Leafing through an album from many years ago, finding a forgotten photo in a drawer, framing a portrait in which we looked good, hanging a shot that makes us smile on the refrigerator. The photos are our memory, but only by printing them they remain with us forever. Yet the trend is now to leave memories and emotions in digital format.
"We shoot, we shoot, we shoot, but then what are we really left with?". The provocation is launched by
Massimo Sestini,
photojournalist, winner of the World Press Photo in 2015, known internationally for having told the news and its protagonists, pushing himself every limit and experimenting with unconventional photographic techniques.
Fresh from the success of some recent exhibitions set up at the Quirinale in Rome, at the Forte Belvedere and in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, but also, in the course of 2021, in Adelaide, Paris, Brussels, Madrid and Berlin, Sestini decided that it was the time has come to speak directly to those who do not take photos for work, but only to stop significant moments in their lives.
«A photo gives emotions, memories. It is a small picture of our stories, of the best moments. It tells us how we were, what we liked to do, who is still with us and who is no longer there. A photo can move, make us think, smile and even make us angry. It shows how we have changed, how our children have grown up. In any case it causes a powerful wave. Why give up on all this?
Digital has made us lazy, but above all it has made us lose the true value of photographic representation
. The photo has dematerialized, it is no longer an object to be held in the hand, in the wallet, in the silver frame »says Sestini.
And to make the message even more evident, Sestini has chosen to be the photographer of the Florentine stage of “Ricordi? Printed photographic portraits ”, a project created in 2018 by the Ligurian photographer Settimio Benedusi. From 4 December to 14 February, Sestini will be inside the small church in via Giovanni Piantanida 12, in Peretola, to take portraits on an unusual and suggestive photographic set. Just make an appointment to stand in front of Sestini's lens and go home with a framed print. Yes, why the “Ricordi? Printed photographic portraits ”does not provide for the delivery of the digital file, because the aim is precisely to make people rediscover the beauty and emotional power of a tangible photo (prints in the two formats A3 and A2 cost 150 and 250 euros).«I created this project to invite people to use photography for something important» says Settimio Benedusi. "Why print? Because only a printed photo tells our story, builds our identity. To explain this, I went back to the origins of photography, when everyone had the photographer portray them because it was the only way to keep a trace of themselves, a bit like what happened with paintings. A printed portrait is a powerful medium, which causes very strong emotions. But above all it is something that remains over time, something that we will be able to review in 20 or 30 years. All the photos we have on our mobile phones, however, will sooner or later disappear ».builds our identity. To explain this, I went back to the origins of photography, when everyone had the photographer portray them because it was the only way to keep a trace of themselves, a bit like what happened with paintings. A printed portrait is a powerful medium, which causes very strong emotions. But above all it is something that remains over time, something that we will be able to review in 20 or 30 years. All the photos we have on our mobile phones, however, will sooner or later disappear ».builds our identity. To explain this, I went back to the origins of photography, when everyone had the photographer portray them because it was the only way to keep a trace of themselves, a bit like what happened with paintings. A printed portrait is a powerful medium, which causes very strong emotions. But above all it is something that remains over time, something that we will be able to review in 20 or 30 years. All the photos we have on our mobile phones, however, will sooner or later disappear ».something that we will be able to see again in 20 or 30 years. All the photos we have on our mobile phones, however, will sooner or later disappear ».something that we will be able to see again in 20 or 30 years. All the photos we have on our mobile phones, however, will sooner or later disappear ».
