Edoardo Miola and his tales of sand

The most beautiful tales of photographers told by Tony Graffio. 

Choosing the right character and going deep into their experience to understand, not just the motivations that push an author to embark on a personal and difficult journey, but to analyse their artistic values, the professional competence and the technical choices. Leave everything you know behind and throw yourselves into the adventure that each of us would have liked to live, by simply reading these pages. 

Tony Graffio interviews Edoardo Miola

T.G.: Edoardo, please introduce yourself and explain to us who you are and what you do. 

Edoardo Miola: My name is Edoardo Miola, I’m a photographer, right now and for about a decade I have been dedicating myself to this activity which has always been a passion for me. Recently, I have been able to start transforming this passion into a remunerative activity by selling my photos, by publishing books. 

I collect my images during my travels to illustrate a new country that I am visiting, or I keep everything in my archive, in case they can be of use some time later to organise exhibitions, or prepare new projects. 

T.G.: It seems to me that you are also an architect… 

Edoardo Miola: I am an architect by training, even if my activity has always centred around the construction of prototypes and models related to the world of design, architecture and science, in the sense that I made models also for dynamic and mechanical testing: from the plans of boats to skyscrapers for the anti-seismic testing and things like that. I have developed my activity in a technological field, over many years of my career, and I have been lucky to always have top quality clients. On the professional level, I have worked with Renzo Piano, with Aldo Rossi, with absolutely first-class foreign architects and with loads of designers. I have lived a very interesting and varied life, but photography has also been my latent passion, ever since I was 14 years old. Photography was a hobby that I am finally developing in the way I want. 

T.G.: Now are you able to live just with photography? 

Edoardo Miola: At the moment I am dedicating about 90% of my time to photography, so photography is definitely bringing in some money. Let’s say that in this part of my life there are by now many things that have been put in place that allow me to not have to increase my photography by accepting commissions that don’t interest me. I dedicate my time and energy to the things that I like and that satisfy me personally, that perhaps can allow me to sell some high quality prints at an adequate price. 

T.G.: Did you introduce yourself to MIA in a gallery? 

Edoardo Miola: I am here in MIA as a prospect. I would like to say “young prospect”, but given my age it seems a little anachronistic. Jokes aside, I am an MIA Candidate, in this year’s fair. 

T.G.: Tell me a little about the work that you are presenting.

Edoardo Miola: The work that I’m presenting at MIA is: Tales of sand. The title lets us understand quite a lot from the outset. I have chosen some photos that I have taken over the last 4 years, during the trips I took across southern Africa. All of the 11 images that I am showing here in MIA were taken in Namibia, but the unifying theme is the sand that in some way reclaims the human spaces, and so also abandoned objects, abandoned businesses. This was an aspect of my theme, or rather the desertification that advances, the sand that invades everything, but becomes also a witness to the passing of time. Geological time is something extremely drawn out and by comparison our lives seem fleeting and ephemeral. Amongst the photos that I have chosen, there is one, also chosen by My Lifestyle, that shows a relic and this ship is given life by the shadows that makes it more visible and also more ephemeral, a little like other naval disasters. 

A relic that decomposes on a rocky shore behaves in a different way, while the shore shows no decline, after a hundred years human creations are reduced to mush. 

T.G.: Will we see the diamond desert in these photographs?

Edoardo Miola: Well, the beauty of Namibia is that the majority of the territory is a desert where they mine diamonds and there are loads of areas, unimaginable for us Europeans, that are “off limits”. The diamond deserts are all over the place. The photographs I have brought here are of a ghost town in central Namibia; there are several that you can get to; for some you need a special permit because they are in a zone that is still pretty productive, while this one that I photographed is one of the more marginal ones. My exhibition tells, in part, about this abandoned village, which in sometime around the 1930s, was completely invaded by sand that, as we know, moves under the effect of the wind. The dunes move and the peculiarity is to see the houses still very nicely finished, we’re surely talking about houses that were lived in at one time by the heads of department, or by the directors, you can still see the doors, but they’re completely buried under two metres of sand. The sensation you get from this vision, apart from curiosity, is the precariousness of human life in these territories and almost the futility of human action in the face of nature. 

T.G.: Was it difficult to reach these places and work in these conditions? 

