absolutelyBangkok archive · Culture & Arts
Originally published Sept. 16, 2009
Had a dream. Making a living with photography. All there would be is meeting, observing and capturing people and their moments. But reality sets in quickly. Have obligations, not enough talent anyway and — yes — no gear at the moment as I’m about to decide between a 5D II and an M9.
The more pleasing it is to see true, outstanding photography. Not just properly focused and exposed shots, but true, unique photography. A master of this art is Italian Enzo Beretta who dedicates much of his work to Thailand. Beretta stands for uncropped, unedited photography.
No Photoshop, no tone mapping, no retouching. And Enzo’s work is all about motion, silent motion, the most difficult art of photography I’d say. The freezing of time. Not by means of the latest autofocus, but by means of intuition, patience, an eye for the hidden and irrecoverable. Enzo’s blog Life in Motion guides you through his hunt for motion and “discontent with the trend of most images altered in post-production.”
Life in Motion is primarily shot in Bangkok, Enzo told absolutely. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to show his most outstanding work that’s kept in his private galleries, but the few samples here should easily speak for themselves. As a gear and gadget freak my first question logically was “Enzo, what cameras and lenses are you shooting with!”
Being the artist — and due to negotiations with a sponser — Enzo would not promote a camera brand. He says this much: he uses different equipment based on what mood he’s in, or what results he looks to capture on a given day. And yes, the most expensive camera and prime glass alone don’t guarantee best work.
Enzo calls a photographer’s ability “a fingerprint” of a specific style of work. In his field of style “only a carefully planed and executed shot, with slow calculated panning and movement, will do it.” See his Cambodia test on the blog.
Not much the add. Here some of Enzo’s “photojournalistic pictorialism” — I call it “transcendent Bangkok”. What better ever moving, never resting place could he have chosen for motion:
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