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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 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:
The Fujinon-S 100 mm f/3.5 (the standard issue lens).
The Fujinon SW S 65 mm f/8 wide-angle (with its 77° field of view, the real culprit behind those display window panoramas).
The Fujinon TS 180 mm f/5.6 medium telephoto (with a 32° field of view) and the historic boxes of Fujicolor N100 roll film.
BL camera, get back to the point,The almost clandestine presence of that beast (the famous "Texas Leica") hidden under the Studio-Agency counter, behind the two-door hatch alongside the battery of Rolleis belonging to the owner Rocco Abriola, captures a visual work culture of bygone days perfectly. The boss's Rollei 2.8 was the daily workhorse, but when there was a real need to widen the field or push the quality, the Fujica was brought out.
Because sure, you could always mount on Rolleiflex the Mutar optical attachments onto the twin-lens reflex—the semi-wide or the medium-telephoto that covered both lenses,: functional, nothing special, but usable. Hovewer the Fujica BL was another story entirely: it was a true giant "Leica" with native interchangeable lenses. And above all, with a 6x9 negative from which you could pull, without ifs or buts, the 50x60 prints for the window display (Foto-Lampo-Agency) on Via Pretoria the Main Street. Those paper giants became real street-side newspapers for the passersby walking downtown, stopping people in their tracks whether for breaking news or a detail of a vernacular theater actor like Z' Gerard' Crisci.
The choice to load the Fujica with the unmatched Agfapan 100 black and white, was the must, as well as the Agfachrome transparencies with that melancholic, Delicate nuances, and beautiful veil of Nordich colors, which could be processed at home at 20°C long before the standardized E-6 cauldron homogenized everything.
Fujica BL used, for example, to hard-hitting news to the brochure or typing courses run by the Canossian Sisters the Fujica was present, always went back to its place under the counter, ready for the next assignment.


Ps. Advertising inside Tutti Fotografi, Editorial Progresso Fotografico, September 1970








© 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... No, nothing to do with Pirandello or the performance of that puppet named Totò. More prosaically, the "paperwork" supporting what we have been writing (see the About)—that is to say... what we write on odd days, but even ones too: the ranks or, to stay on subject, the License itself. Supporting paperwork Anno Domini 1970, September. And I was already behind a lab counter, making my mark with the Rollei, which was the standard-issue camera back then; the Hasselblad would come later, though already in use in "Mlano" ahh, just like the RZ Mamiya... but back to us.

And so, again, there were the profs from "Mlano" complete with their cursus studiorum, their "academy," or even, no less Italian, sons of... descendants of a certain "noble house": nothing to do with Giovanni Gastel, no. By ranks, we mean what the "people" expect: the calamari, see, on the suit lapel that make the rank. Conversely, for those who actually served as soldiers, there are the ranks bitten on the battlefield: metaphorically speaking or however you like. Sure, they might not hold equal dignity for the "people," and yet... And from here to wrap things up. Yes, when I write that I have been a photographer since 1969, I don't do it to show off, nothing like that. In fact, to tell the whole truth, I was preceded as a sharp-shooter at the Foto-Lampo Lab (a studio for ceremonies and a miniature version of Carrese's Publifoto in "Mlano," ahh with its own journalist, a bit strange but functional) by my lifelong friend, of whom I no longer have news other than that he is in Prato; and we ought to write about that fact, but readers couldn't care less: the scrollers who have other things to think about, so be it. But then, what are they thinking about? Do they still have neurons or just strings of text in base 1 and 0? Pimps and hacks with a camera preaching from their pulpits, syphilitic as they are: ah, what a joy to read the nonsense of certain... but here it is wise and proper (contempt?) to keep quiet, which is better. The License is served...























Stagione estiva, ieri oggi e domani

Tanti e troppi anni fa mentre preparavo i bagni (non acquatici!) per la stampa quotidiano della Foto-Lampo, già ricordato a josa, la radio in camera oscura a tot ora con refrein richiamava la cocente estate: non solo ora che Televisione & Regime angosciano di change climate antropico, quando finanche il premio Nobel Rubbia “dissente” (con buona pace di Mentina e suo eterodiretto Open pro Covid, da ultimo) dal mantra Pensiero Unico.
Sia come sia in camera oscura, ritorno ad incipit, quando nessuno era nei pressi ci stampavamo i nostri bianconero still-life, a volte di food altre volte “Natura morta” a loro e chi ha coniato il vocabolo!
Sicché a distanza di tempo con il digitale è tutt'altra faccenda accorciandosi la filiera pensiero-braccio. E qui la “dritta” su la messinscena della copertina.
Fondale copri tavolo che mal sistemato e spiegazzato, su le prime lì per lì durante lo scatto, mica sembra simil sabbia. Infatti si era interessati ai vetri, riflessi caldi attraverso solita window/finestra vera esposta a Sud. E vetreria di bicchierone, coppa e smilza bottiglietta. Ripiena di nettare vino bianco? Macché due gocce d'aceto diluite in acqua, proprio così. Altre volte drops di Amaro Montenegro e/o Amaro Lucano a “piacere”...
Nient'altro che luce della finestra richiamata, a cert'ora del giorno, prima che il tragitto solare (pure lui tiene famiglia!) declini a pomeriggio; pure buono ma l'atmosfera è per altre cose, degne di essere narrata, forse per una prossima.
La digicamera, dite? Point&Shoot Olympus C (amedia) 8080 a 50 Iso da sballo su CCD Kodak, tant'è che se la vede, e fa vedè sorci verdi gialli e altre cromie, finanche con doppio superfice “sensoriale” 2/3 vs. 4/3 della mitica E 1. Certo macchina sul Manfrotto 190 Old version. Tutto qua.
Sì è una stampa di prova su cartaccia di copisteria, così la copertina del post, utile tuttavia a farsi idea dal “vivo” non meno, correggere questa o quella cosa che troppo spesso a monitor si dà per scontato: come leggere a “pappagallo” uno scritto ed accorgersi che il “correttore” legge quello che c'è a monitor mica nella capa. Succede oh se succede.
Ancora (impaginato) troverà posto il complemento-integrazione, richiamo di Cesare Pavese. Pavese: di “Lavorare stanca” da Canelli fianco a fianco il vignaiolo zio delle Langhe? Proprio lui.
Finalino: scegliere fra un migliaio d'immagini, ne parleremo a suo tempo, impaginare...stanca, giacché le mani puoi fermarle a riposare la capa no, funziona sempre e non ha orario, almeno per Manunzio!

Ps. I soliti del Pensiero Unico ci avevano detto a fracasso dei c....ome si chiamano, e ci siamo capiti che l'Era computerese avrebbe abolito la carta: cazzate casomai raddoppio esponenziale senza se e senza ma. Tuttavia un file a video ci devi stare seduto davanti, un impaginato pure se abbozzo su carta non consuma corrente “ecologico” in nuce com'è. L'apri, nel caso dalla pila di fogli, sfogli e scarabocchi con note a margine

Pss. I richiami ipertestuale, diciamo esatti, al verso/paragrafo Manunzio l'ha chiesto invano all'amministratore Myphotoportal, senonché vi beccate l'intero post come pure si sorbe chi scrive che a volte farebbe comodo arrivare al “sodo”. Mi si dice che unico grafomane Myphotoportal scordi la “feature”. Sic transit gloria mundi, no? Amen

Manunzio fotografo sin dal 1969

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