Edoardo Miola: For my own interest and passion I move around in these areas with my fully-equipped transport. Apart from the time necessary to reach these places, there are inevitable difficulties because of the rugged terrain, because of the sand and also because of the inexistence of the roads as sometimes I moved with only co-ordinates to guide me, trying to circumnavigate the dunes too high to cross. Also crossing the zones that are completely without any sign of anyone having ever been there is not so easy. All of this is quite normal in the Namibian territory and you can think of it as easily crossable, because unlike Botswana, there are no big forests that impede your movement. Apart from the difficulties that come about with the breakdown of mechanical equipment, or things like that, many places, even those off the grid, can be reached by using a type of navigation like you use at sea, so by the co-ordinates and the route. 

T.G.: Did you have a guide? 

Edoardo Miola: No, I don’t use guides because I have already spent a lot of time in these territories and I know the area pretty well. Also I trust my capacity to adapt. I can also rely on what I know of mechanics and of navigation. I’ve navigated in the sea for many years. 

T.G.: Are you trying to tell me you went into the desert on your own? 

Edoardo Miola: Sure, it’s easier if there are people who trust me rather than vice versa. I crossed the whole Namib desert and the Botswana desert, that reaches the border of Namibia, without any particular trouble. 

T.G.: I heard though, maybe not exactly where you were, that in the diamond desert, if you happen to blow a tyre and you stop for too long, helicopters arrive fast and tell you that you must leave, maybe also threatening to do you not very nice things to you. Is this true? 

Edoardo Miola: Sure, there are clear rules to follow that are indicated, I mean it’s difficult to arrive in one of these zones without realising it. There are real barriers, there are officials that give you forms to fill out. You have to write your details and the details of the people in the vehicle and you are given a time limit within which you must be out of the area. Stopping is not allowed, getting out of the vehicle is not allowed and at the next check point they make sure these rules have been respected. I’ve never been searched, or anything. It’s a formality. Sure, you need to respect the rules because they’re really careful. If they see that a 90km stretch of road is taking you more than an hour, an hour and a half, then they take steps. 

T.G.: They don’t mess around… 

Edoardo Miola: No they absolutely don’t. There is an area around orange, at the border with South Africa, that is really exploited and this 90km stretch must absolutely be covered in the given time. I stopped just long enough to roll down my window and take a shot of an eland antelope that I liked, but I stayed within the time limits. Basically, stopping is forbidden.

T.G.: Did you have any trouble with your photographic equipment? Maybe with the sand, the temperature or something else? 

Edoardo Miola: The problem of dust is present in all the African territories because the majority of roads are unsealed and the superfine quartz, abrasive dust is ever present and gets everywhere. During the day it is impossible to think about cleaning the objective and forget about the sensor. When push comes to shove and I’m at the limit and I absolutely have to clean the sensor, I try to do it at daybreak before the first breeze starts blowing. Otherwise, in the dark, even at 4 am if you turn on a light you see those infinitesimal crystals flying everywhere. Unfortunately my objectives are full of this dust. By now my camera is used to it, there are moments in which the air is more electric and this is a disaster because you take the photos through the veil of dust on the sensor. Luckily there are systems to clean this up, even in post-production, but thinking to have a clean camera, even if you keep the objectives still and use multiple bodies, it is still an illusion. I keep my camera in my bag while travelling but it is inevitable that the bag statically collects the sand and the dust and when you open it there is a cloud. You live in constant contact with the dust. 

T.G.: Do you think that using analogue equipment would create less problems? 

Edoardo Miola: Using analogue equipment that has a very robust mechanism can help, but the dust would get in there anyway. When it deposits on the film it makes beautiful lines because the rewinding of the film will do some damage for sure. In my opinion it is still possible to use digital cameras as long as there are no problems recharging the batteries. Perhaps I felt more need for mechanical camera bodies when I was going around Nepal because I didn’t have any way of recharging the batteries as I was above 4000, 4500 metres. In that situation I constructed a solar powered recharger with a really big battery, I put it on the trestle and so I created my own energy, also for the computer. The analogue system, in my opinion, is an anachronistic system for everything that is post-production. In spite of this I’m really fond of it and I still use the Leitz objectives from my old Leica M6 and M5 on Monochrom, but with the digital. In the same way I use the old Nikon Ais optics from the F3 with the Nikon digital reflexes. 

T.G.: Seeing as you’ve brought up the Leica Monochrom, I’d like you to tell me how you find it. Pros and cons. 

