Andrea Pistolesi Photographer

Apr 28, 2008

HELLO FROM KYOTO

Working on a travel assignment here in Kyoto, the city often said to be the Japanese equivalent of Florence.. and seeing the flocks of tourists crowding the magnificent temples I can understand why! I'm still searching for the soul of this place, if there is still one to be discovered! The most difficult task, in this modern globalized world, is really this: searching for a reason to travel when at first sight everything seems so familiar.. But there is always a good reason to explore: at least the exploration itself...

Apr 19, 2008

PASSION & PROFESSION

On June 27-29 the TPW project Passion & Profession will be held in Montepulciano. It's a great and affordable opportunity to talk in a very realistic way of our profession today. I'll be part of the panel on the 28th, but all of the three days will be equally useful to clarify many ideas to all of us. See the link to have more info..

NAG AT FNAC GENOA

Hello from Norway! Just to remind that on April 22nd the NAG show will be opening at FNAC in Genoa. I can't be there as I'll be going to Japan right afterwards..

Mar 25, 2008

BURMA IS GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE..

Just back in Bangkok from Burma. The situation is really difficult to the people: practically no gasoline, electricity.. Still the military regime is building a new capital in the middle of nowhere. It's really a bunker to protect themselves from possible revolts. A government based on terror. I managed to shoot a story on the new city: a risky idea that i hope will be published soon. I'll keep you posted..

Mar 13, 2008

GOT THE VISA, GOING TO BURMA..

Just got the visa form Burma and going there again for around 10 days.. Subject will be mostly the Arakan region, but I'll stop in Yangon, visiting the Shwedagon pagoda at full moon, with so many new feeling in mind.. you know what I mean.. No connections there, not even phone: so I'll be in touch after the 24th.

NAG SHOW AT FNAC TURIN

Just to remind that on March 19th the NAG show will open at FNAC Turin. I won't be there, of course, but I hope we can plan with friend at FNAC a meeting during the show that will last until April 17th.

Mar 8, 2008

NO BLOG IN CHINA

Just back in Bangkok from 3 weeks in Yunnan, Southern China... Connections were difficult, and accessing the blog, as many other websites, impossible.. But it was a nice experience covering an area that is mostly dedicated to internal travel rather then to foreign visitors. We also shoot a story on Ruili, the border town with Burma where Jade market seems to be very far from Beijing control. Now I’m heading for Burma to shoot a story on the Arakan region.

Feb 18, 2008

IN LUANG PRABANG

Waiting for the sun in Luang Prabang, unusually cool.. We descended the Mekong from Thailand, and the work here is almost done... The city has been transformed in a big living-museum, with temples and guest houses, bars and restaurants.. In the center there are no private residences any longer. Even here is possible to foresee how the globalized world will look, how the destinations will be more a place for relaxation then discovery (discovery of what, after all?).. But is a pleasant place, with thousands of young monks strolling in the streets and spending time in internet points.. We wanted it, we got it..

Feb 9, 2008

ON THE BORDER

The story on the tragic situation on the Burma-Thai border is done.. Burmese refugees are stranded in a large no man land, in camps that after September events have become cities drowning in mud, employed for underpaid labor, somebody reduced to search among the Mae Sot city rubbish for at most one dollar a day.. We talked to monks who participated in the Yangoon revolt, opposition parties acting from the border, the Karen army fighting the regime for independence.. I think will be a great story... And now we are going north, to Laos for a week, and then Yunnan.. Going cooler, i guess..

Jan 27, 2008

COOKING UP BANGKOK...

Back in the city that can give deep thrills or sorrows... this time on the more earthly task of shooting the unique street food experience of the city... blade runner atmosphere once again: pork, fish and papaya as frame to incredible faces... I love it...

Jan 21, 2008

EVEN IN PHUKET...

Even in Phuket, you can find moments of peace... well, most of times is just apparent, but we like to think this way...

Jan 15, 2008

IN THAILAND, AGAIN...

Back in Thailand tonight. In Phuket for a new travel assignment. Somebody says life is easy, but you should see the mess tourism has created in this place to think again. We’ll need to see through the crowd to find a reason why this place means something, why somebody should travel 20 hours to get here. The first night out...

Jan 10, 2008

NAG SHOW AT FNAC NAPLES

And from today, January 10th, the NAG show will be at FNAC Naples through February 20th. If you are in the area and visit it let me know your impressions.

TUTTIFOTOGRAFI PORTFOLIO

On the January issue of TuttiFotografi (an important Italian photography magazine) there is an amazing portfolio of my NAG book and a story telling about my work. Rarely I found such a clever presentation of it, without the usual common places but pointing instead to the real aspects of our profession in these difficult times. I would like to thank the publisher for the (over 10 including cover) pages of images and clarifications. This will save me a lot of time answering the usual questions from photography lovers who have an unclear idea of the job.

Dec 28, 2007

TURIN IS STILL A PUSH....

Once again on assignment in Turin (and still freezing, grrrr)... This city keeps giving me peaks of good and bad (feelings)... must be in it's history, mood, devilish tradition...

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.