Mario Giacomelli is a photographer i have long admired. as a fledgeling photography student my first encounter with the work of maria giacomelli was one of curiosity and amazement. here was a respected (albeit its something of a cult following) photographer breaking almost every rule of the medium as i understood it.
he was a print maker by trade and used the camera not as some marvel of technology, but as a tool. a tool to accomplish the surreal, haunting and poetic photographs for which he is known. his camera was closer to a handmade pinhole camera than anything and for the most part he captured images of his world. the landscape, village and people amongst whom he lived and worked and eventually died. with a few exceptions he did not venture out of his hometown to photograph and this relationship makes for even more introspective photograph of landscape and human condition.
i could go on and on, but with giacomelli's work especially it is simply best to just experience it for yourself. in all honesty many of his images boarder on frightening. it has taken me years to be able to look some of them in the face, but i think on some level its more that he is holding up a mirror to the very aspects of the human condition we fear most.
No comments:
Post a Comment