Edoardo Miola: I find the Monochrom exceptional for some specific aspects and I have found it problematic for others. The sensor gets dirty really easily and there’s no electronic cleaning system. The sensor, not having the anti aliasing filter, is more delicate than a normal sensor, both on the MP and on the Monochrom that’s fantastic, above all for the output. I’ve taken some fantastic photos in terms of quality and the sorting out the files takes very little. The 19 million pixels, in reality correspond to a definition that is almost 4 times better. I can say though that I have also printed these also in large format. It’s really nice because it fits in your pocket but I can’t put all my faith in this camera because after all I might need other types of performance that, unfortunately, this camera can’t offer. It’s also really slow in terms of file acquisition times, unlike the MP, but every system has its own strong points. 

T.G.: Can you tell me the story of the shipwreck in the desert? 

Edoardo Miola: I had wanted to photograph the shipwreck in the desert for a long time, and it was in a special moment that I had the time needed to take the flight over that zone. The planes take off from around 200 km away from the skeleton coast, a place, where just to get there, you need special permits from the ministry. I had always only had local permits, which couldn’t get me all the way to that place over land. I knew that that wreck was particular, I had already seen it on google and I had seen some images, but in my opinion it could show itself at its best only at sundown. I had battle with the pilot to convince him to leave later than usual. Normally the private flights left at 2 pm, while we left after 4 pm to reach the place with the favourable light. Explaining to the pilot that if I hadn’t been above the wreck at the appointed hour I would have taken a useless photo, I managed to get what I wanted. 

The shadows then told all the boat’s story, because it was the shadows that spoke of the subject, not the subject itself. 

T.G.: So does some kind of photographic tourism exist to go and photograph this ship?

Edoardo Miola: For this site in particular, no, even if it is a really fascinating location. There are people, though, with their list of places to see and photograph and from this point of view, so surely a photographic tourism exists. 

Tourism in itself exists, there are even flights you can do in hot air balloons, limited to the possibilities that a hot air balloon can offer. There are pilots that are perfectly happy to fly people who want to see these beautiful places from on high. I put together a videoclip with images of mine that I would advise everyone to take a look at, to give an idea of the places you can visit in that part of the world. 

In: If the sand could speak the colours of the sand and the variety of the forms of the dunes, that says everything. 

T.G.: Do you fancy speaking about the prints? Are you satisfied? Who is your printer? 

Edoardo Miola: Certainly. Robert Berné has done all the prints for me and he, apart from being a brilliant printer, one of the best, has inevitably become a friend because when you work together and you have the passion and the taste in a certain way, above all, you put in something of yourselves. At that point, you discover, you know each other and you easily become friends. We’re talking about ciglèe prints on top quality paper. I chose a sepia tone because I liked that the tale was almost detached from time, as if the print were from a different epoch. We’re not talking about some affectation to copy the rendering of an old Agfa paper, but it was just to separate the image from time. 

T.G.: How much are your works sold for and how many copies of each are produced?

Edoardo Miola: The prints that I have brought here to MIA have all been produced in the same format: 70 x 105 cm with the same type of frame for all of them. A photograph has been claimed by the sponsor for € 2000. The print batch has been done in 5+2 pieces. 5 pieces plus 2 drafts. 

T.G.: Do you do the treatment of the files for printing yourself? 

Edoardo Miola: Yes, yes I do it myself. In the last book I made about Mustangs that came out 20 days ago, I even treated half of the photos myself while I was travelling using exactly the power generation equipment that I explained earlier. Every evening as soon as darkness fell, during the journey I busied myself with post production with an old laptop, while usually, at home I use a Mac. When I got back from Nepal, around the 7th or 8th of November I didn’t have to prepare too much and on the 26th of the same month, I already had an exhibition open in Turin: all because I had already selected, chosen and post-produced everything I needed. In Turin I simply did the printing and the arrangement at the exhibition, because I like it. When I find myself in the place, understanding how the final photos will be, and also because if I realise something is missing, I can do it right then, or I can make modifications to the way I have of taking photos. 

T.G.: Do you consider this project finished? 

Edoardo Miola: (Laughs) The projects: as soon as they are finished, I want to change them. No, it’s not finished, in the sense that I’ll definitely work on it some more, I might add something to it, I might change it. It’s not that I am never content with a project, but the project is a moment that catalyses all that went into it. I always say: life is a moment. A moment later is another life and then the projects are not the same. 

T.G.: Do you see yourself going back to Namibia? 

Edoardo Miola: If possible I leave on the 19th , or the 20th of this month, to go down to sort out the vehicles. I also wanted to take some photos in a little city in South Africa. 

T.G.: Do you have your own equipped vehicle that you keep in Namibia? 

