I promised to update my notes on what I defined “my final camera”.

So that’s what I want to do in this very short post.

Yes, the Fuji XT2 is still my main camera. The newest iteration (XT3) is not interesting to me. Nothing that has come out in the photographic world has been interesting to me, to be honest.

I have only slightly updated my lenses, selling the 55-200mm and replacing it with the lower-spec, ultra-cheap 50-230mm f5.6-6.3. The reason? I was often getting slightly fuzzy photos with the supposedly “great” 55-200, something that I have never experienced with the other tele-zoom I used to have on Nikon, another mid-range lens (70-300mm). Maybe it was a slightly defective unit, but I told myself, for how much I use these kind of lenses, let me try the plastic-fantastic 50-230mm; I bought it (new!) for around 160 Euros. And guess what? The optical stabilization works better than on the 55-200m (never had a fuzzy photograph), and overall the quality of the shots are on par with the more expensive Fuji lenses I have. Plus it’s so much lighter!

In aggiunta a quanto scritto qualche tempo fa, scrivo qualche altra nota dopo aver fatto con la mia Guzzi quasi settemila chilometri, di cui quattromila con l’upgrade “Trofeo” fatto montare a maggio 2019 dai fratelli Guareschi.

L’upgrade “Trofeo” consiste essenzialmente nella sostituzione completa delle sospensioni di serie con unità Ohlins/Andreani davanti e dietro, pedane arretrate, e poche altre cosette per far respirare meglio il motore. In pratica, i lavori che fanno i Guareschi alla moto che prendono parte al trofeo V7 Fast Endurance.

These are my notes on a radical move. The first draft was written in August 2017. I added a few notes in December 2018; then finally edited and completed the post in May 2019.

The radical move is leaving the Apple world for good and moving (back) to Linux.

I already left the iPhone world a few years ago, after getting annoyed by the slowness of my iPhone 4S (back when the 4S was only a couple of years or so outdated). I moved to Android, enjoying the very low price of good devices (first a Motorola Moto G and then a Huawei P9 lite, so nothing too fancy) and not regretting anything about the iPhone/Apple ecosystem.

We call them hobbies, avocations, callings, passions. These are the noninstrumental activities that help to define us. They reward us with character because they involve an encounter with meaningful resistance — with nature’s laws, with the limits of our own bodies — as in carving wood, melding raw ingredients, fixing a broken appliance, writing code, timing waves or facing the point when the runner’s legs and lungs begin to rebel against him. […] Such activities take time, but they also give us time back. They expose us to the risk of frustration and failure, but they also can teach us something about the world and our place in it. […] We must never forget the joy of doing something slow and something difficult, the satisfaction of not doing what is easiest.

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(Quella che segue era stata pensata come una copia preliminare della mia personalissima recensione della Guzzi V7, messa online per condividerla con un paio di amici; alla fine ho deciso di lasciarla così, un po’ rozza, con quella serie di messaggi tratti dalla mia history Whatsapp, perché penso che catturi bene le emozioni di quei primi mesi).

Leggo il nuovo numero di Motociclismo dove mettono a confronto la mia Guzzi V7 con una Royal Enfield Interceptor. Già questa cosa mi pare impertinente. Confrontare una moto italiana con una indiana e lamentarsi che la prima costa tremila euro di più della seconda? Insomma, è un po’ scontato eh. La Guzzi è tutta fatta a Mandello, ha componentistica forse datata ma di qualità (come le pinze freni Brembo); la piastra di sterzo povera? Certo, lo è, come tutte le moto che costano meno di diecimila euro ormai (vedi per confronto le recenti Ducati Scrambler). Ma su questo aspetto del costo, ci passo su; oggettivamente la V7 costa tanto per quello che è. Io personalmente non ho problemi con il prezzo di vendita perché dò importanza alla costruzione interamente in Italia, perché voglio supportare una casa storica italiana, perché non faccio la valutazione del rapporto prezzo/potenza quando compro una moto.

