ciapannaphoto

Hello world!

This is what i got when fate forced me to pick up a film camera for the first time after years of cozily shooting life through electronic gizmos.

Kite flying is elevated to somewhere between art form and national sport, in the skies of Varanasi.

There’s always something going on down by the ghats. And more often than not there is someone bathing in the Gange’s waters.

… even though one may be under the impression that the river’s waters are not quite as pristine as they might be.

Bacterial bathing not quite your thing? No problem: plenty of people offer “Boat ride?”, adding, after a pause “Cheap.”

And, this being Varanasi, what’s good for the birds is also good for the karma.

And, when the rust comes off the fingers, it’s almost surprising to realize there can be photography without a zoom lens. Without a memory card. Without a review screen. What a trip!

While riding a rattly train to Varanasi, someone must have been under the impression that he or she needed my trusty digital camera more than i did. And promptly proceeded to disembark with it in the city of Lucknow. Some luck!

So, out of the bottom of the backpack came the trusty old Nikon EM with a lovely 50mm f/1.4 Nikkor manual focus, fixed focal length lens. That is, no zoom. Also, no review screen. Lots of head-scratching ensued. But it made me think. Of subject matter. Of composition. Of timing. Of the luck none of us can take decent pictures without.

These were taken on color negative film. But while looking at the world in monochrome. All pictures taken with the 50mm lens in february 2014.

Finally, although it’s hard to read anything about Varanasi without someone mentioning death and/or creations within the first paragraph, here we focus on life. And “here” does not mean “in this post”. It means in this entire blog. In this year. And, with any luck, in the next, as well.

Thank you all for being here.

Alessandro Ciapanna