Edoardo Miola: Yes, you can’t do this type of journey renting the vehicles because I have a vehicle with a 350-litre petrol fuel which means I neither have to worry nor have flying jerry cans on the roof. If you want to rent something for this type of trip, you need to have a lot of cash at your disposal, renting lots of vehicles and travelling with everything you need that are really the type of transportation to do with a logistics company because each vehicle must be equipped with everything. You can find someone who will rent you his equipped vehicle, but you know he is very possessive of this vehicle, therefore either it is a company and they have six vehicles and a truck with spare parts or these journeys can only be done with a custom designed vehicle and not on a large scale. When you need to transport a lot of people you have to do it in convoy. 

T.G.: How do you feel about being an “up and coming photographer” at your age? 

Edoardo Miola: I don’t feel like an up and coming photographer by any means. I’m probably too old, in the sense that I am over 60 though I bring the enthusiasm of a child to this job because I would have like to do it when I was 18. In 1974 I was in Afghanistan and I would have liked to continue going around places like that, but instead I started doing other stuff. I have studied and I have travelled but always while doing something else. The thing that I derive pleasure from is not being “up and coming” but the fact that my work is well evaluated and well received. I’m happy people like it. This is all already satisfying for me. 

T.G.: Anything else you’d like to add? 

Edoardo Miola: I hope that I’m never without the desire and the energy to travel, also because these places I went through are populated with friends. I could tell 1000 stories about these people that are so nice and generous and of an infinite simplicity. As always happens, it is easier to have beautiful and deep relationships outside of the large population centres, because the large population centres, unfortunately, catalyse the worst things. As soon as you are out of the urban circuit, the people will bend over backwards to help; they are curious, they are helpful, they happily share their bread with you. While you’re speaking, it is normal to break off a piece of what you’re eating and offer a piece to whoever is with you and eat it together. I think this says it all. 

Edoardo Miola at the MIA fair in Milan, april 2015

One take, one frame, one camera: Minolta A5

When I choose a classic camera to bring with me for a photo session, or just to have something in my bag for any eventuality, I would like to have with me a solid, reliable, nice instrument, capable of producing good results.

I'm not a collector, but an user, so I select some cameras could still give good photographic results and make me want to expose some film.

I'm not crazy for rangefinder cameras because I'm a shot maniac that loves to study very precisely the right image composition and the impossibility to know exactly what is happening on the frame drives me quite mad. I recognize the utility of this category of photo cameras and the advantages to photographing with a light and quiet camera, so I decided to get me a Minolta A 5.

Minolta A5, year 1968

General appearance

Heavy, made of metal, simple, a bit squared, the Minolta A5 has a good quality Rokkor 40mm f 2,8 and a between the lens shutter made by Seiko SLV.

It doesn't need battery because there is not any lightmeter inside.

It is a camera for purist and i like it for this reason. No electronic, no electrical garbage, just mechanical gear and optics: this is all I need.

The shape is quite essential, the controls are in the right place and easy to use; everybody can understand this is a serious camera, not a toy.

The shooting

Margot, the model, has been very brave to follow me inside an abandoned industrial area in Milan; we climbed a wall and we took the photograph after we overcame a barbed wire. Margot, in this picture, is holding her left hand just at the iron line (not framed).

I had a big backpack with other 2 cameras and a couple of lens, but I wanted to make understand how carrying a small, strong, simple camera during these excursions could be a good idea. 

It was the first film I exposed with this camera, so framing correctly the subject hasn't been too intuitive, also using the frames in the viewfinder for parallax correction. If the eye is not perfecly at the center and perpendicular to the frame, it is easy to cut a part of our subject. This is the limit of this camera. 

The telemeter is not extremely clear, but it is precise in the focusing.

To determine the exposure I used a separate digital light meter: a Gossen Digisix.

The result

I like the bokeh, the central shutter and the focal lenght of the Rokkor 40 mm f 2,8; also micro-contrast, lens coating and colour rendering are very good. 

I'm really very happy of this camera and I think to bring it with me instead of my Rollei 35S that is a spectacular camera, but misses the telemeter.

Margot in the leaves

Minolta A5, Fujicolor C 200, Iso 200 1/60 sec. f4

Scanner Agfa D-Lab 1

Why to choose this camera?

If you don't need to change lens, this is the perfect camera to have always with you.

Commercial value Vs. real value

How much would you pay for a camera that makes very well its job, lasts 50 years, or maybe the double, without any problem?

