The Indecisive Moment: Looking Backwards

I have recently started or rather restarted the gigantic task of converting my best B&W negatives to digital files with a contraption I had made for the task. It cost me a bottle of Vodka.

What a pleasure, and how surprising it is to go back a revisit photographs taken some thirty years ago. The first thing that is striking, is how much things have changed. I am dealing at the moment with the photographs I took of Italy when I came here on holiday and then a little later came to live here.

I had the fortune to work as a photographer for a local news magazine whilst I learnt Italian. It was a great experience and I quickly learnt a lot about Italy. I also had access to all sorts of interesting places. I did this for a couple of years before returning to my “real” profession.

So here we go with a few pictures and some random reflections.

Carnivale, Reggio Emilia

Parma, I had this shot published in the Economist.

On market day here in Reggio Emilia the local farmers would meet with buyers and other various agents. Deals would be struck and I suppose there was a lot of catching up on the latest gossip. This has all gone now, all the character has disappeared from our main Piazza.

Reggio Emilia

In the last few months of my time with the magazine, I was dispatched to the local stadium to photograph the local team as it headed towards promotion to the “Seria B”. The stadium was always packed and the unruly “Ultras” were watched over by an army of riot police. The local team now can only attract a few hundred fans on a Sunday. Satellite TV has killed football as a spectator sport. Why go to see the Reggiana in the third division when you can see Milan or Juventus live on TV at home.

The day a bike finished up on the pitch. Reggio Emilia

Reggio Emilia

I wonder how things have changed down in Abruzzo in the small seaside town where I spent a couple of holidays. You could buy a live rabbit or chicken to ensure that your Sunday lunch had the freshest of meat.

Pineto, Abruzzo

Atri Abruzzo

Abruzzo

Pineto, Abruzzo

The farmers market was the real thing, not some middle-class urbanite fantasy food market.

How about the Cinque Terra in June with just a couple of local children playing football in the street?

Cinque Terre

Cinque Terra

Thanks to the power of the media, internet and the bucket list mentality of mass tourism, the little villages that make up the Cinque Terra are now an overcrowded hell hole for much of the year.

The area along the River Po is the place that has changed less. I could still take lots of the pictures I took all those years ago.

Guastalla, RE

Another thing that has not changed is the process of making Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) cheese. They have made it like that for a thousand years.

Reggio Emilia

I suppose I could still take shots like this at the local agricultural shows.

Reggio Emilia

Here in Reggio Emilia as in all of Emilia, the Italian Communist Party ruled almost without opposition. They got over 90% of the vote in some villages near the Po. Who would ever believe that they would merge and be swallowed up by the Democrazia Christiana their arch rivals. “Unita” the party newspaper was displayed for all to readin the main square. The newspaper died a slow death and the newspaper displays now remain as an empty reminder.