The new vintage (Video)
I published a new video on THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHY CHANNEL. Opportunity for sharing ideas here.
A challenge accepted and won
Although I started doing street photography with a DSLR, when I started to be known through the internet I had already switched to mirrorless and compact cameras. This, seeing me work in some videos, gave some people the idea that I always shoot from the hip. This and, probably, also an intolerance towards me combined with a somewhat snobbish and misunderstood idea that those who shoot from the hip take photographs without knowledge and with results linked to luck.
But it has always been something of an urban legend. I make photos looking through a viewfinder and I consider it the best solution when is possible. Not always is possible and this is why, to obtain exactly what I want, I can shoot from the hip. But in any case this is never to hide what I am doing on the street. I never hide and this is pretty clear if you know my work, that is a set of photographs certainly captured spontaneously, but also relying on portraits, visual contacts…
The idea, by now rooted in many, and to which perhaps I too have contributed, spreading for a long time through my blog and my books that mirrorless and compact cameras are the ideal solution for street photography, is wrong. And it has more to do with a mental issue (and the mental issue influences the approach) than with reality.
Just to make a quick example: the Fujifilm XPro2 that I owned is heavier than my Rebel T7. Many mirrorless cameras today are bulky and heavy, with a SLR design which is no less striking than the DSLR cameras. I repeat: it is a matter of mind. Polluted by so much marketing. And if you're a photographer like me, with the chutzpah that doesn't hide what he's doing (uh photographing) then the Reflex with its non-discreet click is not a problem.
Am I less cool than someone who has a rangefinder camera? Yes, maybe. I don’t care. I don’t care at all. I am not on the streets to appear cool. Only the images I take home count. And shit, these last couple of years I've shown that the photographs I take are superior to what I took with my fake rangefinders*.
But what I'm observing is that today those who shoot with a DSLR are a vintage vision on the street. And I also kind of observe that the DSLR is received in a certain way by people. Those who ask me to be photographed have increased. And certainly this is also due to a different approach I have on the street, which does not only aim to take candid shots.
*Let me clear this point: any mirrorless rangefinder like or SLR-like counting with a fake pentaprism are fake rangefinders and fake-SLR. Naturally they are also beautiful to look at, taking up the design of old cameras but this does not mean that their design remains induced by another era. This is the main reason they have success today.
The photos you see here
I photographed with my reflex in an open, declared way, enjoying the day, without forcing and without haste. I've taken the camera to tough places. There is imperfection, that sublime aesthetic that refers to an organic, non-plastic photography. There's the burn, the blur, the out of focus, there's all the genuine art of street photography. There are some beautiful colors.
There is the result of a 38.4mm, considered modest, yet it never gave me that disgusting flare that enters the frame in cameras of a certain brand. And what happens seems almost magical: I'm with a DSLR in the street, I shoot a few centimeters from faces, the click is clear, distinct, evident. I'm also in areas considered dangerous but for me it's like always: take home my photography. I shoot through the viewfinder, and the optical viewfinder allows me to have a real and unreproduced vision of what reality is. the workflow is organic. WHAT IS SEE IS WHAT I GET. to view the frame in actuality, rather than relying on a digital LCD screen makes my job human. And I need this.
Listen to me: I am not against mirrorless. Remember that I am using mirrorless since 2010. But the lack of a mirror means there isn’t a natural way to preview the image through the viewfinder. That natural way is important to me. That “real feel” marks the difference.
Enjoy the photos you see here. Let me know what are your thoughts.