I think you can buy a Minolta A5 for a price between 50 or 100 euros. Pratically nothing.

I payed mine nearly the same price (5 euros more) I payed for the Nikkorrmat FTN I tested last time.

It would be interesting to compare the images obtained with this camera with the images obtained with a Minolta-Leica CL. I have no doubts that the results would be very, very interesting and the shuttur of the A5 could also be more accurate of the shutter of the CL. Tony Graffio

The film rewind knob, the rapid wind lever and the exposer counter are different from the first version of the Minolta A5 made in the 1960

Educational photography by Caroline Gavazzi

Photography is not only art, communication or documentary; photography can be a teacher or a therapy, helping you overcoming problems or mental blocks.

Caroline Gavazzi, who’s 43 years old and was born in Monza (Italy), studied city planning in Paris, where she lived for few years. She moved to the UK where she started working as an independent photographer, after being assistant to Vogue artistic director.

Through her work she built a conversation with a group of children from a difficult neighbourhood in North-East London, at the De Beauvoir Primary School in Hackney. Here you find the interview she released at MIA FAIR, Milan. T.G.

Fear is behind a curtain

Tony Graffio in interview with Caroline Gavazzi

Tony Graffio: Caroline let's talk about you, who are you? What do you do? Where do you live?

Caroline Gavazzi: I live and work in London since 17 years. I started my career as photographer of interiors, portrait and still life for several British magazines, most of them from Condé Nast.

Then little by little, I turned myself to art photography, because it was the genre I was particularly interested to, also because in this way I felt more free to communicate my ideas in a better way.

T.G.: What is "Fear" about?

Caroline Gavazzi: This project was born one year ago in the UK. It was born together with a charity who introduced me to a school in Hackney, a difficult area of London, to work with a class of children aged between 9 and 10 years old.

I decided to work on the subject of fears, to teach children that photography can convey emotions. Photography is not only about landscapes, friends or food pictures, but through this form of expression you can also reason about something deeper.

With the teacher’s help, I asked children to talk about their fears. Then I photographed these fears, both in the classroom and outside in the school garden. It was necessary to find a way to represent their fears or phobias trough images.

I realised that these photographs where too direct and strong. They were about something very private concerning the personal sphere of the child. In my opinion it wasn’t fair showing everyone such personal fears.

That is why I decided to cover with a loth the photographs of each child’s fear, in a way to protect the child, but also to create an interaction with the public. The public shouldn’t stop to the appearance, but it should go beyond and find out the fear which is hidden behind each child.

Fear of dolls

I thought of using a cloth to be lifted up by visitors in order to discover children fears. The cloth used here is very important andsymbolic. It is made by a tissue that British children use to get comfort and protection, it is made by muslin which becomes in this way a kind of “Linus’s security blanket”.

I was very proud of showing these fears to the children and the public. The exhibition started a conversation about fears and a lot of children understood that they have many fears in common.

Facing this fact has a liberating and therapeutic effect for the ones who learn to accept the existence of fears, and that we should learn to live with them in order to finally overcome them. Bring out our fear and share it is good for everyone.

T.G.: Are these photographs symbolic, or are these the real fears chosen by the children?

Caroline Gavazzi: These are the fears children told me about, that can be real phobias.

T.G.: Were you surprised by something in particular during this experience?

Caroline Gavazzi: First of all, I had a wonderful relationship with these children. A lot of them have family issues, their parents are very absent, they are never there, not even at night. These children are very much left to themselves. Maybe also for this reason, they were all enthusiastic about working with me, because they finally found someone who gave them attention, listening to their problems. This experience was for them the opportunity of sharing something very personal, that no one had considered before.

T.G.: Did the project take place inside their classroom only?

Caroline Gavazzi: The work ended with an exhibition at the school. Children were proud of showing what they were afraid of to their schoolmates and to their families: it was a very nice moment!

T. G.: Do you plan to bring this project somewhere else?

Caroline Gavazzi: Yes definitely. I am currently trying to find opportunities in Italy. Thanks to this charity I will work with four schools in Milan: a Chinese school, an Arab one, a Catholic one, and I can’t remember the last one.

Anyway, the idea to be understood is, that despite of where you come from,culture, religion and anything else may be different, but in the end we’re all the same and we often share the same fears.

