The book can be previewed and bought here on Blurb.

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I kept the book very simple, with a short version of the tales and just location and camera used for each picture.

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See you with the new projects…

In this week print I wonder why we moved from complex form of compositions to the banality of a “mandatory” rule of thirds… and I wonder also about some other things… It’s a long ranting, you are advised! lol

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Until the next one…

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Best part of the vacation was to see that people are having enough of all the stupidity of the Italian government and the Covid BS used to enslave us. That was really positive!

Stay well, until the next time!

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See you next time.

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See you next week my friends. Keep safe and, mostly, keep free!

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Many friends from the USA asked me about how I’m dealing with the COVID-19 and how is the situation in Italy, so I chose a print that expressed how I’m used to deal with situations limiting my freedom of movement.

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Follow me here on the blog if you like to have some first hand updates about the Corona virus in Italy.

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UPDATE ABOUT CORONAVIRUS IN ITALY – 8th of March 2020

A lot change since I made the video, so I will try to do a daily update of the situation. I will keep this out of the Black and White Tale project to not infect it with the virus and the total craziness going on in Italy right now.

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“Urbex”, an ugly label shortening Urban Exploration, must be done following good practices with respect for people and their properties.

Here a little story about ethic and friendship.

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This image won an Honorable Mention at the 14th Black and White Spider Awards in 2019.

See you next week!

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LOS ANGELES October 16 2019 – Professional photographer Luigi Barbano was presented with the 14th Annual Black and White Spider Awards Honorable Mention in the category of Fine Art, with the image “Asymmetric Emptiness” at a prestigious Nomination & Winners PhotoShow streamed Saturday, October 12, 2019.

Luigi Barbano also received two Nomination Awards in the Still Life category with the images “…and there was Light” and “WWI Love Story”
The live online gala was attended by industry leaders and the photography community from around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the world’s premier event for black and white photography. 14th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from Musee de l’Elysee, Lausanne; The Guardian, London; Contrasto Galleria, Milan; Travel/Discovery Channel, New York; Harper’s Bazaar, UK; Portuguese Center of Photography, Porto; Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brussels; Silvan Faessler Fine Art, Zurich; ADK Creative One Inc., Tokyo; Galerie Hubert Winter, Vienna; Conny Dietzschold Galleries, Sydney; and Pereira O’Dell in New York who honored Spider Fellows with 758 coveted title awards and 909 nominees in 32 categories.

“I have been a juror of many photography contests throughout my professional career, this is my first time at Black & White Spider Awards, and I am stunned. The amazing quality of the images in the competition made it very difficult to select the winners. I would like to reinforce the relevance and impact of Black & White Spider Awards as a mobilizing agent in promoting the production and dissemination of excellent photography at an international level.” Said juror Bernardino Castro, Director at Portuguese Center of Photography (CPF), Porto. Raquel Duarte, Senior Art Producer at Pereira O’Dell, New York added, “Amateur photographers were as impressive as the professional group. I was emerged and consumed in the quality of the imagery.”

“It’s an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the 6,418 entries we received this year” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director. “Luigi Barbano’s “Asymmetric Emptiness,” an exceptional image entered in the Fine Art category, represents black and white photography at its finest, and we’re pleased to present him with the title of Honorable Mention.”

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography. www.thespiderawards.com

The 2017 was a peculiar year. I took a sabbatical from my work, I had the option to put myself in a situation where I had to work 16 hours a day to make a sufficient gross to have, after the italian 85% taxes (35% income, 22% V.A.T. and 27.7% mandatory state managed retirement plan) enough to pay for someone taking care of my 91 years old father, or I could just do it personally and avoid to work 85% of my time for the government.
The choice was a no-brainer: I took time for myself and gave back the care I received all my life.

Professionally I consider this a great year. With the few time I had for myself I managed to write some books with very good reviews and realize some personal projects.

To be far from the pressure of the profession I reignited my love for photography and had the time to think and develop new ideas.

January started with a beautiful review of the book “Pensieri Fotografici”, a collection of philosophical, political incorrect and ethical thoughts about photography. The book is in italian because is really specific for the situation of photography and the italian policies.

More I think about photography and the direction photography has taken with the infinite possibilities of digital manipulation, more I find myself attracted to the past: simple analogue photography.

Pinhole photography is the most basic form of photographic expression we can imagine. I did not had the time to go out and test some new pinhole camera but I finally had the time to scan some old films made with a pinhole. I realized how much I need to clear my mind from the digital habits. When I was much younger I had the option to choose a career coding software, I choose to not follow it because computer were alienating me from real life. It was not for me. I think for the same reasons I like to get away from digital photography and computer screens. Don’t get me wrong, I like digital and all the opportunities that give us, but I simply like to feel connected to my analogue soul and roots once in while.

