://davidalanharvey.typepad.com/road_trip/2008/06/f8-and-be-there.html

http://aphotoeditor.com/2008/06/13/an-endless-stream-of-photography/

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

JPG vs RAW - Tests - Day 2

Today I want to show you how I can improve yesterday JPG by applying some sharpening within Lightroom. I used some of the techniques outlines in this article (which I still have to read in depth, though. Therefore the sharpening could improve further). The main point is to hold down the Alt (options for mac) key while dragging the sliders.

I used these settings in the Details - Sharpening subpanel(remember that the image size the D70 outputs is 3000x2000 pixels):

• Amount: 68
• Radius: 06
• Detail: 40
• Masking: 5

Here are 100% crops of the RAW file (without sharpening applied) and of the JPG file with the above sharpening.

RAW without sharpening

JPG with sharpening

As you can see, now the level of detail is pretty much identical. The color and contrast difference persists, but if I can manage to correct for it without losing quality, or if I prefer the JPG look, I could make a Lightroom preset to apply on import to all my JPGs and therefore abandon RAW shooting.

Monday, though, I will show you some other test on underexposed image, which may change your ming once more.

JPG vs RAW - Tests - Day 1

Following the previous post about Ken Rockwell's article, "I avoid shooting Raw", I decided to make some tests with my Nikon D70. I wanted to check for myself his claims on the equivalence between the two formats.

I took some photos from my home windows with my sharpest lens, a Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX Macro. The in-camera settings were as follow (the ones I usually use for my Raw shooting workflow):

• Sharpening: none
• Tone compensation: normal
• Color mode: II (AdobeRGB)
• Saturation: normal

Probably these are not the optimum settings for JPG shooting, but as a first test I wanted to compare my usual settings on JPG output.

The first result I will show you today is the scene from my window shot with these parameters:

• ISO: 200
• Aperture: f/11
• Speed: 1/20
• White Balance: cloudy
• Exposure: center-average, manual
• Exposure compensation: none
• Tripod

I imported the two images in Adobe Lightroom 1.3 and re-exported without any further adjustments as JPG at 75 quality setting. This means that to the JPG no sharpening is applied at all and definitely it looks much softer, and also more contrasted. I must investigate on what kind of sharpening Lightroom applies to the RAW files during import. I do not apply any develop present at import time.
Ok, here are the whole images and 100% crops.

Full RAW image

Full JPG image

RAW 100% crop in the center of the image

JPG 100% crop in the center of the image

You can also note that the Blackbird moved between these two shots.
I have tried to apply some sharpening to the JPG in Lightroom and I can get it as sharp as the RAW, but the different contrast persists. I'll show these result with some about adjusting the exposure to the same image but shot at -2 stop underexposed, in the coming posts.

RAW vs JPEG (let's be pragmatic!)

Today I read (thank to Annalisa), this pragmatic article in favour of JPEG shooting, by Ken Rockwell.

I must admit I was, and still are, deeply touched by the Ken's arguments. I always assumed that the quality of the RAW files produced by a DSLR were undoubtedly superior to the JPGs. Now I must reconsider my beliefs, because they were just so: beliefs without pragmatic proof.

How often are we befuddled by technical articles that advertise absolute truths. Fortunately, reality is much subtler than it is often written about, and much quality assessment must be made individually and subjectively. Why follow tedious RAW routines, when for my practical needs, I can't distinguish between a RAW and a JPG file when I look at them in the monitor or, better, printed?

Ken argues that with proper care during shooting, a JPG is as good as a RAW, without the burden of file size and the necessity of a converter. The RAW workflow is definitely slower than the JPG and he also tackles the issue of archiving. Who can guarantee that tomorrow's raw converters will still support yesterday raw files?

Naturally, to adopt a pure JPG workflow, one must put more care during shooting, choosing the right camera parameters before pressing the shutter, and not afterwards in front of the PC. This habit, I think, will also lead me to put more care of how I shoot my subjects, taking more conscious decisions, being more aware of my interpretation of the scene.

The most important thing I have learned by reading Ken's article is that I must check for myself: I must make some tests to learn what I can get with my own tools, RAW and JPG, and take a more deliberate choice, instead of following a technical belief.

Ultimately, if Ken is right, JPGs will save me a lot of post-processing time, archival space and complaints about my sluggish PC, while at the same time, forcing me to dedicate more attention when I shoot.

