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OUT
OF SEASON
"PAOLO
RUGGIERO TOURS SEASIDE RESORTS IN WINTER"
In
my research into winter sea, my photo sessions usually start
at dawn, when I leave Bologna by car and drive alone to
resorts on Italy's Adriatic coast, full of tourists in summer,
theatrically desolate landscapes in autumn and winter.
Then
I start walking. I usually find my images by foot, walking
streets I've never seen before, although these seaside resorts,
adapted for tourist use since the 1960s, are often very
similar to each other.
When
I have defined my area of interest, I start to search for an
"empathy" between me and the landscape I see in the
camera. This empathy is not a "decisive moment",
just my fine-tuning the places and spaces I decide to
photograph. It's a process that can take a lot of time before
the shot.
Over
the years I have reduced the number of my shots and increased
the time spent on each one.
In
other occasions, for example when I'm doing travel photography,
I have a more instintive approach with the shooting, trying to
record an atmosphere or seize a moment, especially in urban
contexts.
I'm
fascinated by the hint of a human presence or the contrast
between "small" human silhouettes and a large
landscape.
Snapshots
help reduce the visual complexity of reality. We only rarely
manage to concentrate, to read the spaces and the objects
around us with the attention that their photographic depiction
allows us when we can reflect at our leisure. So in my work I
also attach importance to the selection, made later, of
printed photos.
I
use colour film with reflex cameras and moderate wide-angle or
50mm lenses, without filters. Sometimes I use a Polaroid or
digital camera just to have a general view of the light.
Since
1995 I have taken photos almost daily, updating a kind of
diary of the everyday life of me and my friends. |
