Andrea Pistolesi Photographer: 10/2008

Oct 26, 2008

TRAVELING WITH A JOURNALIST...

Having a journalist with you when you are shooting a story is a great help. Not just because four eyes sees more then two, but even more because two competent eyes with a subject in focus can give you very competent directions. This is how the help of Cristina Gambaro during the recent Lisbon assignment helped me discover corners that I would have certainly missed... thank you Cristina!

Oct 21, 2008

FESTIVAL DELLA CREATIVITA'...

Il prossimo Giovedì 23, alle 18, ci troveremo al Festival della Creatività, alla Fortezza da Basso di Firenze, per parlare del presente e futuro (futuro?) dei libri fotografici dedicati alla geografia con amici e colleghi... Idee e interventi sono ovviamente benvenuti...
http://www.festivaldellacreativita.it

PARMA IS A SHOW...

I need to compliment all the people that organized the Parma photo shoot for 27 Italian Travel Photographers, and Luigi Alfieri in particular! I know very well how difficult is today to get these projects done, and when you see the show now open in Parma, and the catalog published by Mazzotta, you realize how much work and will there is behind it! So thanks Luigi for this great opportunity, and thanks to the fellow photographers that did a great job! (this image of my section, dedicated to the Gazzetta di Parma, is by Sergio Pitamitz). If you have the opportunity go this month to Parma and look to the images: you'll be surprised on how different and lively are these photos produced by people that many thinks to be "too commercial"!

Oct 9, 2008

CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS?

This gentleman is a member of the Merwari caste in India. This caste used to live in beautiful haveli residences in the Shekawati region of Rajasthan. Then the economy crashed and they had to move out, most of them to Calcutta, starting a new life but still in the trading business.
The Chettiars were even more poweful, with their palaces in the dry heart of Tamil Nadu. Their business was controlling India and most of South East Asia. Then the British Empire fell, and the Chettiars had to change their life too. Now they are in California, London and still in control of Indian economy.
Well, you know what I mean.. Now that our empire is shaking maybe is time to think... new ways, new environments, new ideas.
Creativity will be the only way out of this... hopefully!

Oct 2, 2008

FELTRINELLI FIRENZE, IL 10 OTTOBRE

Giusto per informarvi che il 10 ottobre, nel tardo pomeriggio, sarò alla Feltrinelli di Firenze per parlare delle esperienze di lavoro e viaggio, dell'ultimo libro dedicato ai Pellegrini cattolici, e di quanto possa venir fuori. Se siete nei paraggi... E' alle ore 18,00

ON FACEBOOK

well, let's try the virtual world... I'm there, too. But I still think to the personal interactions we are losing everyday. Especially in our job (I should call it a life project, like a serious photographer) that part is so crucial..

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower
(Steve Jobs)

Travel is at its most rewarding when it ceases to be about your reaching a destination and becomes indistinguishable from living your life. (Paul Theroux)

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain)

Noi invece che abbiamo per patria il mondo, come i pesci il mare, noi, che pure prima di mettere i denti abbiamo bevuto l’acqua dell’Arno e amiamo Firenze tanto da subire ingiustamente l’esilio per averla amata, noi poggiamo le spalle del nostro giudizio sulla ragione piuttosto che sul senso.
(Dante Alighieri)

Bertrand Russell

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left."

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."

"A hallucination is a fact, not an error; what is erroneous is a judgment based upon it."

"Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery."

"I say quite deliberately that the Christian religion, as organized in its Churches, has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world."

"Italy, and the spring and first love all together should suffice to make the gloomiest person happy."

"A life without adventure is likely to be unsatisfying, but a life in which adventure is allowed to take whatever form it will is sure to be short."

"What i wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite."

"The secret of happiness is to face the fact that the world is horrible."

"Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country."

"It is preoccupation with possessions that prevents us from living freely and nobly."

"The secret of happiness is this: let your interests be as wide as possible, and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather the hostile."

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education."

"The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to the moralist. That is why they invented Hell."

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."

"Right discipline consists, not in external compulsion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather the undesirable activities."

"If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more then it has to give."

"Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change."

"Anything you're good at contributes to happiness."

"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd."

"It is possible that mankind is on the threshold of a golden age; but, if so, it will be necessary first to slay the dragon that guards the door, and this dragon is religion."

"Sin is geographical."

Albert Einstein on CRISIS!

"Let's not pretend that things will change if we keep doing the same things. A crisis can be a real blessing to any person, to any nation. For all crises bring progress.
Creativity is born from anguish, just like the day is born from the dark night. It's in crisis that inventive is born, as well as discoveries, and big strategies. Who overcomes crisis, overcomes himself, without getting overcome. Who blames his failure to a crisis neglects his own talent, and is more respectful to problems than to solutions. Incompetence is the true crisis.
The greatest inconvenience of people and nations is the laziness with which they attempt to find the solutions to their problems. There's no challenge without a crisis. Without challenges, life becomes a routine, a slow agony. There’s no merit without crisis. It's in the crisis where we can show the very best in us. Without a crisis, any wind becomes a tender touch. To speak about a crisis is to promote it. Not to speak about it is to exalt conformism. Let us work hard instead.
Let us stop, once and for all, the menacing crisis that represents the tragedy of not being willing to overcome it."

Ithaca by Kavafis

When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,
to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.