date » 24-02-2026 07:43
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tags » black and white urban landscape, black and white photography, olympus camedia point and shoot, print inkjet, abstract photo, urban life,
© archive manunzio
The image functions as a visual syllogism. By removing the lamp's vertical support, I 've removed from context a functional object, transforming it into a floating geometric sign. In this composition, the heavy black horizontal line acts as a visual floor, but the lamp defies gravity above it. This creates a tension between the weight of the dark base and the lightness of the gray void. The gray tone of the background is particularly evocative. It has a tactile quality reminiscent of a refined inkjet print on cotton rag paper.
This work testifies to the idea that what is excluded from the frame is as important as what remains. By eliminating the extraneous details of the urban environment, I have created a space for reflection that is both clinical and poetic.
date » 25-11-2025 09:51
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tags » rodney smith, black and white photography, hasselblad format, chuba chups, holy bible apocalypse, isle dead painter arnold böcklin, rodney smith photographer, rodney smith black and white, silvana editoriale, rodney smith philosopher photographic shot, history of photography, ernst haas in america, banks bankers culture, san paolo galleries italy, black and white photography, hasselblad,
To be honest that man (a shoot from book) soaking with fins and goggles is an other irony made Rodney. Now on the left, at the edge of the frame, a ‘house’ surrounded by trees. That's all? No, in fact, to compare it with the original painting so-called Isle of the Dead by swiss painter Arnold Böcklin: finesse d'esprit by Rodney Wasp ideology?
Side Two
I already wrote how everything, absolutely everything, say the Wasp people, must be reductio ad unum (reduced to one): one hamburger, one language (in this case, the Babel known as English) or the American (k as in killer) way of life, the equivalent of Extra moenia/ecclesia nulla salus: what a surprise. Babylon Uber Alles. Let's stop here.
Let's go back to Rodney Smith's “accommodating” book. It has already been noted that the “seal” ( Beast of Revelation 666) is placed on a page by the Chair-man, the man in the chair or Power, the Boss of San Paolo (which is also my bank, as I am an account holder and therefore I can say and write all the bad things I want about the idolatry of money; yes, the dung of the Devil as the Fathers of the Catholic Church claimed). In short, once again, this litany about the photographer Smith who is, they write and say, or rather claim manu militari, that his vision is, yes, this and that, but still the vision of a friend of friends, among mafiosi, of course.Yet this is not the case if you look at Smith's images. Except for perhaps a few shots in the open air, the sun is almost never present in his frames. On the contrary, a veil of uniform gray like a Shroud covers the skies, veiled and square, pun intended or not. No, the square is anything but dynamic, again, deadly the same wherever you look at it. Hasselblad's camera (used of Rodney) squared, which is not mentioned in the book: would have opened up the view at so-called curators & vistors. Beasts, donkeys dressed very nice of upper-class. And you need to have a strong cultural and technological background to fully appreciate Rodney's melancholic images, a man torn between New York Wasp besenisse and theology studies: irreconcilable, hence his polite cry of pain in soft light for those who understand the language and history and characters of photography. The rest is male and especially female onanism, traces of which litter the pages of the book.
Finaly a question: is Rodney's black and white images complacent as chuba chups of children? No. But more shot are too painful to look at, hurting the heart, for those who have one, once the seat of the soul according to ancient Greek philosophers. The rest is pure masturbation by laudatores, female critic.
NB. There are many images (eerie) missing on book that you will only seeing surfing on the Web
(Copy and past)
https://www.google.com/search?tbnid=Fo5BazkW3S6y3M&tbnh=0&tbnw=0&sca_esv=ea4088b713ffc869&cs=0&udm=2&tbs=rimg:CRaOQWs5Ft0uYYwrGTME1aZA4AIA&q=rodney+smith&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3v4qA4oyRAxVadUEAHev4HvkQuIIBegQIVBAA&biw=1920&bih=968&dpr=1
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/GxrRXeKakKY
date » 17-11-2025 12:07
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tags » rodney smith photographer, rodney smith black and white, silvana editoriale, rodney smith philosopher photographic shot, history of photography, ernst haas in america, banks bankers culture, san paolo galleries italy, black and white photography, hasselblad,
Side One
Smith like Rossi as a common patronymic. Well. Now, surfing on Internet, I come across a book dedicated to him: photographer-philosopher-theologian of studies. Rodney born in New York which the "summa" of his being and photography. Mainly in black and white, but at least two (valuable and iconic color) in the book published by a certain Silvana-Editoriale never heard at moment, which deserves for (us) non-anglophiles also italian translation. The images of book are transposed from an exhibition in Rovigo (North Italy). Vice versa, a bad as plague review (a man or woman don't make difference for idiocy) in incipit before us showing the photos: please no, thank. Like the Chairman (Bankister?) even of ‘my’ San Paolo Bank. Of course, San Paolo of Tarsus Biblical figure, has a bank...And the Mayor's (in this case a woman) writing , i.e. a very pragmatic text, sure, but about “economic repercussions” etc. etc. etc. pure idiocy. And then the priestesses guardians of Rodney Smith's thought: my God. It is no coincidence that there is no discreet excursus on the author's Hasselblad (him gear) least as I seen (reflex) him in shop window while busy photographing his wife and the travelers along a road in Northern Italy. In short, if another Great photographer (Ernst Haas) has etched in stone...
