I picked up Francesco Saverio Colella’s ‘Foto Casti‘ to sort of fill out the shopping cart on publisher Skinnerboox website when I bought Paolo Zerbini’s Tagada. I was a bit intrigued by the premise, and the price was right…
For ‘Foto Casti,’ Colella turned his lens on birthday and wedding photographers, and those photographers that (used to) populate various tourist locations around Albania, as well as the general locations where they operate. It’s an interesting document of a slowly vanishing industry.
I remember photographers of this sort in various touristy places of my youth, and I don’t recall seeing many in recent years. There were some relevantly similar portraitists at the various Disney parks my darling, adorable wife, my mom and I visited back in 2019, but they were—I think—employees, rather than what I suspect are independent entrepreneurs or hobbyists. I might hope that the Albanian guys would do a better job than the Disney people did, though looking at the two printed portraits of Colella that serve as end papers, there just might be a sort of standard bit of mediocrity to the entire enterprise.
Apologies for the digression, and wow… I forgot how I looked in 2019. I lost about 50 pounds in 2022 and so I don’t look quite as “healthy” any more.
Anyway… Colella.
The photographers themselves are all middle aged and older men. Some appear very comfortable in front of the camera and know how to pose and all; others seem to be posing only under duress. It’s kinda fun to imagine the interaction Colella might have with them, and that they might have with their usual subjects.
Most wield older digital cameras, which comes as no surprise. Interestingly, several of them dual wield digital and Instax Wide. The ability to offer instant prints might be lucrative, especially at the fun fairs and small amusement parks. I counted five or six Instax cameras, and, shockingly, two or three obvious film cameras. In the late 2010s/early 2020s when I suspect Colella made the photographs, it’s curious that any of them shoot film, and I don’t really know how that would work.
With Instax, they can offer near-instant prints. With digital, they can dodge off to a nearby printer and run off any number of prints of various sizes in five or 10 minutes. With film, though, it would likely take days to get the film developed and scanned and printed, or get wet prints made, and how many traditional photo labs are still running? One of the photographers only has a film camera (what looks to be an AE-1), with an Instax in a bag on one shoulder and a second bag that might have a digital camera, or might hold spare lenses and film. I half suspect this particular guy is a hobbyist, just out to have a good time with his cameras, except that he just sorta looks like a semi-pro, journeyman sort of photog.
And leave it to a happy snapper film idiot to focus more on the gear than anything else. smh
The locations are interesting. I’m sorta reminded of some parts of Costa Rica, somehow. The locations vary: some are lush and green; some are seaside type vistas; there is at least one family fun park type thing; and then there are a couple of unusual places: a sort of industrial side-street with some sort of refreshment or lunch stand; a 1970s convention hall or similar that has fallen into disrepair and is now crushed with graffiti. Costa Rica is similar, in my memory—I haven’t been since 2018, but I spent a month there over 3 visits in 2013, 15, and 18, and I went to many similar sorts of places during my stays. I can imagine making photographs at the abandoned-looking industrial park, maybe getting some Gyro or something at the stand, but I can’t imagine a huge demand for a portraitist there. The derelict convention center is, indeed, more photogenic, and while there are similar sorts of buildings here in Texas, they’re not tourist-accessible like the structure in Albania, or like various abandoned churches and sanitariums that are rather popular hangout spots in Costa Rica.
Anyway. ‘Foto Casti’ is a nice little book, with a fun and well-executed premise. Good stuff.
unrated
At time of writing, ‘Foto Casti’ remains available direct from Skinnerboox. You could do worse, for sure, and I’m glad to have a copy.
