Andrea Pistolesi Photographer: 07/2008

Jul 22, 2008

ODESSA: I WONDER WHY...

Sometimes stories are born in the mind of people without really thinking..

I wonder why I'm in this city that, yes, was beautiful, and yes, was important, and yes, was an attractive sea resort for Russians.. but today is, well, just a place for real-estate investments forUkrainian mid-class holidaymakers.. The hard part is to show the place in a beautiful light, even if it seems everything is under repair. Unfortunately, I would say. The only places I really like are the old buildings in full decadence.. and the hordes of tourist that really reminds of Western Europe in the sixties.. But why should we suggest anybody to come here for visiting?

Jul 18, 2008

KIEV

Shooting in Kiev the first story that Bell'Europa is dedicating to Ukraine. Well, I have to say that I don't find this part of Europe that exciting. The process of integration they are undergoing is somehow obvious and full of predictable contradictions. You can't say that they are losing their culture in the name of globalization because socialism had virtually canceled, or flattened at best what was there. Is seems that only religion, Orthodoxy, can revive from the ashes of recent history.

But with so many contrasts that it seems another topic for the next fight. Closer to Russia or to Europe? What? Do you think there is going to be a difference in the future? Everybody is sailing on this sea of oil (petrol, I mean).. One thing is still here, for sure: everybody is walking with a bottle in their hand, and this Friday night is just full of drunks and Eastern European emptiness..

Jul 16, 2008

MAGIC MOMENTS

During some works, even the more professional oriented ones, like the archaeological coverage for Focus magazine in Istanbul last week, I end finding magic moments where photography becomes a precious connection to the subject. Only in a country like Turkey, and few other places, you can still approach the Isla

mic world without creating suspicions. Here I found this very mystical moment, with the old Imam teaching a young boy to read the Koran. I shoot many images, for some time, and they both accepted my presence with total spontaneity.. One of those moments that make this job still a pleasure..

Jul 2, 2008

PASSION & PROFESSION: SO MANY THOUGHTS

Talking with friends and fellows in Montepulciano was very enlightening.. I may have sounded pessimist in declaring the poor working condition of photographers in Italy today, but I had to speak the truth. Few bright cases in the editorial activity (National Geographic, Geo Germany -thank you Ruth for your encouraging words- Time, Newsweek) cannot represent a solid ground for a large number of professionals.
Still I think this is the best profession in the world. Not just because we travel taking pictures but rather for the opportunity of looking around the real side of life and expressing it at our best.
So, if you really feel you want to do it notwithstanding the economical hardship... well, just go for it! But don't forget that your quality will be the only key to success...

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.