"It's interesting to observe that almost all truly worthy men have simple manners, and that simple manners are almost always taken as a sign of little worth"
Giacomo Leopardi, italian Writer & Philoshoper

My professional Vision is rooted in studio and agency photography, inheriting the trade from my photographer uncle. The first steps were taken at Foto Lampo, a reality that also operated as a Press Agency structured in the style and rhythm of Vincenzo Carrese's Pubblifoto in Milan. This solid field training led to my historical membership in AFIP (Associazione Fotografi Italiani Professionisti), consolidating a professional and ethical approach based on documentation and excavation photography. Since 1969, the beginning of my Analog Era, visual perspective and geometric precision were honed in the field using fundamental cameras like the Rolleiflex and the BL Fujica, which were also employed for street photography. This solid medium format foundation was shaped by the rules of the Ilford universe. Alongside standard development using historical emulsions such as FP4 and HP4 in Ilfosol baths, a crucial resource for low-light photojournalism was the use of Microphen to "push" HP4 to 1600 ISO, the maximum at the time for capturing images in near-nighttime conditions. Subsequent printing on the incomparable Ilford Galerie baryta paper formed the pillar of a visual grammar based on rigor and the maximum tonal range of black and white.
Starting from the year 2000, the workflow opened up to digital, integrating shooting, editing, and fine art printing on inkjet systems. This transition did not alter the original gaze: silicon and inks are governed with the exact same rigor that was once reserved for the darkroom.
Today, my research focuses on the synthesis of these two eras, preferring Semi-gloss or Lustre media printed with dye inks for definitive works, optimized through precise black and white tonings, such as the Warm Scale recipe derived from Agfa Scala 200 emulation. Parallel to this, I continue to explore pure matter through experimentation on watercolor paper for alternative techniques like the Anthon-type (an eco-friendly, cameraless photographic process that uses natural plant pigments, like crushed herbs, berries, or flower petals) to create sun prints.printed image keeping intact the documentary vocation and absolute respect for the geometry of space and the honesty of light—pillars that are visible in my archive.

"To me photography must suggest, not insist or explain."
Brassaï

"I would like to clarify from the outset that there is no conflict between journalism and my artistic dimension. There once was, but then I realized that to be a good journalist, I had to be the best artist possible".
Eugene Smith

"In an age where the mainstream(ing)flow of images is controlled by the Kapitale (K as killer) algorithms of Google, Apple and more, I choose the spirit of the independent observer. My work is a refusal to surrender to the predictable, an attempt to find the extraordinary within the ordinary."
Eugene Smith

"Like children who do not yet know how to speak, and when they seek or want something express themselves by approaching it, touching it, smelling it, or pointing at it and with a thousand different attitudes, so the photographer when working, revolves around the object of his discourse, examines it, considers it, touches it, moves it, changes its placement and the light; and when he finally decides to take possession of it by photographing it, he will have expressed but a part of his thought… What truly matters is not so much the privileged moment, as identifying one’s own reality, after which all moments are more or less equivalent. Once one's own territory is circumscribed, once again we can witness the miracle of 'images creating themselves', because at that point the photographer must transform into an operator, that is, reduce his intervention to instrumental operations. To the photographer the task of identifying his reality, to the camera that of recording it in its totality."
Ugo Mulas italian photographer



All images are copyright Manunzio©. Any unauthorized use will be prosecuted.