WALKING IN BERGAMO’S CITTÀ ALTA.

Although I had been before photographing other cities in the area, such as Milan, Turin, Brescia and Verona, I had never been to Bergamo. Work in L'Eco di Bergamo let us not spare time to my Cases’ fellows, Javier Rodriguez, Enzo Iaccheo and me. We would go to the Newspaper before ten-thirty, spent half-hour break for lunch, and ended our work on nine in the evening, after completing the first meeting to decide on the cover.

Many people had told me about the beauty of the Città Alta in Bergamo. Enzo and Javier had already visited it. The days were beautiful and sunny, so I told people in the newspaper that the next day I would visit the Città Alta, first thing in the morning, from eight to ten. I was very lucky that after hearing that, Mauro Albonico, production manager of the newspaper group and a passionated for photography offered to accompany me in his car. The next day we walked, both of us, taking pictures and enjoying the beauty, so common to many Italian cities. Mauro took me some great pictures and got the permission to photograph the Piazza Vecchia from the windows of the Municipal Library.

FOTO: MAURO ALBONICO

The pictures I took with my digital camera do not differ in anything with the ones I use to take before with analogic cameras and slide film. But the picture I made inside the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore was entirely different. To achieve a similar result, I would have shoot using a tripod, at a slow speed, so I should have asked permission. In addition, to prevent the fall of lines should have used an expensive PC lens (Perspective Control), also known as shift lens. With digital technology, I just made a single shot, with an ISO of 200 ASA, hand held, using a speed of 1 / 8 of a second without getting a blurred image thanks to the 18-55 mm zoom with stabilizer (VR). After, I straightened the lines using the lens correction tool in Photoshop. Here you can see the picture as I took it. You have to trim it a little, but it was worth it.

FOTO: MAURO ALBONICO

PHOTO EDITOR AT THE ITALIAN DAILY L’ECO DI BERGAMO

ENZO IACCHEO & JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ TEACHING THE ITALIAN JOURNALISTS

Yes, I know that seems strange, But I'll explain it to you. It’s been a job for Cases i Associats. Casas is a world famous Catalan company, named after its founder and creator Toni Casas, and that is mainly engaged in newspaper design.
And it does all over the world. To date, more than one hundred and fifty newspapers, some Spanish as El Periódico de Catalunya, AND, Public or Avui. Among foreigners, many South American, British, French, Russian, Irish, Belgian, Dutch, Croats, Poles, Italians, and even in Nigeria, Ukraine and Latvia.

The study was remodeling l'Eco di Bergamo, the journal of the beautiful Italian northern city, near Milan.

The newspaper renovation was beeing done by two reputated designers, the project director, Enzo Iaccheo, Italian, and art director Javier Rodriguez, a Venezuelan who lives in Barcelona. Both observed an evident lack of quality in the newspaper’s pictures and thought of me to accompany them for a week, give a lecture to the entire newspaper staff explaining, with examples, the qualities needed for commissioned and published photos. I designed a program tailored to the daily, which of course had many of the concepts and examples I taught at the University, and also many photos taken by me in Italy.

JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ & ENZO IACCHEO

The main problem I detected was the lack of a chief photographer or editor. The newspaper has a network of freelance photographers. The asignements arrive to them, usually, by phone without any further information. Photographers send their pictures online to the journal and there, the journalist chose the photos and inserted them into pages where the spaces for the photos to fit in are, most of the time, of formats other than the original photos, often square.

WITH TWO OF THE NEWSPAPER'S PHOTOGRAPHERS. FOTO: BEPPE BEDOLIS

During the days in Bergamo, I met with photographers and art director, Carlos Steiner, exercising, sometimes the role of picture editor, but of course he could not cope with all the work. In the afternoon, I controlled the photo elections and the page layout exerting a didactic work. At night, I attended the meeting to make the cover and provided my opinion on the choice of the pictures and the best frame.

AT LUNCH WITH THE DAILY DIRECTORS

RESTAURANT L'OSTERIA DI VALENTI

L'ECO DI BERGAMO

MEETING FOR MAKING THE COVER. WEARING THE YELLOW SHIRT, DIRECTOR ETTORE ONGIS

Meanwhile, Javier and Enzo taught courses, morning and afternoon, to the newspaper reporters. In my view, the main problem was not the photographers but the poor editing of their photos. Here you can see one of the newspapers in which I participated and where you can see a display of more modern images, like the train and the blurred pedestrians, and photos more dynamic like the fire and the firemen.

Communication was quite fluid regardless of language. Every time I had been to Italy before, all the movies in original version of Fellini, Pasolini, Visconti and Bertolucci I saw, the songs of Adriano Celentano, Ornella Vanonni, Domenico Modugno, or Mina I lissened to, and the book I studied during the holidays helped in a very positive way.

