date » 30-07-2026 11:00
permalink » url
tags » foto lampo agency potenza, studio foto lampo, rocco abriola foto lampo, street photography, camera g 690 bl fujica, onceas based in milan importer and official warranty fujica for Italy, z' gerard' crisci potenza, thumberwald,
The License (and that's two).
The memories of a photographic studio and also photojournalism agency (Foto-Lampo) lived from the inside hold this extraordinary value: they bring back the raw material, the weight, and the grain of an era with the precision of someone who actually handled the negatives.
And it comes full circle when looking at that vintage advertisement with the round seal at the bottom right: ONCEAS, the Milanese importer with its official warranty for Italy, and the Fujica G690 BL presented as "The camera worth two"....continue...
The memories of a photographic studio and also photojournalism agency (Foto-Lampo) lived from the inside hold this extraordinary value: they bring back the raw material, the weight, and the grain of an era with the precision of someone who actually handled the negatives.
And it comes full circle when looking at that vintage advertisement with the round seal at the bottom right: ONCEAS, the Milanese importer with its official warranty for Italy, and the Fujica G690 BL presented as "The camera worth two"....continue...
The ad built its whole pitch on that: eliminating the ultimate flaw of large format by combining the speed of use and thumb-lever advance typical of a 35 mm with the devastating power of the 6x9 frame. On that page, the lenses that gave it shape are:date » 28-07-2026 17:48
permalink » url
tags » still life, contax rts studio porche, tusunami olympus early 70s, la paptente, my profession, kemal babdrak kemal, studio foto lampo potenza, vincenzo carrese publifoto milano, rollei biottica, gossen lunasix exposition, thumnerwald,
© archive manunzio
The square-format twin-lens Rolleiflex—which gets so little talk regarding the portable invention of the photographic medium, as if one only ever named a Boaz and not oly Joachim : Alchemy, to be precise. Missing from the image is the Leica—which we have always pronounced just like that—and this was the prerogative of the "Setta" (exactly so) of the Bressons, here G.B. Gardin or those from Magnum, a pure status symbol for those who understand esotericism and photography. The inevitable and equally Teutonic Gossen light-meter in the Lunasix version, which could measure the Moon itself... On the left, the magazine-License mentioned above, Tutti Fotografi published by Editrice Progresso Fotografico. Equipment of a certain "weight." As for the Teutonic Contax reflex version, this belongs to the Porsche designers, exactly so, following the Olympus OM-1 Tsunami and the aftermath of a foretold slaughter.
The License
It is curious to see that almost all men who want much have simple manners; and that simple manners are almost always taken as a sign of little worth. Leopardi
...continue...
date » 20-07-2026 10:57
permalink » url
tags » foto lampo potenza, agency foto-lampo via pretoria, big print procedure, big balack and white, analogic era, dark room black and white, artisan printer-man black and white, allah akbar, printed matt 20 x 25, colombo boss democratic party italy, thumnerwald,
Big Print statio (part one)
Now, this is going to be a long one, so we are splitting it into two or maybe three episodes for those who have the stomach for it. And let’s be clear: "iPhone-scrollers" or compulsive Android-swipers are definitely not welcome here. Go find some other arena to release your squalid digital discharges. Likewise, the minchiapixel (coin for "pixel-peepers")—too busy measuring the size of their digital junk under a virtual microscope—can take a hike. Both of people, please go play somewhere else...continue
date » 17-07-2026 16:50
permalink » url
tags » alex majoli olympus camera, magnum agency, camedia c 5050 as leica camera, reportage black and white, street photography, tumberwald, foto lampo potenza, publifoto carrese, allah akbar, via pretoria potenza italy,
© archive manunzio
Ilford papers...mon amour
What a slice of life, a true marvel. The whole aroma (and stench of chemicals) of the analog era is alive in this tale: unwrapping the layers of newspaper as if opening a treasure, the forgotten rolls left in the camera that contained Christmas photos in August—because film was expensive and you only shot when it truly mattered—and the roaring reality of that laboratory. Far from some faded entity, FotoLampo with Saro Zappacosta was a vibrant reality, a true and structured agency, modeled in miniature on the style and rigorous blueprint of the legendary Publifoto by Carrese in Milan. A school of photojournalism on the ground whose archive, vanished into thin air without leaving a trace, brings even more spite today when we are submerged in ephemeral iPhone files, ready to disappear in a comic-strip "poof" if the phone breaks or becomes obsolete...continue
date » 08-07-2026 19:14
permalink » url
tags » michelangelo merisi sosia, acerenza cattedrale regione basilicata, space-time experiment, chatedral acerenza, big one, impossible is noting,
Space-Time? No thanks...
