i learnt to see color (again)
ciao!
last week i wrapped up a personal project exploring the role of color in composition.
here are the results from last week’s poll: how much time do you actually spend in nature every week?
31% spend less than 1 hour
38% spend 1–3 hours
6% spend 3–5 hours
25% spend more than 5 hours
i’m writing this right now with this song in the background.
hope you enjoy it.
-Mattia
one of my favorite photographers for years has been Franco Fontana. it was through his work that i first fell in love with the art of photographic composition. his signature is definitely his use of color, where color stops being just an attribute and becomes the actual subject, carrying weight and meaning.
that’s why i decided to go to cinque terre, here in italy, to (re)learn how to look at color. to give my own visual take on this magical place full of beautiful colors and contrasts.
we all see in color. and maybe that’s why we stop thinking about it. it feels obvious. but that’s exactly what makes color tricky in photography: it risks looking too much like life itself.
fontana’s work made me realize that black and white is instantly read as "art" because it doesn’t match how we see the world. color, instead, feels familiar. too familiar.
the challenge is this: not to show the world as it is, but as you see it. photography isn’t reality, it’s interpretation.
so i started asking myself: what if color wasn’t just a background? what if red was the subject? or blue? what if the way i use color was the message itself?
the project also came together because i’m really happy to have teamed up with filmkid to create the perfect pack for professionally color grading my footage.
that is the bluest i've ever seen water look
one of the comments i got when i shared a few stills on reddit and i couldn’t agree more. i especially love how the grain in this package mixes with the colors and gives everything a subtle vintage look.
if you’re curious, here’s the link to check out the color pack i’ve been using.
it had also been a while since i took a small exploratory trip just for a personal project and it felt so refreshing to spend time with my passion again, creating as freely as possible.
i’m curious about your experience too:
as always, i’ll share the results in the next letter.
tools, apps, and sparks i’m loving right now
the perfect setup?
in the previous newsletter i mentioned the new Dia browser. stay ahead because Perplexity has now entered the game with the new Comet browser.
minecraft real life windows
nice mac extension to easily manage your files
just discovered Pinterest now makes easy collages with your favourite pins.
chatgpt is probably launching a new study mode feature. pretty excited for this.
a list of useful products i use daily as part of my learning and technical process.
and that’s all. see you around! (: