Meet Eugenio Persico

Eugenio can be found in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna on most evenings during Passeggiata.

_DSF4700 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr

For a week I did not miss a recital.


_DSF4690 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr


_DSF4679 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr


_DSF4671 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr


_DSF4673 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr

I like the third photo the most, has everything going for it.

Thanks, Pete.

I see by your choice you appear to like a more complex scenario. In the photo of your choice there is certainly a great deal going on. The central character has unleashed a number of reactions.
This might be a good insight into your psych. I like that.

When I photograph my aim is to minimalise the content to the bare bones, as you might see from the other shots. Suggestions of subject matter, parts of content, points of view that distort and confuse.

The challenge for me is to have as little in the frame as possible and still stimulate the viewers thoughts and interest.

I succeed sometimes.

Thanks again.

I didn't know, you were a busker fan!

Luv the one with the toddler in the prom.

Best.

fahim mohammed said:

I didn't know, you were a busker fan!

Luv the one with the toddler in the prom.

Best.

Click to expand...

Music for the peasants, Fahim, of which I am one.

Christine and know that, if we get separated in a crowd, head for the music. Each will find the other listening and photographing with intensity.

I enjoy talking to them as well. Most musicians I meet are also professional musicians. They don't earn much so they busk. In addition they seem to enjoy the openness of busking, the closeness to the audience and the pleasures from faces they would not normally see at their concerts.

Thank you for dropping by.

I'll post some more when I get out of bed. The pleasures of the day are yet to become evident.

Xx

Tom dinning said:

Eugenio can be found in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna on most evenings during Passeggiata.

_DSF4700 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr

For a week I did not miss a recital.

Click to expand...

_DSF4679 by tomdinning0099, on Flickr


Tom,

These work well for me. Both excellent in planning, sequential build of interest and that second one in complex and socially diverse composition. The first tells me that the fellow has the belief in himself to stand up and play in public, feeling they are going to appreciate his music. Perhaps there are people in a circle already, (and you very cleverly pointed your camera to exclude them), but I think he's actually alone and pretty isolated and going on "self drive", not adulation from his hoped-for audience yet.

The second picture is the reality. Just enough people to make his effort worthwhile but he will not earn a fortune, (but it will be bread that he worked for and joy he gave folk passing by).

This pair shows how the photographer can manipulate the context. BTW, your choice of B&W I admire as it obfuscates th artificial attention the guitar would otherwise get. It is not the guitar that's the story but the whole social phenomenon and for that color is distracting.

I am up for more of such well executed and interesting images! Thanks for sharing!

Asher

It's a bit frightening, Asher, that you are so close to understanding my purpose and mechanisms for achieving that.

Firstly, Eugenio's choice of very red guitar is just that; to catch the eye. Not that he needs it. His music is like church bells;equally a call to the converted or infidel.

Colour such as that can be a deterrent from my purpose, which you outlined beautifully.

Thank you.

Here are some more buskers I shot along the way.

These are for you, Fahim, as well.


_DSF4500 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr

These guys are friends of Eugenios and often they play together. They also have an understanding that when one chooses to play the others help out or just listen.


_DSF3111 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr
These 2 are from Padova. Very serious musicians with equally serious music. I didn't get a smile from either of them, although they did get a tear from me as they played Bach's Concerto in D minor.

_DSF3141 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr
Just up the road in Padova and outside hearing distance from the first was a group playing something I didn't recognise. Spanish I thought. Not so, it seems. Their own composition being lead by an acoustic guitar and backed by a drummer. They were certainly lighter in their approach and had gathered quite a crowd.


DSCF2627 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr
In Zurich this bloke was so intent with his recital he didn't notice he didn't have anyone but me listening, nor did he care.


_DSF4960 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr
This bloke knew how to draw a crowd. He was more of an orator than a musician. He drew the crowd with the noise of a drum kit and once he had the attention of a few he yelled and ranted about something in Italian. I have no idea what he said but at the end people applauded loudly and gave him gifts of food. There was no money involved at all. I think it might have been a political speech.

_DSF4867 by Tom Dinning, on Flickr

One of my favourite shots in Bologna.
The content is so important here. I hadn't noticed the eye contact with the gentleman on in the centre until I viewed the shot on screen. It's one of those things that happens while the viewfinder is black that indicates the importance of timing, purposeful or not.

Devotion!


Tom,

A fab set!

........and I especially appreciate the craft in making the B&W images. That's a bonus. Imagine these as silver gelatin prints made by Maris Rusis!

But let's look at the matter itself behind the craft!

It's really the starting point of all art that one has to externalized the performance going on in the "Cathedral of the mind" of the artist. That has to be in a form that, at a minimum, enthrals and moves its creator. Here we are seeing this amazing process, like fresh mountain water bursting forth and bubbling out from the rocks above us!

Asher