Ciaspolando sul Monte Aiona

Snowshoeing on the tableaux of Monte Aiona (m. 1702, Ligurian Appennines) above a carpet of clouds covering the coastal Liguria.

Moon and clouds

The entire Liguria was covered by a thick layer of clouds, all along its coast. As we rose higher and higher in the Ligurian Alps we slowly emerged, until we were under a clear blue sky and the soft blanket-like clouds below us.
After a day snowshoeing up Mt. Saccarello (c. 2200m) along the slopes of Monesi di Triora, the sun set, the moon rose, and a impressionist's palette of colours tinged the darkening sky.
I tried to capture the delicate hues, but I still feel I have not conveyed the full magnificence of the scene.

Moon and clouds, Monesi di Triora, Italy
©2008 Luca Baldassarre

Svegliarsi in montagna

Il bello di dormire in un bivacco o in tenda in montagna è che quando ti alzi (ovviamente all'alba) sei subito immerso nella natura. Non c'è l'intermediazione del rifugio o dell'albergo, che ti ripropongono le abitudini della civiltà.

Esci e sei lì, fra le pietre, l'erba, le alte vette, il vento fresco che scioglie gli ultimi sogni ed un lago che lentamente si trasforma in uno specchio mentre il sole illumina - prima in alto e poi scendendo - la conca rocciosa che lo racchiude.

Esci dal sogno per entrarne in uno più dettagliato, più intenso, più puro perchè è lì nonostante te, sembra che sveli la sua bellezza non per te, osservatore, bensì per una sua inerente forza estetica. Sei insignificante, e sentirti tale, ti fa percepire ancora più profondamente la grandissima perfezione dell'ambiente che ti circonda, dove ogni disposizione di cose è essenziale, potrà essere lì per una cascata di eventi quasi casuali, governati da leggi fisiche però, non da intenzioni umane.

Ed era così ancora prima che tu nascessi e, forse, lo sarà ancora per molti anni a venire, addirittura secoli, se smettiamo d'interferire così pensantemente nell'ecologia globale.

Ecco, questi sono i pensieri che mi travolgono quando mi sveglio in montagna e scendo verso il ruscello per prendere l'acqua fresca, che servirà per un te bello caldo...

Lago di Fremamorta, vicino al Bivacco Guiglia, Alpi Marittime, Terme di Valdieri

Verso il cielo

Un paio d'anni fa, sono scappato dalle lezioni all'università per andare sul Monte Fasce dietro Genova a fotografare quella poca neve che era caduta. Ho passato un pomeriggio immerso nella natura, lontano dalla ripetitiva vita cittadina. Ho seguito un piccolo crinale, dove si era accumulata la neve, fino ad un gruppo di vecchi pini ormai secchi e morti, come cadaveri che volgevano le membra senza vita al cielo per l'ultimo perdono.
Non so perchè gli alberi fossero in quello stato, se causa naturale o umana, ma sembrava una scenografia da film, la luce radente del sole invernale, la purezza cristallina dell'aria, il blu intenso del cielo e la lisciezza dei rami...

Pino, Monte Fasce, Genova, Dead Tree

Sfondi per PC in Creative Commons

Ho deciso di offrire alcune delle mie foto giornaliere come sfondi per PC in risoluzione 1280x1024 con licenza Creative Commons 2.5 (attribuzione della mia paternità dell'opera, uso non commerciale, possibilità di modifica ma con distribuzione Creative Commons).

La foto di oggi è stata scattata qualche anno fa sulla vetta dell'Antola. Questo giovane snowboarder stava raggiungendo la cima per poi avventurarsi in un breve (la neve era poca) cross-country freeride. Libertà! Abbasso gli impianti (anche se sono così comodi, sigh!)

Snowboarding, Snow, Antola, Liguria, Summit

Questa opera è pubblicata sotto una Licenza Creative Commons.

Arrampicata

Climbing, Finale Ligure, Rocca di Corno

Rocca di Corno, Finale Ligure, una via facile (5b), ma la roccia stupenda e l'enorme tetto sovrastante la rendono comunque davvero godibile.

Into the nowhere

2001.

No, non Odissea nello Spazio, bensì un trekking memorabile di nove giorni, insieme ad un mio amico anglo-tedesco.