Fear of shadows

T. G.: Was it difficult to submit this project in London?

Caroline Gavazzi: No, because I was helped by this charitable association called Pinksie, existing both in London and in Italy, aimed at helping children, often in difficult and disadvantaged neighbourhoods through culture and arts. They follow an approach suitable to children, who are provided with free workshops organized by artists. I have been selected among several artists. I chose the subject of fears, because it was the subject of a children book, who tells the story of a whale afraid of diving into the depths of the sea.

T.G.: Did you get the idea of using the curtain to cover the pictures together with the children?

Caroline Gavazzi: Yes, I got it with them. The first day we just photographed their fears, but soon after I realized that the work couldn’t be complete in this way. At first I thought about a sliding curtain, but then it would have remained open. My idea was on the contrary to keep it closed. So I draw this picture in a “japonaiserie” style, linear and minimal, where the curtain fall back to its place after viewing the image behind it.

  

Fabio Castelli, MIA Fair founder and director, thinks that the action of lifting up the curtain beyond the photography, recalls the idea of opening the case of an old daguerreotype and unveil the image to the eyes of who’s watching in a particularly fascinating way.

Caroline Gavazzi against the fear of knives

A visitor was upset by discovering that a little girl was afraid by popping ballons.

Another visitor facing the fear of dolls.

Caroline Gavazzi is currenlty represented by the art gallery : Cecile Gallet Contemporary.

One take, one frame, one camera: Nikkormat FTn

And also one lens, one film, two scanners. 

I wanted to make a brief review of the cameras I own, or the cameras, for any reason, I consider interesting, so I decided to describe them in only one take, trying to show what is possible to do with that special model of camera I chose.

Today, in this new appointment, I'm going to talk of the Nikkormat FTn, a very strong, mechanical 35mm slr that can be used proudly and with satisfaction also in the digital era.

Many years ago, I owned a Nikkormat FT3, a wonderful camera that could be adapted esily at every Nikkor manual focus lens series: Nikkor pre AI, Nikkor AI and Nikkor AIS.

I own only Nikkor AIS, so when a couple of months ago I found a very cheap Nikkormat FTn body on sale, I had no doubts about what to do. I bought it that camera also if the internal light meter didn't look to work at all and if there was a sort of customization on the lever that changes the film speed, inhibiting to move the sensitivity indications of the camera exposure meter.

General appearance

I love simplicity, robustness and praticality, for me the Nikkormat FTn is a masterpiece of design, force and ergonomy. 

Having in the hands an object partially hand made with precision and heavy metals, bring us back to the time the photographic tools were sort of eternal jewels, instead of plastic with no value made to last 2 years, or a bit more, like it happens now.

One of the things I like best is the finishing of the pentaprism: big, bi-coluored with a squared part on the top and a thick metal plate with written "Nikkormat" screwed (screws on view) onto the front of it.

Without to say that there is not at all the useless shoe flash for stupid flashes.

I hate flash. Maybe you already understood it.

I love to feel the metal on my hands, so I'm very happy the film advance lever is made in a unique piece of chromed plated brass, without useless gummy cover.

The shooting

The camera is very, very tough, I wanted to take a picture where I could give immediately this idea and, at the same time, I wanted to employ the Nikkormat FTn in a typical situation where it could be at ease without asking too much at an old veteran. 

The focusing screen misses a broken image line rangefinder; this means that it's not totally easy to focus only on the matt glass (not so clear) and on the microprism circle that is not too bad either, but not even comes near the extraordinary contrasted Leicaflex SL microprism circle, produced just one year later, in 1968.

The camera was hand held and it was raining.

To determine the exposure I used a separate digital light meter: a Gossen Digisix.

 Margherita

Lens: Nikkor Ais 35mm f 1:2

Film: Kodakcolor Plus 200 Iso: 200 1/125 sec. f 5,6

Scanner: Canon FS 4000 US

 Margherita

Lens: Nikkor Ais 35mm f 1:2

Film: Kodakcolor Plus 200 Iso: 200 1/125 sec. f 5,6

Scanner: Agfa D-lab 1

The result

The scan made with the Agfa D-lab 1 of Emma Canepari comes out of the machine without doing any additional adjustment, while for the scan made with the Canonscan FS 4000 US I adjusted chroma and other variants at my will, including some "photoshopping".

The final result is not stunning, in both cases. I think this depends by 3 factors: the focus could have been made not perfectly on the face, but on the arms, scanning negative is not the best way to enjoy an analog support (expecially if you correct the grain with some noise reduction tool) and finally I think the Kodakcolor Plus can be a good film for snapshots under the sun, but it has not such a good answer under the shadows. 