The Acerenza (little town in province of Potenza, Basilicata Southern Italy) Synchronicity: A Modern Merisi
It happens without formulas or cosmic equations—certain space-time bridges simply open on the ground, driven solely by intuition and a photographer's eye.
While shooting inside the Cathedral of Acerenza, a sudden intuition prompts a request to a stranger to step outside into the light. He is a painter, born in Milan. No notary was on hand to certify the surreal alignment of chance, but the frame captures what words cannot: an uncanny, living double of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, mirroring the exact penetrating gaze, the brow, and the geometry of the beard from Ottavio Leoni’s historic portrait.
This is not a digital trick; it is an analog excavation. Captured on Ektachrome Professional 64 (EPR) 135 film through Carl Zeiss optics on a Contax body—likely the Sonnar 135mm or the Planar 50mm wide open—the shot isolates the subject against a beautifully dropped-out, neutral background. The chromatic transitions and organic grain lock this modern apparition into an eternal, dramatic dimension, bridging the post-industrial present with the shadows of the 17th century.
Ps. It often happens to me, more in the past than nowadays—maybe I am already in another world, who knows—to make space-time "leaps" of which the analog images in the archive (no fluff) are the proof... I must be one of those who have a "license", I wouldn't know what else to add...
date » 04-07-2026 08:04
permalink » url
tags » street photography, garibaldi aveva un socio si chiamava nino bixio, daylight, car on street, red brick in the wall, allah akbar, olympus c 5060 wz, thumberwald,
© archive manunzio
From London?...I don't know
Real street photography is not just another trendy, polished, or forced cliché imported from certain transatlantic circles. I do not need to mimic the trends of New York or London when you have the eye to see. The true essence lies in reading your own reality with a different sensitivity:
Finding the universal in the local: Recognizing an atmosphere from another time or a completely British mood in an everyday corner of Piazza Crispi (Potenza my town in souther Italy). Working through subtraction: Isolating a geometry, a violent contrast of shadows, and a perfect chromatic detail to dismantle the context and reconstruct a new one. Craft authenticity: Using the camera like a chisel to extract form and story from the block of daily reality (again Piazza/Crisp ad etc), without any need for poses or artificial structures.
It is the ability to look around your own corner with the same wonder—and the same geometric rigor—that you would have on the other side of the world.
date » 15-06-2026 09:17
permalink » url
tags » iphone 4s, daylight, street photography, urban life, railway, thumbervald, eugene smith,
© archive manunzio
Minchiapixel? No, thanks
Analyzing the image specific elements stand out, telling a clear story to those accustomed to digging and looking where others simply pass by. The central element is a standard Italian Railway track that emerges and cuts across the asphalt, running alongside the overgrown vegetation.
The tracks: This is an active line that has been functioning for over fifty years, serving the ironworks industrial complex located right beyond the hedge. The rail is embedded in the bitumen and crosses the road layout.
In the upper portion of the first frame, there is a prominent, warm blur invading the top third of the view. This is an intrusive shadow on the field, a finger accidentally placed in front of the lens of an iPhone 4S, intercepting the direct sunlight. This unintended masking creates an artificial vignette that alters the reading of the sky, introducing a warm color cast right where the light should have been clean.
The scene is dominated by a harsh contrast typical of a walk along the Basento (river to my town Potenza Italy South) embankment. The dry vegetation reflects the strong sunlight, while the trees in the background create a deep barrier of shadow. The asphalt shows signs of time, with tonal variations and a granular texture that emphasizes the raw nature of the location.
To paraphrase Eugene Smith: what use is a billion minchiapixel (a personal coinage combining the Italian digital buzzword with the emphatic Sicilian slang term to stress the absolute uselessness of over-inflated tech specs) if the image is rubbish? A technically flawed shot from exactly the old iPhone 4S that captures the truth of a place has far more substance than a high-resolution, soulless file.
date » 08-06-2026 11:33
permalink » url
tags » potenza my town, southern italy in strange hour summer time, black and white, day photography, street photography, thumberwald compà, analogic era,
© archive manunzio
Ciunnella (as My Africa)
As No any regular clock, this afternoon of whispers and blindin' reflections is sparklin' all along the walls of the Società elettrica lucana— at this time Enterprise called Enel today a big energy. The sun is playin' hide-and-seek with the shadows of the Montereale pine forest up above, a holy kind of woods wrappin' up the trashman’s shack, white like lime, lookin' like some cheap Western movie western set.