2017 for me was also a big change in my digital equipment. I sold all my Canon and switched to Fuji. I really like the X-Pro2, the optical viewfinder is perfect for me and the simplicity of the dials with the old school style is exactly what I needed. I hate to have to go thru menus to do simple things as a change of ISO.
The quality of the lenses is exceptional at a much lower cost than the previous Canon lens I owned, so after a year with both systems I went all Fuji. The only Canon lens I miss is the 17mm TS-E. I hope someone will design a TS lens for Fuji x!

A tool can really change the way we photograph, in this case I started to bring the camera with me always (also the X-Pro1 I converted to infrared) and take pictures in the few moments of free time I have.

Rolling Clouds

Thanks to the Fuji always with me I was able to put together the book “Bovisium Infrarubra”. A collection of images in infrared of the town I’m living in. I not only had very good reviews of the book but I also had an article posted on FujiLove about the project.

With the IR images I also got nominations at the B&W spider award for all the 5 pictures I submitted. Not bad at all!

Some satisfaction came also from a merit in the PPA International Print Competition… but personally I feel I’m getting more and more distant from the painted/retouched/elaborated pictures that are becoming so common in the contests, specially in the PPA IPC. It is a personal taste so I do not judge the choices, I simply feel distant and not really stimulated to submit my images.
Another advantage of  sabbatical time: I do not need to care about what is trendy but only about what I like to do. And more I do what I like and more I receive appreciation by potential clients also when I’m not trendy for some contests. It is nice!

The best of the year was a travel to the USA. Wisconsin to do an exhibit at the International Wisconsin Ginseng Festival and Florida, just to relax a couple of weeks and visit friends. It was 5 years since the last time I was in the USA and I felt home more than ever. I really loved that.

Traveling is my passion, and USA is even a greater passion. The first break I had since my mother passed away in 2015, I really was in need for it and I was in need to feel again at home in what I consider my spiritual homeland.

The year is ended 30 minutes ago and my father is not getting younger, so my free time is less and less but I can still dedicate some hours to a book I’m writing, to a personal project I hope to finish for the beginning of 2018 started with and old Pentax Spotmatic I bought and repaired and a photography book about an old army base.

I was worried 2017 was going to keep me away from my profession and passion but actually it gave me time and inspiration enough to keep myself at the top as photographer. I’m proud of myself!

I will see what the 2018 will bring, for now I’m forced to live day by day, if not hour by hour, so my only resolution is to keep to give back the love I received all my life and use all the available time to do as much photographic projects as I can.

I do not know what I will be able to do, but for sure I have time to review my archive and finally print some images. The idea is to print a couple of images a week… It was my idea of a challenge for 2018, priorities and time available have drastically changed in the last few weeks, so I will not challenge myself but simply do my best to try arrive at 100 prints for the end of 2018, if I will not be able to do it no worries, give back the love I received all my life is much more important than anything else for me now.

So, Happy New Year to all of you.

12TH ANNUAL BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS HONORS PHOTOGRAPHER LUIGI BARBANO

LOS ANGELES October 20, 2017 – Professional photographer Luigi Barbano was presented with the 12th Annual Black and White Spider Awards Nominee title in the category of Nature at a prestigious Nomination & Winners PhotoShow streamed Saturday, October 14, 2017.

The live online gala was attended by over 11,000 photography fans around the globe who logged on to watch the climax of the industry’s most important event for black and white photography. 12th Annual Jury members included captains of the industry from The Armory Show, New York; Christie’s, London; McCann, Singapore; GQ, New York; Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto; Y&R, Malaysia; Sharon Calahan, Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville; Bloomsbury Auctions, London; and Donald Schneider Studios, Berlin who honored Spider Fellows with 672 coveted title awards and 1034 nominees in 31 categories.

“Spider Awards 2017 proves once again to be a great challenge for the jury to select the best images of the year. Every year this photographic competition increases its quality of content, reputation and prestige” said juror Andrea de Polo, Cultural Heritage Consultant at Fratelli Alinari Photo Archive in Florence. Curator and Arts Writer Paola Anselmi added “Congratulations to all the winners. A great deal of humanity and soul in this year’s selection, maybe it is a sign of the times and a promise for future awards and photography in general.”

“It’s an incredible achievement to be selected among the best from the entries we received this year” said Basil O’Brien, the awards Creative Director. “Luigi Barbano’s are exceptional images entered in the Nature category, represents black and white photography at its finest, and we’re pleased to present him with the title of Nominee.”

BLACK AND WHITE SPIDER AWARDS is the leading international award honoring excellence in black and white photography. This celebrated event shines a spotlight on the best professional and amateur photographers worldwide and honors the finest images with the highest achievements in black and white photography. www.thespiderawards.com

Cloud Of Light

Hope

Light And Darkness

Moment Of Choice

Rolling Clouds

All the five images are realized with a Fuji XPro1 converted to Infrared with a 720nm filter.