Nikkormat FTn serial number 3515092. Alleged year of manufacture: 1967

(photographed with a JVC Picsio GM FN 1)

Color film negative: Kodakcolor Plus 200

Why to choose this camera?

Today I had to do some other pictures and I had with me, as usual, my Pentax Q and the Nikkormat FTn, at the end I've been able to take some photographs only with the Nikkormat because, after I recharged the litium battery of the digital camera, there was no way to use it without its own specific battery that I forgot inside the battery charger. Ok, it was my fault, but why can I still photograph with my Nikkormat without battery, without lightmeter, with worn seals of felt and practically without lubrification? 

The Nkkormat cameras are very strong cameras made to last nearly forever, thanks also to their mechanical Copal Square shutter made of metal blades.

Otherwise dual cloth curtains focal plane shutter, the metal blade focal plane shutter doesn't change dimensions or elasticity in the years.

I'm convinced that the Nikkormat are also stronger than Nikon F and Nikon F2.
Hey, wich camera today has a manual mirror lock up? Or any kind of MLU?

We cannot forget that the price of these cameras is ridiculous compared to the value of their manifacture and of the fact that they will probably last longer than you.

I have no idea when my Nikkormat was controlled by a specialist last time, but I don't think to bring it to the photo-repair for servicing too soon. Probably, I will make fix the seals just before my mechanical precision of confidence will retire, that's all.

Commercial value Vs Real Value

I would say it is possible to buy a good Nikkormat for less than 100 € (I payed mine much less), but the real value of an indestructible camera is obviously much higher. I would spend also much more money for buying a good one. I wouldn't consider the Nikkormat the poor man Nikon, indeed I preferred to buy this model of camera rather than a Nikon FM2, for example. Tony Graffio

Back to the film

Jessica is a true lover of photography, she tatooed by herself a slr camera on her right arm, because this is the shortest way to her heart.

Just, it's not possible to understand if this camera is a digital slr, or a analogic slr, but probably this is a lucky point for this young photographer. When you change boyfriend and you have his name on your skin you can only do 2 things: erase the tatoo from your body, or find a man with the same name of the prevoius one.

Straight to the heart

Our friend Jessica has been very provident not to specify the make, the model, or any other information on her tatoo, because after a few years, her activity was carried on with a digital reflex, she recently had, as a present from a boy friend, a Minolta XD7 that she is very happy.

She started to make a revision to the seals and other parts those required maintenance after years of unused, then Jessica bought a nice wide angle and now she is ready to take her first black and white shots on film.

In these days, many digital natives are retracing the road of the chemical photography for many different reason; at first becase everybody is really interested in photography cannot evoid to know the technique and the results that this kind of image is able to give to a photographer/artist. Another reason is that sometimes can be more complicate and tricky to obtain a certain effect from a digital file than from a film, but still there are a lots of good points to chose the film, if you wish to distinguish your final result from a mass product. T.G.

Jessica Moscaritolo 23 y.o. photographer

<I can think of "scenes" with special settings according to my mood of that time, and I find the girls at random, or friends who usually know little or who have just met and I ask if they want to pose for me. In fact it is as if I used them, because I feel that I live and I feel that I represent photographing other people. Now I want to try to do all this in analog photography and see what happens>. Jessica Moscaritolo

From an artistic project of J. M. entitled: They controle your brain

This picture was taken in the ex asylum of Mombello (Milan), it was the biggest mental hospital in Europe

From an artistic project of J. M. entitled: Autumn according C.

From an artistic project of J. M.  entitled: Ghosts

This picture was taken in Consonno, a ghost luna park not too far from Lecco

From an artistic project of J. M. entitled: Lost in my world

From an artistic project of J. M. entitled: Wonderland & Alternative Alice

Just out of the camera repair shop, first day with a Minolta XD7. Ready for new adventures with a B/W film.

<Honestly, I enrolled at the course of photography at the Accademia di Brera to find my way (that I'm still looking) and a photographic style that it suited me>. Jessica Moscaritolo

Alessia Mazzoleni and the gum printing

The technique

The gum printing is a technique imported from America.

It starts with a normal digital file that we bring to the copy center to print it as an old toner Xerox machine. This technique works only with the copiers whose resinous powder is fixed to the paper by an eletro-thermical process. It is not applicable to photographs printed with laser printers, or inkjet printers because this kind of inks are not able to hold the chalcography ink we are going to spread later on the paper matrix.