THANKS TO THE NOTEBOOK I COULD KEEP ON DAILY WITH THE BLOG ENTRIES, BACK AT MY HOTEL

HOLIDAYS IN PORRERA

Porrera is only a half hour drive from Mont-Roig, in a beautiful valley surrounded by vineyards, in the heart of the Priorat region, in Catalonia. It was a pleasure to see Isabel Vilà, another of the people that appeared in “Lives in calm” who does not regret at all having left the big city to live in the country. Her rural tourism house, Cal Porrera, is a marvel with unparalleled views.

Isabel has undertaken further reforms which I am sure will improve her business. Along with his partner Edu, have a small vegetable garden. One day I came up with Luismi, Victor and the former director of Geo, David Corral. Isabel showed us her garden and gave us a basket full of organic vegetables that were very good.

ISABEL VILÀ

That night, the four of us, we stayed for dinner at El Xiringuito, a restaurant that opens on summer nights and places its tables beside the stream. Prices are very reasonable and many of the dishes, spicy and exotic. For example, I had grilled goat cheese and Thai chicken as a second and, of course, we always drink red wine from Priorat.

FROM RIGHT TO LEFT: LUISMI, VÍCTOR, DAVID Y PACO

For this trip I carried my small Gitzo tripod that was very useful for self-portraits. You saw in a former post my adventures taking such photos. This time it was very simple.

I am delighted that Isabel kept in a prominent place the picture that I gave her on the harvest in Porrera. It was the picture that opened the story published in the Sunday issue of El Periodico de Catalunya, titled The Last Wine Harvest of the Century that I photographed in October 2000.

Among the wines highlights el Trosset de Porrera that produces Eduard, an excellent wine with all the virtues of Priorat with production limited to eight hundred bottles.


Porrera is a magical place where the stress and time stop.

MICHELLE OBAMA AND THE ICE CREAM PARLOR “LOS ITALIANOS” IN GRANADA

CECILIA DE ROCCO

No. I haven’t got pictures of Michelle Obama in the ice cream parlour “Los Italianos” in Granada. But I've been there many times and have tasted the famous ice creams that are great and cheap. Of course, accustomed to Barcelona’s prices is not difficult to have that feeling.

I love Granada and I've been there many times. The last time was during the past summer when I met National Geographic photographer Tino Soriano. A few years ago I did a report on Granada travel to the Sunday edition of El Periódico and photographed the ice cream parlour owner, Cecilia Rocco.

But will you know what I do every time I go to Granada and I consider my highest priority? : Dining at a restaurant in Albaicín overlooking the Alhambra. I recommend it strongly to all Granada’s visitors.

/ TRAVEL’S HEAD OR TAIL. HEAD: KARKLOOF

A photographic journey is always a mystery. You can get head or tails all the time. Sometimes you stay in beautiful places and other in infected ones. In fact, it is a component of any trip. But for me the main thing is to be able to make good photographs. If I stay and eat in luxury places but I can’t take the pictures I expected to, then the whole trip is a complete disaster. However, sometimes I have slept anywhere, have eaten very simple things, or I have not eaten for long periods of time, but if I have the chance to make good pictures I do not mind it at all, the final result is much better than in the previous case.
Sometimes you stay and eat in unbelievable places and make great pictures. That’s the face in the travel’s coin. Karkloof Spa is one of them.

Premium all, the enclave is everything . For me a five star hotel in the middle of a city cannot compete with a simple accommodation in a wonderful natural setting.
I’ve seen very few places, in my long life of traveller, as Karkloof Spa sited in a beautiful valley full of wild animals in the region of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.



This was the terrace of my room. I had always to close the door when leaving it to avoid the monkeys getting in. And sometimes I saw warthogs and Impalas coming to the pond to drink.

My room was called the birds of prey's; they could not have assigned me any better. The bathroom was larger than my living room. At night, before dining, the chef recited us all the choices we had between the different and delicious dishes he had prepared.



The spa was amazing, and included traditional and Thai massages. The pool was also a kind of jacuzzi, with hot water. They were two days of absolute relax, although I take many photos of wildlife, in the midst of a long journey filled with very dense schedule and getting up really early.

If the whole trip would have been run like this it would had been great as a luxury vacation, but not the best way to photograph and learn about all South African aspects. Fortunately, I knew the organiser, Elena Solinis, who knows very well (I can’t say the same thing about many other press trip organizers) how to facilitate the work of journalists and photographers, and on this trip I was able to access to all the realities of South Africa, from the most luxurious way or life, to the most humble places in Zulu’s villages and down in the heart of Soweto, for example.

This would be the head; in an upcoming post I will show you the tail.

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Except for impala's picture, for all the rest I used a Nikon D700 and a 20 mm F:2,8 Nikkor lens.