It’s December 7th, 2018. I left home at 6:40 in the morning. Around two degrees Celsius, thick fog as it is customary around here. Three layers under the leather jacket, touring pants bought around twenty years ago that are a bit tight (I’d like to say I’m fitter than I’ve ever been, but the waist size doesn’t seem to notice), two sachets of hand-warmers to stuff inside my winter gloves.

This is it, my final camera. Meaning that for the next foreseeable future I’m sticking to this camera, no matter what. This decision comes after a year where I have tried many different tools, perhaps driven by the lack of a true photographic project in my mind (and yes, the usual lust for new shiny things that affect all men).

a confused mixture of camera bodies and lenses

My Nikon DSLR and lenses were always there, a mixture of old and new that covered all my needs (85mm and 35mm f/1.8G, an old 50mm f/1.4 AF, an even older manual focus 28mm f/2.8 and a cheap and light 70-300 f/4.5-5.6G). Together with a first-edition full frame D600, this is a kit that have never failed me, but I was feeling the attraction for lighter, funkier equipment.

That’s the Nikon D850 I’m referrring to. But it can also mean the Fuji medium format GFX’s sensor, or any of the latest Sony full frame mirrorless.

Anyway, the point is that I played with a couple of raw files from a D850 and the experience left me cold. I distinctly remember when I first saw what my Nikon D600, my first full-frame camera, could do. I was upgrading from a D7000 with smaller APS-C sensor, and the richness and modulability of the files blew me away. How easy it was to extract the colors I wanted from the raw files; the amount of information hidden in the blacks; the endless possibilities!

Mi riferisco al sensore della D850 (ma il discorso vale anche per le Fuji medio formato, o qualsiasi altro mostro Sony mirrorless da 40 e passa megapixel).

Ho sottomano un paio di file raw che Daniele mi ha passato, scattati con Nikon D850 e due tra i migliori obiettivi sul mercato (Sigma 50mm f/1.4 e 14mm f/1.8).

Li ho processati a mio piacimento, aspettandomi qualcosa di stupefacente, un po’ come quando passai da Nikon D7000 a D600 e trovai dei file malleabili, perfetti come resa colore, con un rumore organico, tanto che pure le foto del niente mi parevano da galleria d’arte. E invece, l’esperienza mi ha lasciato del tutto indifferente.

Another small collection of photos from my visit to Bari in December 2017.

Who reads poetry anyway? Only other poets.

(Blake Andrews, during an interview with Bryan Formhals)

It is a strange place to be, this one where I am now. My passion and love for photographs (taking them, editing and discussing and commenting) is something in between two sides that I see.

On one side there are all those photographs that most people would judge beautiful, the kind of photographs that appear on glossy magazines, large exhibitions and contests of relevance; think Avedon, McCurry, Leibovitz and the winners of awards like Wildlife Photographer.

I left Bari many years ago. It is my adoptive hometown, and when I return every once in a while, I enjoy walking around aimlessly, meeting old friends, the cool breeze from the sea, rediscovering situations and places that haven’t really changed that much.

Ho lasciato Bari tanti anni fa. Resta la mia città adottiva, e quando ci ritorno una volta ogni tanto, mi piace girovagare senza meta, incontrare vecchi amici, sentire la brezza marina, riscoprire situazioni e luoghi che non sono cambiati chissà quanto.

A pretty simple demonstration that you only need four photos to make a narrative.

In other words, “narrative” and “storytelling” are bullshit. We only talking about photographs, folks!

Playing with the sand on a half-built road, after watching planes near the airport. Stavanger, June 2017.

I think a lot about photography; usually random, incoherent things that I tend to forget (or more often, forget the point I was trying to make). This is an attempt to make some order. A second part is half-written. It may be published sooner or later.

portrait photographers

Are they really that good? As Bill and Jefferey often say on their show, how hard can it be to take a good photograph of George Clooney or some beautiful model?