InNice

Photo of the month! (Septembre)

I won the monthly "Polaroid of the month" contest on website  www.polaroiders.it

Or I shall say WE won, as the photo was a joint effort by myself and Antonella (would you tell?).

Or maybe I just handed her the SX-70, I don't exactly recall..

Anyway...to preserve the kind words of reviewer "Alice Zannoni" here is her complete text:

La Foto del Mese

Settembre 2010

PX 70 6 © Marco Barsotti

PX70 6: DA BENJAMIN A MARCUSE INVITO ALLA CONTEMPLAZIONE.

Apro questa critica di settembre dedicata a “Px70 6” di Marco Barsotti con una citazione di Walter Benjamin invitando i lettori a sedersi e contemplare il mare in cerca del futuro...

“L'osservatore sente il bisogno di cercare nell'immagine quella scintilla magari minima di caso, di hic et nunc, con cui la realtà ha folgorato il carattere dell'immagine, il bisogno di cercare il luogo invisibile in cui, nell'essere in un certo modo, quell'attimo lontano si annida ancora il futuro”. span>

Mi piace accompagnare la nostalgia per un momento passato, proprio ora che è settembre e le vacanze sono appena passate, con una forte carica emozionale positiva che proietta l'energia del ricordo a favore del domani: una sorta di feed-back per il quale io do vita al ricordo e il ricordo da vita a me; la miscellanea tra la foto di Barsotti e il pensiero del filosofo tedesco è l'espressione di questa sensazione che trascende il corpo fisico e diventa pura riflessione fatta di strati di passato senza i quali non potrebbe esistere il futuro.

La potenza di questa fotografia si trova nella formalità delle linee che costruiscono l'immagine attraverso un gioco di contrasti tra l'obliquo in un senso (da basso sinistra ad alto destra) che sbarra idealmente l'ingresso dello sguardo e i tubolari in verso opposto dei braccioli delle sedie che costituiscono uno sfondamento sull'infinito del cielo invitando l'osservatore e far parte dell'opera: lo scatto non è dunque solo il recupero di una porzione di realtà, ma diventa un gesto di amplia portata che, estendendo la ricezione, trova eco nella dimensione spazio-tempo di chi guarda l'opera.

In questo caso la macchina fotografica non ha il ruolo di ascolto e registrazione ma raccoglie un frammento facendolo diventare grafema polisemico per la costruzione di un racconto, un racconto che potrebbe essere quello di una vita, racconto che scorre come al cinema su uno schermo che è il cielo, seduti in vecchie poltroncine seriali davanti alla linea dell'orizzonte e mentre la superficie della foto diventa un convettore di sguardi in pensieri “l'orientamento sul passato tende verso un orientamento al futuro” (Marcuse).

Alice Zannoni

Trip to Sanremo.

The fridge (refrigerator) has a defective door. In july I ordered a replacement...in Sanremo Italy (there seems to be no repar shops here in Nice).

As the part has now arrived, I decided to go and pick it up today...

(FRIGO CON MANIGLIETTA ROTTA---Ordinata al centro assistenza piu' vicino - sanremo - oggi era pronto...)

finalmente Sanremo

Entering Sanremo..time to fire up the "navigator"...

Ora di  accendere il navigatore

...looks OK...

mare e italiano di media età

time to enjoy the view...

ma dove diavolo siamo (io e il navigatore) ?!?

ummhhh...where are we ?!??

Andiamo bene!

OK---totally LOST!

but ... wait what is this ?!?

come sarebbe, "funivia" ?

and this ?

ancora?!

...and...this ?!

un...pilone ? qui ??!?

Yes...there was a funivia, a ropeway, in Sanremo. Built in 1937 it was then the longer such thing in europe.

And the view from "Monte Brignone", some 1200 mts up, should have been stunning:

Montebignone5

Well, it appears that what was a great turistic attraction for Sanremo in the '30 (of last century) was shutdown in 1980, and the numerous studies aimed at rebuilding it remained...paper.

So -- I discovered some history of Sanremo, and reconfirmed that we italians do not deserve our past (being unable not only to build upon it, but even to preserve it).

Ah -- of course the part for my fridge arrived wrong (wrong p/n delivered by Ariston) and I have to make the trip again next week. On my expenses. 

Navi...e battelli

Anto talked about ships, and I have to put here in writing some considerations about "new " ship designs.

Why are modern ships so CLOSE, BIG and ugly ? Here are some "back then" and "now" examples. 

Let's start with Lake Como....a Battello from last century looked like this:

Steamer

And a Battello from 1970 looked like this:

NavigazioneLaghi-1-x-sito

Lots of open-air spaces,right ?

