Saturday 16 April 2011

Or, Saturday in Napoli

On Saturday 16 April I spent another day in one of my favourite cities; for photography, for food and for the theatre of life: Naples/Napoli.

I have visited often in the past 2 years - it is the nearest big city to my house in Italy. I always stay a night or two and take a camera or three and spend all day capturing this great city.

Above, Chef taking a break

Above, Man and Priest.

I am gradually working through my photographs of the city, editing and uploading them, and eventually shall publish a small collection of them. You can see all the photos I have so far edited and uploaded on my flickr set here: Napoli on Flickr

Above, Girl and White Balloons

I have taken just about ever one of my favourite user cameras to Napoli over the past year or so - Olympus Pen 2, Hasselbald 500 C/M, Mamiya 6 rangefinder, Leica M6 classic, Rolleiflex F2.8 and Leica M8.2. I only just managed to stop myself taking the large format there last time - a bit too much lugging for street work.

Each camera produced great photos, each one attracted interest from local (especially the Rollei and Leica M6, "bella macchina" etc, and each one survived the city.

Above, Ragazzi di Napoli

They used to say "See Naples and Die". Today people warn you about street crime in Naples. I have even been told to never take a camera out there. I ignored them and took all my best cameras. Apart from being a bit street wise, especially when driving in the city (!), I have found Napoli one of the warmest places, and one of the best for street photography. It's not like any other city in Europe.

Above, After the bathing

I always love walking along the seafront in Naples, photographing local having time off, seascapes or, as here, the remains of the day.

On 16 April I also took along my Hasselblad and 3 lenes for black and white medium format photography. I have yet to upload those shots (or indeed some lovely ones taken on the Rollei some time ago). There are never enough hours in the day to catch up with photography! These four here, though here made with a Leica M8.2 and Voigtlander 35mm Nokton f1.4 SC lens.