07.31.2017 Max De Martino

EF-X500 testing on location Pt.2 by Max De Martino

Max De Martino

Max De Martino secara profesional terlibat dengan dengan gambar-gambar sejak tahun 1990, sebagai direktur gambar langsung untuk proyeksi pada layar-maksi selama tur penyanyi Italia Eros Ramazzotti di Eropa. 
Dia adalah juru kamera selama wawancara dengan Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed dan setelah itu ia terlibat dengan pengarahan video selama tur Pino Daniele, Antonello Venditti dan Vasco Rossi
Sebagai pelopor web yang ia ikuti pada tahun 1996 tinjauan kolom internet Apple “Applicando“. Selama hampir sepuluh tahun ia mengkoordinasikan perusahaan dengan 120 toko-toko sebagai Manajer Penjualan. 
Dia telah memotret selama 26 tahun. Dia bekerja untuk kampanye pers seperti Fastweb dan Pininfarina dan memotret beberapa portret penulis-penulis Italia dan penlis-penulis asing. Foto-fotonya telah dipilih untuk mengilustrasikan beberapa ulasan dan buku-buku para penulis penting seperti Wilbur Smith. Dia adalah anggota Asosiasi untuk Fotografer Profesional “Tau Visual” dan membaginya kode etik dan suasana perilaku. Dia bekerja di dalam dan di luar Italia terlibat dengan klien swasta dan asing yang berinteraksi dengan mereka dengan bahasa Inggris yang fasih. 
Dia menciptakan dan telah mengkoordinasikan selama 14 tahun situs web yang ditujukan kepada Tiziano Terzani dan pada tahun 2006 mengedit buku ”Dentro di noi , parlano i lettori di Tiziano Terzani“ yang dipublikasikan oleh Tea, Longanesi Group. Dia bekerjasama dengan beberapa LSM seperti Bambini Nel Deserto dan L’Albero Della Vita dan menyelenggarakan kursus fotografi dasar dan lanjutan. Salah satu proyek yang lebih memuaskan dia, adalah kursus yang diselenggarakan untuk orang tua antara usia 75 dan 94 tahun. Berkat karyanya ini ia menerima dukungan dari Regione Lombardia, dari Provincia di Milano dan dari semua distrik dan enam pameran yang tertarik yang telah ditetapkan. 
Secepat dia dapat mengejar kereta atau pesawat terbang, mengambil sepedanya, mobilnya atau sepeda motor BMW GS tuanya dan melakukan perjalanan. Ia mengunjungi 27 negara dan pada bulan Juni 2008 dia sebagai fotografer barat pertama yang memiliki pameran tunggal di Irak, Daerah Kurdistan. Kemudian pada pameran “No Ears” telah diberikan ke Universitas Erbil (Ibukota Kurdistan Irak), di mana masih terekspos.

Several months have passed since I started using EF-X500 flashes. In the meantime, with the birth of my firstborn Brando, I was not able to test them in the way I wanted to.

Now I have started to shoot again, developing a personal project. I have portrayed some of the most representative people of a small hidden valley in the Liguria region of Italy.

This valley between the hills and mountains, called Val Fontanabuona, is a small treasure chest that has housed some of the most important handicrafts and industrial activities in the past, such as those related to the extraction of slate.

Today the valley is undergoing a huge economic crisis but some people continue to fight for it because they feel this land is their own and do not want to abandon their birth place. In these shots, made with an EF-X500 as a controller, and one or two EF-X500s as sources of illumination, I tried to depict the work of some of these characters.

Firstly, there is Emilio, 82, who came down with us in a quarry that today is managed by his children and showed us how they cut off the slides from a single block of stone, with a hammer and chisel. For Emilio, I decided to shoot with “naked” flashes, to have a tough light that would speak of the harshness of that difficult and dangerous environment.

Then, husband and wife Hoang and Antonella who work in a small studio carving beautiful marble objects and other materials. For them, I shot with an EF-X500 on my left and at 45 degrees in a Cactus CB-60 portable softbox with grids to isolate the light as we snapped the studio of the two sculptors, simulating the light of a photographic studio. A second EF-X500 was used with a Rogue grid as a reflector on the hair to detach subjects from the background.

Ezio, on the other hand, is a carpenter-artist: he creates objects of furniture and liturgical use in religious processions by hand, carving wood from all over the world. To photograph Ezio, I used three different light schemes.

In the horizontal shot, I shot with just one EF-X500 on my right through a large translucent Profoto umbrella in order to have a very soft and natural light. For the snapshot where he check the planarity of his piece, holding it in front of my eyes, I used a small translucent folding Cactus C-451 umbrella which my EF-X500 was behind, lighting up both Ezio and part of the background with the tools.

For the third shot I wanted the tools to be highlighted, as if they were struck by the light of a lamp. Ezio is lit with the same umbrella, while the background is lit by a second EF-X500 with a Rogue grid.

Massimo is a craftsman of iron. To illuminate him, I used my EF-X500 in a Cactus CB-60 softbox without a grid, held to my right and at 45 degrees so that the light could hit both him and part of the railing that he had made, while a second EF-X500 with a red gelatin filter illuminated the background and highlighted the curls of wrought iron pieces behind him.

For all these shots, my EF-X500s were supported by Manfrotto Nanopole tripods with an Manfrotto Snap Tilthead with hotshoe attachment: robust and lightweight material, ideal for sets like these.

For these shots I’ve always worked by controlling the flash power in manual right from the camera menu because I wanted to have full control of my light.

Working in spaces which are often narrow, you can use small and handy lights like the EF-X500s which has been a real advantage. These craftsmen are not used to being photographed and it’s essential to mount the set in no time, to avoid making them feel too “on a photo set”.

These first shots of the artisans of Valfontanabuona are just a small beginning. I believe in the potential of this small valley and its inhabitants, and I will not stop photographing it with the help of my discrete light companions, the EF-X500s!

Continue to read:

#1 EF-X500 Overview
#2 EF-X500 Testing on Location
#3 EF-X500 Testing on Location Pt2.