Questa foto ritrae il primo tramonto, il primo bivacco, un passo vicino a Bardonecchia a circa tremila metri d'altitudine. Cinque ore di salita a partire da Rochemolles, 1600m. L'inizio di un'avventura, tanta fiducia e aspettativa, ma anche timore di esserci imbarcati in qualcosa oltre le nostre possibilità. Ma alla fine è stato solamente mettere un piede dopo l'altro e godersi l'incredibile paessaggio che si svelava intorno a noi. Non sapevamo dell'esistenza di questo bivacco. La tenda era ancora umida della pioggia della notte prima in campeggio in Valle Stretta. Il bivacco era nuovo. Legno che sapeva ancora di resina. Accogliente e caldo. Morbidi materassi e pesanti coperte. La nuvole che salivano dal fondovalle e ricoprivano come un'enorme piumino la Val Susa. Noi galleggiavamo sopra, come sospesi in un mondo al di là del tempo. Ma assaporavamo il lento ruotare del pianeta seguendo l'arco del sole che lentamente calava infilandosi sotto opache coltri di nebbia.

La fatica era terminata, rimaneva da meditare sulla purezza della natura che aveva deciso di accoglierci così dolcemente...

2001. Passo Galambra. Alpi. Tramonto. Trekking.

Nuovo buon proposito

Siccome sto riorganizzando le mie foto, ho deciso di provare a condividere con voi una nuova foto al giorno. As simple as that! ma non credo sarà così facile. Vedremo...

Comincio con questa solo perchè ultimamente ho messo a posto la cartella che conteneva delle vecchie foto nella categoria OA: outdoor activities. Ora non archivio più le foto in cartelle categoriche bensì per shoot, ovvero per sessione fotografica. Poi con un programma di archiviazione assegno le foto a varie categorie, in questa maniera è più facile tenerne traccia.

Nel 2004 avevo deciso di fare un lungo trekking in tenda da solo nelle Dolomiti. Volevo attraversare il gruppo del Brenta e poi arrivare nel Parco dello Stelvio per finire all'omonimo passo. Doveva durare circa due settimane, secondo i piani. Ma in pratica è durato solo cinque giorni a causa del continuo maltempo. Lo zaino era davvero pesante: tenda, sacco a pelo, vestiti caldi, pentola e fornello e cibo a sufficienza. Ho dovuto pernottare in un paio di rifugi.

La prima notte da solo, in cima ad un crinale erboso, dopo il lungo viaggio da Genova, la forte pioggia, la ripida salita e le spalle doloranti è stata proprio dura, psicologicamente. Continuavo a domandarmi perchè mi fossi imbarcato in una simile avventura. Non potevo starmene tranquillo a casa? Invece di preoccuparmi della notte e della solitudine avrei potuto bermi una birra tra amici in Piazza delle Erbe.

Ma il giorno dopo, all'alba, ogni dubbio si dissolveva e cominciava a diffondersi in me la pace che riesco a trovare (purtroppo) solo in montagna.

Ho percorso sentieri alla base delle ripide pareti rocciose del Brenta. Sapevo che lassù, fra quelle aguzze cime, correva una famosissima ferrata: La Via delle Bocchette. Decisi che sarei tornato per affrontarla con l'adeguata attrezzatura.

E così è stato. Dopo un paio di settimane sono tornato con lo zaino leggero e l'imbrago.

Questa foto testimonia una delle tante scalette a strapiombo sugli abissi di roccia e vento. Di nuovo ero solo, ma ho incontrato tantissimi alpinisti lungo il percorso...un'altra emozionante avventura.

Dolomiti, Brenta, Via delle Bocchette, 2004

Freddo, neve, ghiaccio vi spaventano? Vi affascinano?
Ecco una galleria di immagini di uno strano fenomeno nell'Artico. Sembra uno tsunami congelato.
http://www.harkvideos.com/arctic.htm

More force in this one, a faster flow, a stronger trace.

It was shot returning from a two-day trip in the Gran Paradiso National Park in the Italian Western Alps. We slep at the Giraudo Bivuac, set on a rocky bluff encircled by ragged peaks, below a large meadow where the occasional ibex grazed. Lower down the pine and larix forests and the more timid chamois. It was late spring, the brooks full with water, the flowers in full bloom. You could physically feel the life explosion, the hectic preparations for the summer lust.

Reading into the photo....

..our experiences can take several tastes, sometimes they are impetuous, unavoidable, uncontrollable. They hit and drag us, overwhelm our planned course. I think art can convey all these ideas with direct signs, but also isn't actually the viewer to put his/her ideas into the artwork?