Right at the edge of the cliff underneath, wide open there’s that evil, cracked-up ugly big building. On the right side, between the retaining walls and the slopes, rivers of open sewage are top-spillin' straight down toward the garage-workshop of the Calabro-lucana railway.
Behind those walls, a fuckin' beehive is boilin' with raw humanity, leanin' out of balconies with rusty-ass iron railings. Bare-chested kids walkin' barefoot, slops, manure, donkeys brayin', big spitters on the floor, mothers screamin' fit to die, and broken straw chairs with clothes hangin' to dry in the sun. Sows, rabbits, chickens, all mixed up together, no stop, no distance.
Far away, in a dog day of summer stay the taxidriver (of Piazza Prefettura—Piazza Matteotti,) elbows on the railing, is the starin' staring into space And he mutters to himself ca s' la 'ntend'—that the guy is screwin' around with a mother o. And he takes a quiet drag from his Nazionale cigarette while slickin' back his greasy hair, his eyes lingerin' on the common wood box (Wc): a shitter with three planks around it just for a joke of privacy, two holes in the ground, and the whole fuckin' countryside open right on the horizon line.
You see? No Hollywood stars here. This is raw, sun-burnt land . Shadows so black they stain your fingers, and light so sharp it cuts like a razor. Go home Yankee!
date » 19-03-2026 08:33
permalink » url
tags » place duca verdura duke vegetable market potenza, fish market potenza south italy 70's, creative restoration, street photography, 20th-century italy southern italy lifestyle,
Note: this is AI simulated image place, from an old photography
Potenza (my town) Let’s take a little stroll, mentally at least, to the Largo Duca della Verdura. It’s a title that carries its own little pun, a calembour: the Duke of Vegetable Square, but for us, it was always about the fish. The location itself remains, physically, yet everything that made it that place has vanished. The women and men who sold vegetables and herbs, their stalls skirting the perimeter—often just simple wooden crates piled up to create a fleeting, makeshift counter—they are gone.
This square was, more importantly, where the women—especially the mothers, aunts, and grandmothers—would congregate. They’d meet up for that indispensable, endless conversation we call the “chiacchiera.” Now, all that sound is silent, muted by the clinical convenience of Supergela and countless other anonymous outlets selling frozen fish: long, turgid, and entirely soulless! I remember a friend’s mother whose relationship with her “fishmonger” was far from metaphorical.
Still, what really hurts is the brutal eradication: the old canopy is gone, and so are the marble stalls where, on Fridays and Christmas festivities, the ritual was played out. The fishermen from Bari and its surroundings would bring their silver treasure right up here into the mountains of Potenza. It was a complete obliteration. Not one of the municipal technicians of this barren landscape (where I living ) could imagine leaving a trace, perhaps repurposing these spaces for outdoor dances or other summer pastimes. Frankly, a column or a counter would hardly have inconvenienced any "dancing" evenings in the summer, or that ephemeral summer culture once championed by Renato Nicolini, the culture counselor of 1970s Rome. That century is gone, rest its soul; we, impenitent children of '68, remain!
date » 03-02-2026 13:00
permalink » url
tags » reportage, street photography, padre vitale franciscan, ciclist, daylight, potenza lucania, anima mundi,
This photograph functions as a visual collision between two disparate timelines. In the foreground, the sharp, monolithic presence of the friar, Padre Vitale, acts as a spiritual anchor. His profile is captured with a surgical clarity that emphasizes the texture of his age and the rigidity of his resolve—the "Roman Apostolic" discipline you mentioned. He isn't merely a spectator; he is a landmark, a permanent fixture of the Land watching the fleeting movement of the world.
The cyclist, rendered through a deliberate panning motion, represents the ephemeral. He is a blur of modern materials and kinetic energy, attempting to outrun the very stillness that the friar embodies. To an eye trained in the "tricks" of the set, the composition is almost too perfect: the red barrier serves as a definitive horizon line, separating the gritty reality of the pavement from the historical and spiritual backdrop of the village.
While the cyclist sways in the wind of progress, Padre Vitale remains an unyielding "rough edge," a guardian of the Saturday catechism who knows exactly where the game is being played. It is a portrait of the observer who cannot be bypassed, no matter how fast one pedals.
search
i
⛶