These old Xerox style printers are already a bit difficult to find, so when you are sure to have found the right shop where to start your process, you are already at a good point.

The dimensions of the prints depend by the dimesions printed by the copier.

Once we have made our “photocopy”, in a short time we have to treat the paper because the fresh toner retain more ink as a matrix.

So, we brush the back of the paper with a solution of shellac dissolved in alcohol at 100° we have praipared before. We need 150-200 grams of shellac per liter of alcohol.

We proceed in this way with shellac because this solution helps to harden and hold together the paper fibers that undergo a treatment done with a lot of water that might pulping photocopy.

We need to brush in this way at least 3-4 times the small paper (until 8X10 inches), while for larger sizes such as bed sheets it is necessary to brush the photocopy 6 or 7 times.

This has done because when the photocopy is wet it becomes heavy and likely to tear under its own weight

After drying our paper, we take the arabic gum and add distilled water very hot in a dosage of 1 : 2 (1 part of arabic gum to 2 parts distilled water), turns and photocopy, spreading the solution of water and arabic gum on the side where there is the image formed by the toner.

The arabic gum should be applied with a sponge for three times throughout the sheet.

We put the arabic gum with the sponge and we take it away from the white areas with the water annd we have to do this passage again after every inking phase.

The image chosen to be transformed into “Gum print” can be a drawing, a photograph, or other types of graphic composition, but it must be suitable to undergo this treatment.

Typically, the subjects a bit cotrasted are more suitable to be printed with this technique, it is still the possibility of developing our file with Photoshop before bringing it into the copy shop to enhance its characteristics as to make more evident.

Once our photocopy was prepared with shellac and gum arabic, you can place the sheet to be inked on a smooth and homogeneous plan, so that it adheres well to this support and avoid surprises during the inking that must be smooth and homogeneous. A glass plate, or a plexiglass can be good for this purpose.After that we take the roller with ink by intaglio printing and apply it on the photocopy to the side of the toner.

The toner has the property of retaining the ink, while whites have been made impermeable to the ink by the fact that arabic gum has become fixed in the black parts of the paper.

We start from a positive image, because the blacks will be played blacks (or the color with which you will be inking the matrix), while whites will remain white.as in a mirror.

This defect can be corrected before, always with Photoshop, or if it is not a problem, the image can be left with the left and right sides reversed.

This can happen if there are architectures where the change of sides is not perceived, as in architecture or landscapes which do not contain written.

Once the matrix is inked, we take the sheet to print (dry, do not get wet as happens for intaglio printing, because already the photocopy that serves as the matrix is wet) and we position it in contact with the toner part already inked, we align the paper and we put the everything under the press, even a couple of times.

At the end we detache the sheet of paper from the matrix and our gum printing will be ready once the ink has dried.

The matrix can be used up to a maximum of 5 times because the water and the pressure of the press spoil the paper. If you really did a good job, you also can manage to get six copies, but it is rare. Those tiny papar may last slightly longer.

In fact, the first printing is not considered, it is not good because the matrix needs to take the ink well. The first print is done on an ordinary sheet because you have a result a bit patchy and the black is not perfect.

The artist

Alessia Valentina Mazzoleni learnt this technique thanks to Chiara Giorgetti who was her teacher of printmaking at the Brera Fine Art Academy of Milan. 

Chiara Giorgetti liked Alessia's works and asked her to make them with the gum printing.

Alessia  partecipated to a couple of exhibitions, one in Bozen (Südtirol), the other in Munchen (Bavaria). In Bozen she sold her very large print of approximately cm. 190 X 90 for 400 euro. In the case of this subject, the matrix from the print was pulled was very large, it was destroyed in the third passage under the press.

Conclusion

The Gum print has the charm of engraving intaglio, adding to it to the charm of photography because the incisions, usually, are drawings and have a different look.

The photographs printed with ink offer a very special result and this is the atmosphere that can be suited to special subjects because they take a consistency more material that allowed to the author to get the effect that she pursued.

For the industrial subjects getting a very deep black, and having the ink a little smudged, or at least that aspect not too precise goes very well with the theme of the subjects. 

In this case, language and art go hand in hand to give more energy to the images. Tony Graffio

Alessia Valentina Mazzoleni, 25 y.o. artist and printer

(Canon A1 and Fujicolor 200)

Note: those that desire to read the original interview in italian can find it in Fragments of Culture, my other art and culture blog.

Alessia seen by Tony Graffio

(Canon A1 Fujicolor 200, prismatic filter and elaboration in PS)