Shade of Light

Grainy images bring the memory backwards – as if grainy films were only something from the past: they are not, and indeed Ilford Delta 3200 is all but vintage – and past celebrations, Christmas on top of the list, bring memories up too (unless it’s Christmas now, that is).

A nice grain scanned in a bad scanner results in a fuzzy mess. The Coolscan makes justice of grain.

Grainywise, another scan of mine from Delta has been just accepted into the Vetta collection!

Brighton beach, Bronica SQ-A, Fujichrome, Coolscan 9000

The Nikon Coolscan 9000 has arrived!

I have tried and done all I could with the old Epson 4990. No comparison. I will slowly update my portfolio.

…e che importa se e` il freddo e nebbioso mare della Contea di Durham?

The sea at the evening - Nikon D40, standard zoom, Photoshop

Saying that money can’t buy happiness is restrictive.

Money can’t buy happiness but can’t buy many more things, either.

The most stylish home will still force its occupiers to breathe shit, if that home is… in London, just to make one example.

In fact, not only you cannot buy the most precious thing in life (air), but the more money you have, and the more likely it is that you happen to live in a shit-place (e.g. London) where you cannot even have it for free.

Enjoy London, by all means.

Most accommodation in London includes homes that would be regarded with suspect in the rest of the United Kingdom, would only appear amongst the saddest ghettos within developing countries, and could not possibly be on the market in the rest of Europe.

This image (C) is available for editorial use.

Certainly, not with their actual price tags.

“Le parole sono importanti!” (words are important, Nanni Moretti):  calling “London”, with one word only,  a ragbag of luxury villas and shit-hole flats does not make any linguistic sense, yet it is what the game of post codes does by law, and the slums of South East (SE) may appear on the tourist guides under the same name as the penthouses overlooking Buckingham Palace.

I am finally leaving this cursed land, where millions of parasites pay top money to live like ants, to breathe a heavily polluted air, to grow old while commuting in the public transport, and only because unable to find any other employment, anywhere else, different from servicing and supporting the grandeur life of those few, rich ones (who still breath shit, however).

I see that this whole aberration will soon be over. Already London never appears anymore in the wish list of those who know, and shortly (a few years, at most) the big, wrong name “London” will excite a well different set of emotions, certainly including spite, contempt, and pity.

Che spettacolo!

What nicer reading opportunity than in the library of the University of Durham? I love this place: head down, book, journal or magazine; head up, the Cathedral.

It reminds me of another wonderful reading situation: 4th floor of the library of the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, with a book by Leopardi coming from the Italian Literature shelves: head up, Via della Faggiola through the window, where the poet himself lived.

Sorry, I had no camera cellphone back then, in Pisa!

Settembre, andiamo. E’ tempo di migrare.
Ora in terra d’Abruzzi i miei pastori
lascian gli stazzi e vanno verso il mare:
scendono all’Adriatico selvaggio
che verde è come i pascoli dei monti.

da I pastori, di Gabriele D’Annunzio

This picture of mine is also available for purchase on iStock

It is not September, nor the Adriatic sea, but towards the sea I am going.

So it seems that, as either a student or a professional, I am about to enter my fourth University. The fantastic University of Durham, a.k.a. Durham University, is coming to me right after the filthy London South Bank University, the great and green University of Southampton, and the Italian but excellent Università di Pisa.

Photographically speaking, it can only be a good thing. A quick survey shows that the pictures of Durham found on the web are not exciting, and improving on them will not be difficult.

In a lens, ghosting refers to the formation of light artefacts due to reflections of the source of light. This book, “The Ghost stories of M.R. James”, published by Edward Arnold, is therefore the perfect companion.

Also available for sale on iStock

Good night.

On a technical note, I can hardly think of anything more difficult than photographing in candlelight only – if the true aspect of the flame itself wants to be reproduced.

It happened that today my trusty, bread-defroster Sharp microwave oven retired from this world.
I knew I needed a new oven, and I knew I love my Nikon FM2n camera.

There are not many microwave ovens suitable for users of this very fine camera. Do you see the simplicity? Shutter-speed dial: that’s all you need to take a picture. The remaining bits (aperture and focus) would be on the lens.

I could not but choose a Samsung MW82N-B then:

One knob to set the power, one know to set the time. Do you need more? I don’t.

Perhaps, a user of a camera like, say, Sony α 900(fantastic simple display, eh?) would have chosen an oven like the…Panasonic NN-A574SBBTQ (where the name itself is as simple as the layout).

I don’t know about you, but I do prefer my Nikon (and my Samsung).

It happens too often that neophytes wishing to read and learn about photography end up by browsing through books and magazines that are just about cameras and equipment instead.

This is bad. This creates generations of amateurs thinking of buying a new lens rather than approaching a new theme.

I did that too. My first (Italian) magazines were Fotografare and Tutti Fotografi. Great magazines for sure, but just as with pain-killers, they shouldn’t be used regularly.

Now I know plenty of great magazines that are really about the work and the inspirations. Often useful magazines are simply publications with a good editor choosing good material. Other times, the magazines that I like focus on the creative use of photography (or design, more in general).

I had a look on the web and I collected some publications available for free on Issuu. I will be adding regularly new “findings” in this Issuu shelf.