About my attempt to be creative... please note: long post !
First I need an idea to work on and boundaries within which to move.
Times ago my wife and I decided to spend a few days on Lake Como, in
Tremezzina. It is an area we have been frequenting for many years and where in the hotel always conducted by the same family we feel at home. It is quiet and the view is beautiful.
Obviously as a photography enthusiast, I thought of taking some photos, but I faced a problem: how to photograph a place that has already been photographed by me many times without repeating myself?The answer came when I was browsing through a book by Karl Lagerfeld
“Fotografie” and looking at his pictures of the Trevi’s Fountain: the contrast between the fluidity of the water and the stillness of stone could be the starting point of my pictures.
When I think about a project I always take notes. Avoid (if possible) making postcards, that is, photos that have already been seen so many times, look for fountains and washtubs, small streams, alleys, paths, details of old houses, not forgetting the turtles that are in the pond in front of the Church of St. Lawrence.
I also wanted the photos to have a “look” of their own, personal. So I decided to shoot on film in B&W. A light kit, after all it was a vacation: a camera with one lens (fixed focal) and another small lens in the bag. Simply. Uncomplicated. As always when I take photos.
After having taken the photos, returned home, developed and scanned the films, I made a series of small prints. ... I believe that a printed photograph, a physical object, a book or a magazine offer a different way of enjoyment. The slowness of looking at it or flipping through its pages, the feel of the paper, the sound of the pages of a magazine when turned are part of another experience. I don’t mean a better experience, I simply mean different which I think is important and enjoyable.
So I decided to show this work in form of a small magazine, a “zine” all made in house and without too much expectation. Therefore I went for a size and a layout which I could print with my inkjet on a A4 sheet and where I could print a full photo on a double page. And to keep a zine profile I decided to print not on high quality photo paper but on a sketching paper, bamboo made in order to keep an eye on the echological aspects.
When putting several photos together, it is important to choose them, to do proper editing, but it is even more important to decide in what sequence and where to put them. Two photos close together can either strengthen each other or weaken. Sometimes a blank page in front of an image can say a lot more than a page full of photos. My method is to…try, try and try again different combinations until I feel I am satisfied.
Printing, cutting, trimming, folding and assembling the pages was part of the fun.
And this is the final result, please click the image to start the video
ballad for stone and water: the zine by
robert, su Flickr