"There is a literary world of thinking and seeing; for centuries, the literary has prevailed over the visual. And today, our eyes are forced to see in literal terms. I hope for the images that, as far as possible, can do so with their own language" ...
...there must be a good reason to say that the language of the Curia, as we call the writing since the Roman Empire, and the visual language, in case but not only of Rodney Smith is other thigs. Other Word for illiteracy people (again man and woman not difference). In fact wrote Walter Benjamin
"‘It is not those who ignore the alphabet, but those who ignore photography will be the illiterates of the future". Illiterate, not the present days, no, but in future... the grammar-syntax-process etc etc etc. Illiterate Uber Alles!
In the end, a valuable book, beautifully printed in two tones, which is a rare feast for the eyes, and not spared us the nonsense (useful paid idiots or writers laudators?) better left unsaid and, as Virgil/Dante poet says, “don't worry about them, just look and move on”... That's all folks. Unfortunately.
Ps. Please note I bought my copy in bookstore and is not a "gift" of editor
date » 07-11-2025 08:26
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tags » black and white photography, reportage coppersmith, analogic frame, analogic era, contax 139 quartz, zeiss lens, yashica 24 millimetres, available light, show room coppersmith, e1 four thirds format, 35 macro lens olympus, reprodia analogic digital compà,
Via Gabetti (my Town) reverberates in the coppery glint of the cavrarar' (coppersmiths). A gallery looks more like a putea (dialectal word from the Greek apoteka, in case copper artisan workshop) due to the black smoke on the walls. The black/white scene contrasts the stagnant air, a mixture pungent acid and layers of settled years dust. Mast'Nicola, the veteran of three coppersmith brothers, arranges a handful of charcoal on crucible and turns the bellows a few times to fan the flames. The small cauldron, with contact of flames, acid-etched, burning when his right hand, armed with tow, penetrates it with tin liquid, aided imself by long tongs as acrobatic play.Mast' Antonio, the other brother, he beats the iron pulled from the embers, as caramelized thing, and makes it into a hook or tongs for the embers of domestic hearth.
The hands skineed, of third brother, Mast' Ciccio, tempered by flame and water, demostrate more than they show: a time forged by men.
Ps. Image, in aviable light, is shot on Ilford Hp5 silver halide film and reproduction via Four-Third digital format with E1 Olympus and Macro Zuiko 35 mm lens. The noun Mast' is translate in Master from latin Magister
date » 05-09-2024 11:47
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Lasciate che i morti seppelliscono i morti
Certo la biblica citazione si presta ad “interpretazioni” secondo convenienza, sai che novità il Libro dei libri dell’Occidente tutto, lo si ripete a giorni alterni e non. E nulla sarebbe del think-tank possibile senza il “benedetto” richiamato, cui livrea svetta fra altri esoterici testi di Manunzio, di rosso fuoco per chi capisce.
Orbene la fottografia, ridottasi così oramai, è anch'essa figlia delle Scritture, sebbene sta scritto esatto contrario: un po’ come dire che due negazioni portano l’opposto. Tant’è*.
Mezzo fotografico che è meglio del raddoppio poco sopra, serve a pazziare, giocare per funghetti nati di notte buia e pure tempestosa. Ipster suona meglio o generazione Z (carriarmati russi?) che è l’ultima lettera dell’alfabeto e gli Xyz sapete dove metterle anglosassoni in salsa sionista, come l’Apocalisse: combinazione? Astrale sicuro!
Fotocamere allora e digitale, sebbene vi è un sussulto nei giovani funghetti, dell’analogico bianconero, chissà richiamo della foresta primordiale; Essenza, Lingua dell’Era analogica. E tutta la Storiadella Fotografia, da quasi due secoli in qua, è scritta con luce digradante dal nero al bianco con pochi e rustici strumenti, di misurazione ripresa e stampa!Fine pistolotto e per chi ne vuole segnaliamo link per ipster bianconeristi & strittologi (petomani è meglio) che fotografano bananità: banale + banana da mettere...a lor signori dal tonante lato B, la sentenza, e aprite le finestre, grazie! E poi uno dice che si butta a...telefonino parafrasando il mitico Totò
* Non ti farai idolo né immagine alcuna di quanto è lassù nel cielo, né di quanto è quaggiù sulla terra, né di quanto è nelle acque sotto la terra. Non ti prostrerai davanti a loro e non li servirai. Esodo 20. 4
Best Cameras For Black And White Photography 2024
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/oaH_BJcu6AU
Ps. La Fotografia scriveva Ando Gilardi su le pagine di Progresso Fotografico, è altra cosa: dipingere è facile, fotografare tutt’altro. Finis terrae, no?
Pss. Il bianconero si ottiene, come sino a tutt’oggi, desaturando in Pshop et simila i file a scala colore. Operazione tutt’altro che click et voilà, certo. E non di meno il blasone di Leica ci ha pensato a fare argent de poche con sue Monochrom, poi Penatax** senza ricordare che il blasone a giorni alterni ha tolto Lcd (!) e questo e quello per fare sembrare ai cretini fotografi danarosi (di micchia di Zalone memoria?) di trovarsi con bianconero puro & distillato, quando una volta bastava introdurre un 135 così in codice, odierno FF, tipo Hp5 o blasé Tri-X è il gioco poi in camera oscura...
**https://www.manunzio.it/page-d14364
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