Tuesday, December 4

Florence 14 - Bridge View

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There are photographic critics who are troubled over the way photographs beautify anything. Whether it's a trash dump, a tenement hovel, a pig, or some body fluid, photographs seem to turn them into objects of enjoyment. The Marxists used to call that the "photographic effect". And they worried that without words photographs so glamorized life that it was impossible to rally followers to protest or action against the system. Photographs were of very little revolutionary value to them unless the accompanying words could save the picture. Make it into something seedy. Make it capable of arousing contention in the viewer.

So an image like this one across one of the bridges which join the two halves of Florence which the Arno river create... an image like this makes the prosperity of Florence too attractive for them. Too nice, lovely, pretty - when they find prosperity a distraction from the need to revolutionize. Oh well, maybe you can dream up a caption that will turn this into some kind of political weapon, to me it's a lovely renaissance bridge in the first glow of morning. My problem, eh?
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As many of you may recall I visited Italy during the first two weeks of October staying the first week in Rome and then for a week in Florence where I met up with Andreas Manessinger for a Mano-A-Mano photoshoot at sunrise on October 7 starting at the famed Duomo and working our way toward the astonishing Ponte Vecchio bridge (yes I know that is redundant). You can begin this Italian adventure chronologically by clicking here and working your way quickly forward. Of course your thoughts and feelings mean a whole lot so feel free to wade in at any or every point.

Or if you prefer click on the appropriate keywords below. Clicking on Mano-A-Mano will bring you to my images from the series I did with Andreas which I've so far posted. Enjoy....

1 comment:

Andreas said...

Double-WOW!!! You've come very far in the art of tilting :)

That's an amazing composition, something that I wouldn't have come up with and I don't know why. It has an impact that it could never have, shot straight. I absolutely love it.

Andreas