Capturing an image has become spontaneous and immediate. While mobile photography maintains quality, it loses the ritual of taking a picture, i.e. thinking about an image while walking through a new city or the framing possibilities for a building from your point of view. In short, each image is the result of focus, aperture, exposure and the characteristics of the space. Travelling with a 35mm camera sets your limits, some say it is the closest lens to the human eye, others say it is too narrow to capture a building from the outside, but no doubt it all depends on your judgement and the capabilities of the equipment at your disposal.
The 'Casa de Vidrio' (Glass House) from the inside was designed by architect Lina Bo Bardi without walls and with electrical outlets on the ground, to have a panoramic view of the garden. In this sense, the control of light, in this case, is essential if you want to get a good result, as well as the hierarchy of the elements that make up the image.
This series of unedited photographs of modern works located in Latin America were captured on Fuji film 200 ISO 35mm film using a Canon Prima Point-and-Shoot, with a fixed 35mm lens. It has that name because you look and shoot, everything is automated, except the focal distance, which means that just like in real life if you want to see something up close or in this case photograph it, you will have to get closer or move further away, it "encourages" you to be more creative.
If you are walking around Viña del Mar, focus on the details, sometimes it is better than including a whole building in the frame, for example, the Copacabana Building and the composition of its façade in perspective, like a work by Lygia Clark, changes according to the eye of the viewer.
If a picture isn't good enough, it's because you weren't close enough. - Robert capa.
On the other hand, the Montecarlo Buildings I and II, where experimentation at the façade level as a unitary element steals the show. The first, through a concave and convex concrete ribbon that runs along the curve, is interspersed on each floor. The second, through ascending balconies as a staircase, contrasts absolutely with the previous one, due to its materiality, as it is completely glazed. Both buildings propose different compositional and volumetric games.
Along the same lines, the Italia Building, like the compositions of Josef Albers, the balconies define a repetitive and interspersed abstract composition, provoking a dialogue between full and empty. These details give rhythm and tension to the image.
Another very important aspect when you decide to start experimenting with analogue photography is light and how sensitive to light the film you are using is. The higher the ISO, the more photosensitive it is, meaning that the higher the number, the less light it needs for a good exposure. For example, the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion or Oscar Niemeyer Biennial Pavilion, in the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo, an exhibition space, which on this occasion hosted the SP-Arte 2019 festival in its 15th version. Normally in museums and galleries, only artificial light is used and with a film of 200 ISO you will only be able to capture the strongest lights, so your photo will be overlapped. It depends on the result you want to achieve, on the contrary in the Caracol of Viña del Mar, the lighting is controlled, the contained space stands out and the details of the perimeter ramp are lost.
Cloudy days are for experimenting, as was the case during a visit to architect Enrique Gebhard's Centre for Ocean Studies. The clouds act as a natural diffuser of sunlight, limiting harsh shadows and distributing the light evenly.
These conditions reduce contrast, allowing areas that are normally in shadow to be captured, and also help to bring out colours, in the case of this work, Eugenio Brito's exterior murals, which are captured in the image.
It is important to consider spatiality and how perspective can be varied to add interest and depth to a photograph. The Márquez Neighbourhood in Valparaíso, where once again the façade work aids the reading of the whole and guides the visitor's gaze, is perfect for practising framing with linear perspective, as are the "V" columns of the Centre for Oceanic Studies, for overlapping perspective.
There are three basic rules that help the composition of an image to be attractive, one of them is the horizon rule, which consists of visualising the image in three equal strips. The Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) has many potential horizons, in the interior, the photograph achieves depth by focusing the attention on the paintings, which in turn is the vanishing point, and in the exterior the MASP is the negative space, giving prominence to the city.
With a Point-and-Shoot camera, you can't make decisions, each photograph is the result of a personal interpretation of the experiences of modern space and available light. While analogue cameras are no match for the efficiency of digital cameras, they force the photographer to understand the subject before they can capture it correctly.
