Education, the Castle of Sammezzano
As inhabitants of a social reality such as the world, humans found useful to establish some shared rules of education, that eventually became laws and so on and so forth, I am not here to discuss the etiological threads of piles of PhD thesis about this specific argument, but to tell a little fact that occured to me on the 6th of February 2011 at the Castle of Sammezzano, not far from Florence, Italy.
The Castello di Sammezzano is abandoned, empty, it’s famous for the park filled with sequoia trees that the noble man Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes d’Aragona, had planted. Ferdinando inherited the property in 1816 and started the remodelling of all the buildings in a Moorish style previously unseen in Tuscany.
I have always wanted to visit this architectural treasure, where in the 70′s it was possible to celebrate weddings and other joyful events, but unfortunately, cross luck, along with other misfortunate economical conjunctions, has led the property to a vacancy that only six years ago was solved with the acquisition by a British company that has not spent a penny to restore the buildings nor the park.
During this visit to Sammezzano the gardener approaches me questioning about the usage of the pictures I was taking, in return I try to find out if there is anyone I may ask for a permit to shoot while he keeps shaking his head downheartedly: “The property is extremely strict” he explains “I cannot tell you not to take pictures, but if you intend to publish them you’ll do it at your own risk, I have personally caught some people that have broken into the castle to shoot some hard core footage, and since then the owners have become extremely severe about access to the villa and photography.”
I do not want to sound moralistic or rigid, but violating a property does not belong to the spectrum of socially acceptable behaviors, not to mention the kind of material that the guardian has witnessed it was being shot. This lack of respect of law by a handful of happy fews that label themselves as “photographers” damages those that just want to document, through architectural shots, an invaluable treasure that will probably be fenced and out of reach in the near future.
We learn from mistakes. The film-digital era.
When it comes to film photography you always have to take into consideration the fact that it’ll be time consuming.
I have tried, with the advent of the digital age, to speed it up, and I definitely have, I do not spend hours anymore in the darkroom, breathing chemicals and wasting paper, but still, it’s an activity that will take a lot of your precious time, especially if you want to control most part of it as I do. The only thing I do not do is printing, for the rest all is in my hands.
I have finally found a developer that will not turn 400 iso speed films into a grainy-useless composition, developed my personal developing table and learned and refined my use of scanning softwares.
The old experience in printing with the enlarger has thought me how to work with the negative and how to use image software’s tools. I love the film effect, although I usually use digital for my commercial work, but, as I did yesterday, I really need the time for me and for photoraphy, and film seems to be the only way to stress out for me.
Film photography is like meditation: preparation, cocking the shutter and firing, with the hope of getting everything right, that the light seals on the old 6×9 back are still good, that the eventual battery does not go banana for the occasion and a longer list of usual-unprofessional mistakes that are always there for you to step into one, with the result of having to build up again self confidence when something may eventually go the wrong way.
We learn from mistakes or at least we try to.
Back to phone booths again, with Laura.
Coming back from Rome, stopping in Bomarzo, visiting a dear colleague, war photographer and long time globe trotter Romano Martinis, to realize that, if I do not do something phorographic each single day, I feel useless.
So there it goes, almost naturally, pack my 6×9, load an Ilford FP4, change shoes and dress, from formal to comfy walking gear, and there we are, on the road at night, shooting B&W film.
I had seen that phone booth many many times in my life, I had stopped for a beer at the bar next to it more than once in the past and still I did not have the time to go back with a camera.
After a few shots I hear a tip toeing noise approaching, as I turn I realize that a girl is standing next to me, with a question mark on her face, breath smelling of beer and the lightheartedness that only light booze can give.
Laura, this was her name, starts asking questions about my job and her interest grows as I go through details of my passion for public phones, the girl from Tennessee shares a true passion for the medium, as only the Americans have shown in the whole history of photography, in the end it’s their thing, they have developed it to the stage it is now and they appreciate it far more than we do in Europe.
I am grateful to Laura for her support, her words were sweet and enthusiastic, I can only hope to be able to give back as much quality as the passion she shared with me in a cold autumnal night.
Thanks Laura from Tennessee!
P.S.: The theme of the useless phone booths is commonly shared by many local news papers and web portals, here is and article by:
-Valdelsa net - Addio alle cabine telefoniche
- La Repubblica (ROMA) – Cabine telefoniche come latrine la Telecom deve intervenire
- Il Giorno (Milano) – Lunga vita alle cabine telefoniche
- Affaritaliani.it – Addio cabine