Massimo Vitale's photographs

January 29, 2006 9:19 AM

Photographer and photojournalist Massimo Vitali captures large-scale crowded panoramas of people at play in shared public spaces. His biography and works discussed: 1, 2. (via mira y calla)
posted by madamjujujive (12 comments total)

MeTa
posted by matteo at 9:30 AM on January 29, 2006

Wow. It's amazing to see those very familiar places in this light.

It's like he makes them look so real and unreal at the same time. Very cool.
posted by funambulist at 9:58 AM on January 29, 2006

This is great.
I thought that the first set was banal, until I went through the second page, then the third, then all of them and read both texts.
This is exactly what I appreciate in any artist: to make me look at the world in a new way.

I would have liked a note about how he manages to give most of his pics the same color palette, even though the light is very different from Northern Europe to Italian beaches.

Also I was surprised that his own commentary was very dark. I found the images overall very optimistic and showing how the presence of people (as shown) makes natural and built surroundings very alive.

Thanks for the link, madamjujujive.
posted by bru at 10:06 AM on January 29, 2006

Very interesting. Thanks mjjj.
I wondered how Vitali achieved that painterly, timeless effect.
The color selection/choreography has a lot to do with it.
I could follow that first link all day. Simen Johan. Bill Owens. Jeff Mermelstein.
Anthony Suau has some great shots of the Berlin Wall coming down.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:36 AM on January 29, 2006

I am struck by how much some of them look like paintings, too w-gp - pages 10 and 11, for example - yet you are right, funambulist, they look so realistic too...and bur, I was also near dismissing them at first, but fortunately clicked deeper. I don't know enough about photography to understand how he got the color palette - it seems like some of the photos are over-exposed.

The parent site is indeed great - worth a fpp on its own. Good Sunday surfing!
posted by madamjujujive at 10:41 AM on January 29, 2006

"Sorry, you don't have permission to do that"... but middle click to go back.
posted by tomplus2 at 10:45 AM on January 29, 2006

Who needs permission? Just sneak in while the guard's not looking! The color palette and the slightly grim frozen in time feel kind of bummed me out, actually. Interesting vantage point in all of the images, and an almost cynical look at mass recreation, but all told the feel is a little too much like this grey, just-on-the-edge-of-rain Sunday we're having in NYC. How about some sunshine and a pipin' hot burrito? And maybe a mango margarita for lunch?

BTW, I agree that the "parent site" is impressive. A bookmark for a little procrasination some day in the not too distant future. Thanks, madam.
posted by geoflaneur at 10:56 AM on January 29, 2006

If you look at the colors you'll see a lot of repetition, and the absence of "random" colors. This can only be explained by painstaking choreography (like Jeff Wall) or digital photoshop tweaking. NAXT not that there's anything wrong with that. I like it.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 10:58 AM on January 29, 2006

MeTa

You in truuuu-bull.

I like this one; I think I found him!
posted by dgaicun at 1:42 PM on January 29, 2006

The prints I've seen were HUGE (4' X 6'?) which gave a whole 'nother dimension. Strangely voyeuristic. Great work.
posted by johngumbo at 5:04 PM on January 29, 2006

Hehe dgaicun, that was funny.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:17 AM on January 30, 2006

Also I was surprised that his own commentary was very dark

I didn't notice that, where?

I don't get the impression the photos are optimistic though - not that they're dark or cynical either. I think it's more like amused interest.

I like how in each picture you can see several clusters of people interacting with each other. It almost seems staged but I guess he just captured them at the right moments.
posted by funambulist at 5:34 AM on January 30, 2006