Massimo Cristaldi

Ground Zero on JOURNEY THREE

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:34:58 +0000

Ground Zero has been published on JOURNEY THREE a beautiful 164 well printed book including the shots of the winner of the last three editions of the Travel Photographer of the Year. I got my copy yesterday and I really suggest to buy it: great photographs at a very convenient price.

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Published on The Photo Paper

Massimo Cristaldi — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:26:51 +0000

Two of my works, awarded at Photography Master Cup, have been published on the inaugural edition “The Photo Paper“.Related Posts:

2 Nomination al “Photography Masters Cup”, International Color Awards 2008

My works at Affordable Art Fair (London, 11-14 March 2010)

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:22:06 +0000

My works will be exhibited in London at Affordable Art Fair from March 11 to 14 2010. They will be visible at the stand of my Gallery (Samuel Frederic Photography, Bruxelles).Related Posts:

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Refinery Flocks on PERSPECTIVES

Massimo Cristaldi — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:45:56 +0000

The Center for Fine Art Photography has launched his new blog and features my Refinery Flocks today.

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Refinery Flocks @ New Visions, Center For Fine Art Photography

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:36:21 +0000

A Photograph of my Refinery Flock, now in show at the Center For Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, Colorado.

Refinery Flocks / Triptych Panel #1 (90x60 cm - 36x24 inches)

Reception (01)

Reception (2)

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Nomination @ Black & White Spider Awards 2009

Massimo Cristaldi — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:02:27 +0000

The 5th edition of the B&W Spider Awards has published it’s results. I had a nomination in the People category with the photograph “Choices”.

Choices - Nomination B&W Spider Awards 2009 in "People"

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Blogging with a Target: is there a Tribe for Fine Art Photographers?

Massimo Cristaldi — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:21:03 +0000

Over the past few months I’ve used the blog mainly for shameless self promotion/communication of what was happening to me and less for talking about photography or for commenting what was going on on the photoblogosphere. I apologize for being so selfish but time has been limited and, as I wrote (in Italian) here, blogging something interesting means time and effort. It’s also worth to say that I’ve started twitting more and, hey!, twitter is absolutely interesting and intriguing and, for sure, need just a breeze of time blog normally deserve.

I actually know that this way of behaving bring your regular readers far from your blog. At the end of the day who cares about your nth news? Probably just a very small part of regular readers. Most can be interested in something different. Yes, something different what? Over the last years of blogging (started back in 2004) I’ve covered different aspects, from technologies and techniques to Art, from camera-related topics to interesting findings/takes from the NET. I’ve done it in different languages, sometimes only in Italian, sometimes in both languages. Now, everybody keeps saying that blogging and social media are an important aspect of every photographers (marketing) strategies. There is a group of fellow twitters (@PicSehsu, @NewMediaPhoto, @jimgoldstein, just to mention some of them) that are intelligently focusing on the mission of bringing photographers to use of social tools. Rosh has also a nice blog devoted to this task.
But an important thing is to try to understand clearly WHY are we blogging (or socialmediactvie), and WHICH is our target audience. Last year there was an interesting attempt made by DLK to classify blogs with a triangle (just for photography as ART) whose sides where CURATE/PROMOTE/COMMENT. It is a useful classification that starts from the view point of (part of) the OFFER, but does not cover the viewpoint of the DEMAND. Yes, the demand. Which is the demand of who’s looking for photography on the Net? And WHO’s actually looking for photography on the Internet? Art and/or Technique (let’s try to keep this simplistic distinction at the moment)? These are million dollars (or, even worse, Euros) questions with not a single, definite answer. I believe that an enormous mass of blog readers are photographers (mostly amateur) that are primarily interested in gears and techniques to improve their shots. This assumptions comes from the analysis of statistics on my posts reading (will cover later) but, more then that, from the moves the photographers as Chase Jarvis made on the Internet. Here’s the oversimplified recipe: you blog on some technique. You are a cool guy and look extremely successful as a photographer. You probably start becoming a model for a lot of aspiring photogs, since, from what can be perceived online, you’re life is a metaphor for most people holding a camera (for passion or for work). Just before the announcement of The Best Camera apps for the iPhone I was keeping asking myself: why does Chase do all of that? Kudos to Chase, he surely hit the target. A nice application for the most relevant market niche of fellows photographers that came out AFTER building a complete community: probably a new business model for making money out of photography (I agree with Doug Menuez here). Same applies for David Du Chemin who puts more focus on education (with direct and ebooks focused offers) but that, again, is hitting the greatest marketing niche.
If you resisted so far to this (arguable) overview on marketing considerations, I would like to elaborate towards a perspective that is closer to mine. I’m not a full time commercial photographer, I do not promote seminars or workshops, I’m mostly an (emerging – horrible word but still very much used :-/ ) (fine art) photographer. So which is my niche as a blogger? Who should be my targets readers? Photo buyers and collectors, galleries and museums. Am I getting closer to this niche with the Blog? Is there a content of Interest for them? I think we are back to the Art Triangle. With a great difference from who’s currently making that triangle live, which is “who am I”. As a photographer I can PROMOTE (as I did) some works I like. I can please a friend, but still simply think that photographers are not the best at promoting other colleagues works (maybe I’m wrong, and, of course, I’m fully open to discussion). For sure I would feel myself really uncomfortable at “curating” or “commenting”, I simply don’t have the “right profile” and I also feel that too much writing brings slowly far from photography (or, at least give the impressions that you’re more writing that taking pictures as Rosh write here). Is just promoting interesting for my target niche? Not sure about it… So where is my tribe or, do I have a tribe on the Internet outside other photographers? Are the consideration and thoughts of a photographer interesting for his potential market? Or being socially active means just getting more hits and hence becoming more known with the idea that in the big mass we could also hit some of our potential target niches? Lot of questions, would love to hear your viewpoint.Related Posts:

