Franco's Interview – Italy’s Landscape Master
Franco Fontana is a magician....or even an alchemist! He takes the ordinary everyday scene.......and turns it into gold! A lot of his work is classic landscape, and excellent landscape at that! But his use of lines in the landscape is skillful beyond belief. His own favourite shot, "Orizzonte", is simply the horizon across an un-broken sea, but his rendition of the colour of the sky and the sea makes it something beyond a simple picture. Another photo showed a beautifully blue sky bisected by a grey line fading to a darker grey at the bottom of the image, we spent several minutes looking at this image wondering what was the image of. Then it came to us! It was the crash barrier on a motorway blurred by speed but forming a perfect composition in relation to the sky above. Simply stunning!
You
What inspired you to pick up a camera? The curiosity to record situations that I had seen & liked.
Can you remember what shot decided you to become a professional? There wasn’t a particular shot that transformed me into a professional; the passage from an amateur to a professional was choice of a quality of life!
How do you feel about being an internationally acclaimed photographic artist? Do you have a sense of achievement or do you think you are still searching for goals? I’m not searching for more than I already have but I’m always trying out for new experiments with imagery in order to continue my photographic adventure, always changing to remain who I am, if I stopped repeating what I already know it would be like dying!
In which country do you get the greatest amount of recognition? Don’t feel obliged to say England. Italy!
Your Gear
What equipment do you use? Canon 35mm with three lenses, 17 – 35mm, 35 – 350mm and occasionally a 14mm.
Is there any piece of kit that you would like to use but haven’t yet, for any reason? No!
Have you any favourite techniques or processing methods? My favourite techniques are the usual ones and the processes I use are the ones that give the greatest print quality. (Editors note: At the Franco Fontana exhibition at the Focus gallery, we are astonished to see a complete range of print mediums. Franco uses Duratypes, cibachromes, c – types, r - types and even coated aluminium!)
Your Pictures
What is your favourite picture? A few, Baia delle Zagare taken in Gargano, Puglia in 1970, the Orizzonte (Horizon) taken in Comacchio 1976 and Gente (people) from New York 1986. But there are others.
Does exhibiting cause you stage fright or other anxieties? No, I don’t suffer from stress because of my exhibitions.
What would be your dream picture to take? Photographing things that do not exist except in my imagination. I enjoyed creating my most recent work with the help of a computer. It was great fun!
Your Inspiration
Favourite photographer? Kertesz!
Favourite location? Puglia and Basilicata in the South of Italy.
Favourite models? The sympathetic ones who are not arrogant.
Favourite mood? Enthusiasm!
Your View On
Do you follow the English photographic scene? Well enough to know that there are many good photographers working in Great Britain.
...Thank you Franco, we like your work very much!..
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