As I mentioned in my previous post, last summer I had to shoot a sculptor & some of his recent work in the foundry he normally uses to create his bronzes. The place, Fonderia Valtorta, is at the same time an amazing example of industrial archeology, but one that is still operational today; the workers are incredibly skilled in the production of artistic metal work, using traditional techniques such as sand moulded & lost-wax casting and micro-fusions. Besides this factory, Fonderia Valtorta also have a new operation close-by where they work with metal foils, modern equipment and such - but this wasn't as visually interesting to me. Being already there in the old factory for a shoot, and having all my equipment with me ready to roll, I simply couldn't resist: I asked the owner if I could snoop around and take some pictures of the place itself and the guys working there as well, promising him to send him the pictures in exchange. Luckily for me, he graciously agreed: the images presented here are the result of my short wanderings about. Here is an image for you as a metallic appetiser, the rest of the pics and of the story after the break:
 |
| Ready to melt, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
The foundry is a classical red-brick industrial building, featuring 3-4 blocks revolving around a courtyard completely filled with by-products of the casting works: walking around between the rubble, you can suddenly face a huge head, around one meter high, used as a cast to create part of a statue that was just finished a short time before my visit:
 |
| Head, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
Having exhausted its function, no more boldly standing at more than 5 metres high, he is sadly looking around the courtyard, abandoned between other relics:
 |
| Head & rubble, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
For these images, taken in early afternoon's July daylight, I used Speedlights to lit the head which seated, dumped, in deep shadows: a 1/2 CTO'd SB-910 was used to lit the head itself, while non-gelled Speedlights balanced ambient light around it.
Getting out of the courtyard, the first block I visited is dedicated to creating the casts used in the sand-casting process: a skilled artisan compresses the sand, both by hand and using a compressor, and then draws the shapes that will be injected with molten metal on the hard compressed sand:
 |
| Painting in the sand, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
 |
| Blowing away the extra sand, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
 |
| Cleaning the sand, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
 |
| Pride, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
In these pictures, available fluorescent light was used, bounced around with reflectors to balance exposure in the frame. I loved the hues that this light provided, and didn't want to mess with it adding flashes. Sometimes what light is available is more than enough!
Going out of this first block, I went towards the biggest of the blocks in the foundry, where Mr. Valtorta's son himself is sculpting wax for a lost-wax project:
 |
| Mr. Valtorta at work, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
What is really impressive here is the skill with which these artisans realise on wax or sand the various ideas of a sculptor, whom himself often doesn't do much more than providing a drawing or even just a sketch, more or less detailed. To me, these artisans are as much artists as the artist himself; at least they are as important in the creative process. Without them, those cast would never see the light of day...
To light this picture, I used 1/2 CTO gelled Speedlights placed high camera left to lit the face so that the light seems to come from existing light fixtures; as well, a Speedlight was used below camera left (1/4 CTO) to open the shadows a bit on his legs & lower rafts. Finally, a non-gelled Speedlight lifted ambient light behind him.
Inside the same block where Mr. Valtorta was wiring, there are huge tables filled with all sort of instruments, and sculptures in various phases of elaboration:
 |
| Sphere, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
To lit this one, 2 Speedlight were used, the main light being provided by a flash high camera left, gelled CTO and neutralised in WB to give a blue cast to the surrounding ambient light.
The last block I visited is the actual foundry: here metal (bronze, silver, gold etc) gets heated, moulded & poured during the various processes mentioned above in order to create the final sculpture. The day I was there, unfortunately, the furnace wasn't active and no pouring was going on; however, the place is interesting enough by itself, looking like a mythologic Titan's cave...
 |
| Ingot & crucible, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
|
| Ready to melt, Fonderie Valtorta, Milano 2012 |
I lit the foundry with Speedlights placed strategically outside the windows, gelled CTO to give a warm cast to the light which well suited the place while preserving a feel of natural light.
Now for the technical stuff (click to go to the related product page): for this assignment, I used my trusty Nikon D3x, equipped with the Nikon 24mm f/1.4 AF-S and the Nikon 50mm f/1.4 AF-S; light was provided by 4 Speedlights (2 x SB-910, 2 x SB-700) controlled via PocketWizards MiniTT1, FlexTT5 & AC3 and gelled according to the different moods I was after. Photos have been developed in Nikon Capture NX 2 and finished in Adobe Photoshop CS6.
SUPPORT THE BLOG! USE THE BOXES BELOW TO START YOUR AMAZON SHOPPING!
0 comments:
Post a Comment