Ok, here is a brand new, very very expensive battello, from 2008 (lake como) or 2009 (lake garda):

Orione

No open spaces, passengers have to stay "inside".

Do the persons designing the ships know or love lakes ? 

I think they hate them, or they never ever sailed on them. I think they just copied some "modern" ideas for ship design. They can do that, but the administrators of the "navigazione" ? Why did they give them the ok, and our money ?

Let's move on to "cruise ships".

Achille Lauro, 1964:

Achillepost1

There is some open-air space, or is there ? Note this ships sailed @22 Knots (about 44 km/h), not much slower than "Mega Express 5" 26 knots..

Let's look at a "modern" cruise liner design:

Big_epic_profile

This "thing" is brand-new, sails as fast as the Achille Lauro and it is....horrible.

Oh, and our "Ferry", our "traghetti" !

Let's see a beauty from the past, 1972, in its original shape:

Drotten_1972_2

Same ship after repainting...:

Corsica_viva_II_1972_1

...some works to make it "longer" and "higher"...:

Sardinia_regina_1972_fl_4-1

Sardinia_regina_1972_fl_5

and the thing as it is now, still beautiful and full of open air spaces, even after the "reworks" to make her look worse..:

Sardinia_regina_1972_2

(note that the % of open space is much less, as the ship is now longer and higher, and can accomodate more passengers)

But the real problem lies in the modern-age ferries, as in the one we just traveled to Corse.. :

Mega_express_five

Is this elegant ? Please have a look at the little open-air space, and how fews windows there are!

Did the persons designing such ships love the sea? Or did they hate it, or never sailed on it, and just copied some "modern" idea for ship design ?

but then, why did the administrators of Corsica Ferries (this is an example the same holds true for many ferry operators, excluding ANEK) give them the money ?

Mitzi does not feel well

E non riusciamo a capire cos'abbia.

I'm not hungry...

Cool Pics?

I've been searching for a good compact camera for several months now. The camera to "always have with me", not the reflex to bring out when planning to take photos.

And I'm very disappointed with all the compact cameras of today, mainly as they are "too automatic", they try to be "too smart", and also they lack a viewfinder. And it is really impossible to compose a good picture with only the back LCD---in the sun it i impossible to see what is on the frame.

So, finally I stumble into this 2003 camera, the Coolpix 5400:

Photo

I love it because....

- It can take "RAW" photos

- It can be manually operated, in both "aperture" and "speed" priority

- it has a useful viewfinder, as good as the one in old analogue ("argentique") cameras.

- it has the body, and the "feel" of a reflex (just look at its back!).

A camera from year 2003 fulfills my wishes, much better than any 2008, 2009 or 2010 camera.

(some "test" pictures follow..)

DSCN2281

DSCN2288

DSCN2295

DSCN2297

DSCN2294

  

The Impossible can be Possible (PX 70 time, or dr. Land Polaroid spirit lives on)

And so finally, on August the 4th, a film for Polaroid SX-70 is available again.

Of course this is thanks to dr. Florian Kaps and his project to restart polaroid very analogue film,

More on this here.

Of course - as Dr. Edwin Land said, they did it because it is not worth undertaking a project, unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible:

Don't undertake a project, unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible - Edwin Land, inv

I HAD to support them, and ordered some B&W (here in France W&B, c'est a dire noir et blanc) film first the "PX 100"

�

a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49120512@N08/4845937150/" title="Impossible mitzi by marco barsotti, on Flickr">

�

(photos taken in Montecarlo and at Maison Mitzi).

....and then the COLOR PX 70 film.

Polaroid color has something magic in it. No digital filter, non Pohtoshop add-on can recreate its magic.

So, before going into PX 70, let me post again the original polaroid colors�

Very Analogue, polaroid sx-70 Boat

And here we go with the Impossible PX 70 film:

Negresco, taken at 20.20 on aug 4

Hi Beach, taken at 20.15 on aug 4

Do not be disappointed by the colors: first this is the "First Flush" batch of film produced, and will improve with time.

Second,�it has to be taken into consideration that re-creating analogue instant film is considered like re-creating a cake (say, the sacher) whitout using ANY of the ingredients...)

And finally.....the images improve with time themselves.

See the first shot I took, scanned just after taking it...

Px100 1

...and 36 hours later

Px100 36hrs later...no Killer Crystals!

Taking a Instant picture is not like taking a digital one. Each one costs about 2 Euros, and you have just 8 of them.

It is a work of love.

And so today I can really repeat a "facebook" wall post I wrote some months ago:�

The Impossible can be Possible.

(I wonder who understood what I wanted to say back then!)