what is photography? 



photography is the union of two terms: photos and graphos, literally drawing with light. In fact this is so, the first "cameras" were the darkrooms, or obscure, which reflected on a wall of frosted glass, the inverted image filtered by a hole. Today, the light hits a sensor that can be CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), this system (based on pixels) has replaced the film, was the most widely used and is the 35mm.

As for the philosophical belief that the best definition has given Bresson:
"To photograph is to put on the same line of sight of the mind, eyes and heart. It 'a way of life"



what is the portfolio?

The portfolio has become (for many photographers) a point of arrival of the border of their expressive and communicative skills, a frontier that we can and should expand the study and the exercise of expressive potential that are peculiar to the language of photography. To speak today of Portfolio is definitely a topic of great interest and relevance that can not ignore the knowledge of its official definition, coined by FIAF in the last 2005.



Definition of "PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO"



It may be intended for "portfolio" a coherent set of images designed to express a central idea. The subject of each picture (the "what" ') and the way chosen by the photographer to represent them and sort the images in sequence using the expressive value of the matching (the "how") must be able to communicate with the logic and clarity' IDEA chosen by the photographer,

namely, the meaning of the Portfolio (the "why"). The meanings can range in many directions: documentary, narrative or thematic artistic, creative, conceptual, and more.

For portfolio so we can understand a homogeneous set of images that should be built around a 'central IDEA We take the point that if we put together and then a certain number. Photos, "linked" in some way with each other, we made a "photo story" (a phrase made from the photographs, or portfolios for some).
Through images, a portfolio, we can develop our message through their succession, shaping them into those that are typical aspects of storytelling, we can put them in a sequence in a sequence closely linked, each filled with meaning, we can create combinations of these to lead to enrichment in the notice, a chance to narrate a fact, a feeling or a creative idea.
In practice this expression, what most attracts a photographer, is the opportunity to show their skills in a particular field of research and investigation.
Within a portfolio is obvious that each image of the story will have its own meaning, but the task of structuring the work in a certain way (by a multiplicity 'to a uniqueness) will lead to a deeper meaning - a characteristic of storytelling - that will come from the wise "approach of the photos.

The growing emergence of the portfolio (contemporary photography) has enabled the introduction of this new "magic", the magic of the space factor and the time factor, both the result of human conventions, defined by fixing the base unit of measurement.
A peculiar difference exists, however: while the definition of space is objectively comparable to a nature of things, but the time has all the characteristics of pure human invention, created by the need to rationalize.
Time exists, then, in the completion of an action that provides coverage of an area, or (sometimes) a mutation as physical aging of things, whether they are related to the distance traveled or the change of conformation. In this sense, the photograph, taken of spellings space is not static as they casually might think, indeed, as description of the space, provides dynamic aspects very effective. This is the case that reveals an evolution of intentional blur, then a transformation over time, depicted object.

The contemporary photography, with the portfolio, can reach high levels when it expresses the ability to go beyond the representation of this, freezing the moment, and in the concept of "empresente", a neologism introduced recently by photographer and author Fosco Maraini, ie this that emerges, which arrives, and provides a logical-narrative, as dynamic.
The photograph, like any other art, is a cultural thing, and as such has a value of highly personal and relative. The fact remains that the center of all is the man, his feelings, his passions. The photograph is merely a "means objective" to represent the "subjectivity" of each element.

The photographer, dedicated to the practice of the portfolio, constantly looking through the forms to extrapolate the substance, knowing that the value of research lies in the many nuances that the sensitivities can steal and, mainly, to "represent".
This is not always the case, the images tickle the eye but often do not know how to ask thought.
I conclude this brief disquisition on the portfolio, inserted in contemporary photography, bringing a few lines (which appeared on July 12, 2006 "Corriere Della Sera") as an additional proposal for reflection:
"It 's time of great change: the art galleries are taking hold of the photograph is no longer confined to places where you compare amateur and professional photographers, where you do not pay for shows and photos are sold at cost of printing or leave it as a tribute to those who have made the exposure. "