Via Miracoli

That’s it - I submitted the online version of the major project! Tomorrow I will hand in the physical book at LCC - then we shall see the examiners verdict… It’s been quite a journey, a steep learning curve and an (insanely) interesting process. I am really pleased with the outcome of the book and surprised at the same time, that my idea actually has materialized. If you’d like to view the horizontal “composite version” (which should resemble the concertina book) you can do so by downloading the file via this link: http://dl. [Read More]

The critical report is submitted and the deadline for the practical work submission is getting closer… ahhhh…. exciting but hard times! Last weekend was a “killer weekend” - on Friday I went to LCC to print all the pages for the book. It took the whole day to do it. Xavier was there too, frantically scanning his work :) It was an interesting experience to be in the same “physical” space with a class mate, haven’t had that situation in a long time. [Read More]

This is the up dated double spread version: [issuu width=420 height=168 printButtonEnabled=false backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=111103163049-27efbfe19e9f4318ab27ee9f388f4b46 name=111103_version username=nataschast tag=abstract unit=px id=6ded4775-fa38-18e5-4538-8e041326e676 v=2]

These files are so long, I tried to upload them but they came out squashed and scrambled (aesthetically interesting) but not usable for a tutorial… hence these are pdf files to download:

composite01_small

composite02_small

composite03_small

… perfection! Well, perfection as such doesn’t exist but in this context “until it feels right”… and I have the feeling that I am slowly getting there with the book. Though I am still fighting with myself in letting go of photos!

 

[issuu width=420 height=168 printButtonEnabled=false backgroundColor=%23222222 documentId=111028195836-e555b751539d4c5491c6bfdaecc31587 name=via_miracoli_on_white username=nataschast tag=abstract unit=px id=03545eea-e343-0eca-d2c3-034cabb7eec8 v=2]

… I hope! At last I can look at the Via Miracoli book without having a head ache afterwards! What a nightmare editing is… Last week I attended the lecture held by John E. & Patrick S. on book publishing and one point Patrick mentioned was, that producing a book involves a great deal of STRUGGLE. Hell yes, can I relate to that! Just about everything is difficult in book making; it starts with the beginning of a book which is in a way pure insanity… Which photograph “sucks” the viewer in? [Read More]

So, quite a few hours of heart ache, head ache and all kinds of tantrums behind me - but there you go, the first “complete” test book. The intro text is not there yet, I will hopefully soon have it squeezed out of my head… Some of the pages are double, this is just because I haven’t yet made my mind up which one I should go for. But for this reason and a few more, I am looking forward to the tutorial on Friday with Peter Fraser, though I have to admit, I am nervous… I am curious to know what he has to say about my editing and design “skills”, reactions have been mixed so far. [Read More]

During yesterdays tutorial the question was raised whether the project should be called Via Miracoli or not…? This remark kind of catapulted me, quite literally, into SPACE! I was addressing this issue at the dinner table and I was asked to explain why I have chosen to name the project “Via Miracoli”… hmm… to put it simply: It is about this street. Even though the project is based on Walter Benjamin’s essay on Naples as a whole (AND the city as porous, of course) I can not pretend that I have covered a bigger radius of the city. [Read More]

Back in the UK for a while now and finally an blog update on the project. As already mentioned during my stay in Napoli the project made a U-turn with my friends decision not to take part in the project. Change is the nature of all things and flexibility is required in the process of producing a work - it was a tricky moment though and at first I was a bit in despair but had to accept the situation… [Read More]

I was having a photo session with Viola, the daughter of Simona and Roberto, she is one little crazy person! And super confident in front of the camera. She was clearly enjoying to be photographed and was playing with her plastic creatures and “Dracula denti”… We made some rather unusual portraits of her but Simona and Roberto approved them… The boys joined in too, they were wearing “A clockwork orange” t-shirts and we had a good session together. [Read More]

I went out with Simona for some shopping and I managed to make a date with the well known fruit’n’veg shop called “La Primizia”, Tuesday morning 11am will be the first official shooting for the project! Finally! Things are moving slowly, it’s not that easy to approach people in order to enter their private/intimate spaces! So, to photograph a fruit and veg shop might be the right start! At 11am I was at the shop and Antonio, with whom we spoke yesterday, was welcoming me warmly. [Read More]