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Comunicato stampa della Mostra “New Visions”

Massimo Cristaldi — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 17:19:00 +0000

Comunicato Stampa del Center for Fine Art Photography :

In allegato il comunicato stampa della prossima mostra del The Center for Fine Art Photography’s, “New Visions”, che include il Fotografo catanese Massimo Cristaldi.
La mostra sarà aperta dal 15 gennario al 13 febbraio 2010. Per ogni domanda contattare Azarie Furlong.

Azarie Furlong
Exhibitions Manager
The Center for Fine Art Photography
www.c4fap.org
+1-970-224-1010

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Simulacra PDN photo of the day

Massimo Cristaldi — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:39:39 +0000

PDN pubblica oggi Simulacra nel suo Photo of the Day

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Refinery Flocks (2006/2009)

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:40:22 +0000

La Natura si adatta. Lo ha mostrato molte volte anche in tempi recenti. Grandi catastrofi, come sversamento di petrolo in mare, non hanno avuto, in alcuni casi, alcuni degli esiti drammatici previsti, per la straordinaria capacità resilienti dei sistemi ecologici. L’evoluzione del nostro pianeta, anche se marcata in modo fortissimo nell’ultimo secolo dal cosiddetto
progresso industriale, ha sempre mostrato una eccezionale adattabilità ai mutamenti. Certo, solo negli ultimi anni l’influsso dell’Uomo è diventato più invasivo. Troppo pochi per comprendere tempi di adattamento che spesso si misurano in migliaia di anni. Di sicuro sorprende come possa crearsi, in certi casi, una sorta di sinergia tra i mostruosi prodotti del “progresso” e specie naturali. Questo progetto, che prende lo spunto al rapporto utilitaristico tra gli stormi di uccelli e il calore emesso da una raffineria, intende investigare aspetti di “simbiosi” o di precari equilibri tra industria e specie animali, tra manufatti dell’uomo e natura, non con l’idea di denunciare ma con l’intento di rappresentare possibili e strane armonie.

20 Photographs

Edition of 5 +1 author’s proof / 150×100 cm – 60×40 inches

Edition of 10 + 1 author’s proof / 90×60 cm – 36×24 inches

Edition of 15 + 1 author’s proof / 60×40 cm – 24×15 inches

[[Slideshow]]Related Posts:

Simulacra pubblicato su “Gente di Fotografia”

Massimo Cristaldi — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:53:06 +0000

Gente di Fotografia, la rivista italiana dedicata alla fotografia, pubblica su questo numero (nr. 48) il mio Simulacra. Gente di Fotografia è una rivista trimestrale, e da 15 anni è considerata una delle riviste più autorevoli nella promozione della Fotografia d’autore in Italia. Questo numero raccoglie lavori di Michael Chelbin, Walter Ferro, Carlo Desideri, Paola Fiorini, Daniele Papa, Romain Laurent e Salvatore Ligios, Ernesto Bazan & Mimmo Jodice.

Un PDF dell’articolo, scritto da Alan Rapp, è disponibile in download qui.

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Sichuan photographs @ Lineart (4-8 December, Gent, Belgium)

Massimo Cristaldi — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:57:01 +0000

Tre fotografie del progetto Sichuan saranno esposte durante Lineart in Gent (Belgium). Lineart è la fiera d’arte più importante delle Fiandre, con circa 25.000 visitori, oltre 140 gallerie, su uno spazio di circa 20,000 m2.
Le mie fotografie (90×60 cm, C-Prints montate su Dibond) saranno visibili nello stand di Samuel Frederic Photography.

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Sichuan (2008)

Refinery Triptych selezionata dal Center for Fine Art Photography

Massimo Cristaldi — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:51:53 +0000

Refinery Triptych è stato selezionato dal “Center for Fine Art Photography” per la mostra New Vision. La mostra, curata da Michael Itkoff, editor di Daylight Magazine, comprende 50 lavori selezionati su 1200 proposte di questa call for entries. La mostra si terrà nel Febbraio del prossimo anno.

Le immagini selezionate sono visibile sul sito web del Centro qui: www.c4fap.org under Jury Results.

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Ground Zero on “Il Corriere Della Sera”

Massimo Cristaldi — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:52:46 +0000

Sono stato incluso nella lista dei 190 talenti italiani premiati nel mondo. La lista è contenuta in un nuovo volume, che si chiama Young Blood 2008 che è stato presentato oggi dal Ministro della Gioventà, Giovanna Meloni. La notizia è stata riportata da “Il Corriere Della Sera”, in un articolo in prima pagina che è anche visibile online.
Link a:

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Simulacra on Fotocult

Massimo Cristaldi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:34:57 +0000

Una delle fotografie del mio progetto “Simulacra”, premiato quest’anno all’International Photography Awards, è stata pubblicata dalla rivista italiana FotoCult (Ottobre 2009)

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Refinery Flocks on Hey Hot Shot

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:48:13 +0000

My Refinery Flocks is today featured on the Hey Hot Shot Blog.

Text by Alan Rapp:

The work of Massimo Cristaldi is concerned with the ineffable qualities of the visible world. Here, nature and industry make an unlikely pair, yet they make a conceptual reciprocation. The flock of starlings in this photograph are drawn to the refinery’s thermal flows; en masse they create a kind of super-organism that almost emulates the scale of the artificial complex. And, they create an amazing visual tension as well.

Having written about his body of work Simulacra elsewhere, I continue to be drawn to the ideas behind his photographs, which in his words represent “possible and strange harmonies.” He adds, “I dedicate a particular interest to boundary lands in unstable balance between progress and leftover traces of a time gone.”

Based in Catania and Rome, Massimo has received awards from the Prix de Photographie de Paris and International Photography Awards this year alone. Much more can be seen at his website, which The New York Times recently called out as a must-see portfolio site.

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The Final Cut on Gazeta.ru

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:21:42 +0000

Gazeta.ru is one of the most read Russian online newspapers. They have selected, for their online project The Dewarist, my “The Final Cut” which is on display today.

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Final Cut

Blog Action Day

Massimo Cristaldi — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:00:59 +0000

Today is the Blog Action Day. I believe that my works on the refinery fits perfectly the scope of this year, climate change.
Have a look here: www.blogactionday.orgRelated Posts:

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Simulacra – Una nuova fotografia

Massimo Cristaldi — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:27:06 +0000

Simulacra è un lavoro che continua ad andare avanti. Ho appena aggiunto al progetto una nuova fotografia che è visibile qui, e, maggiore risoluzione sul portfolio.Related Posts:

Simulacra: una recensione di Alan Rapp

Massimo Cristaldi — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:20:42 +0000

Alan Rapp, Direttore Associato di Hey Hot Shot, ha redatto una bella recensione sul mio “Simulacra” sul suo interessante blog “Critical Terrain“. Critical Terrain esplora ed interpreta immagini, oggetti, concetti e discipline che modellano l’ambiente in cui viviamo. Grazie, Alan, per le osservazioni – competenti e intriganti – sul mio lavoro.

Alan scrive:

Massimo Cristaldi’s Simulacra depicts small-scale religious edifices in silent, nocturnal composure. Taken from an impersonal middle distance, the Sicilian and Southern Italian roadside shrines in these pictures are humble, sentinel. The icons within them are unseen, even preempting visibility with their own interior glow.
Whether freestanding and bound solidly to the earth, or tucked into massive exterior walls, these votive structures yield to Cristaldi’s subtle exploration of their latent luminous qualities via long exposures. There is a sense of loss, perhaps less religious than cultural, allowing to “galloping globalization and by general indifference,” as Cristaldi writes. Cristaldi adopts Baudrillard’s elaboration of simulacra as the theme of this body of work. Here there are levels of both representation and simulation (which Baudrillard distinguishes among): the subject of the photograph is an edifice to an invisible God (or Mother or saint thereof). In this respect, Cristaldi writes, “these photographs are simulacra of simulacra.” (To this one could add an additional level: the architectural. Comprised as much by the negative space of the arch as the columns which describe them, and topped by munchkin pediments, these structures are caricatures of classical architecture in miniature.)
The tracery of automobile lights disorients the reverential purpose of these structures—they are little more than road markers. But Cristaldi also creates an additional irony: the head- and tail-lights describe numinous orbits around the shrines. These cars may be the last angels attendant to the divine.
Simulacra was recently been awarded an Honorable Mention by the International Photography Awards, and the New York Times recently included his web site in its round-up of compelling photographer’s sites. Equally oblique and haunting, for the human tragedy which he addresses, is his suite Lampedusa (Wrecked Dreams).

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