Perhaps my head has been in the sand, or that there are a number of great black and white analog photographers I just don’t know about. This past week I learned about the passing of the Italian photojournalist and street photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin. How? By catching up with a mostly music and stereo blog I follow! After looking around the Internet to find out more about Gardin, I quickly realized he was a true master!!!  His work is nothing short of amazing and prolific, with a million and a half negatives and by some accounts over 250 books as a sole or major contributor to his credit.  His work is also included in the holdings of major museums such as Museum of Modern Art.

I’m upset that I’ve just discovered him, and only because he passed away and was mentioned on the Italian website I frequent. Sad. The man was a genius and now I know it too. I have a new homework assignment … to research his many books and get one or more of them … and soon!

So what does this mean for me and maybe you? Yes, there most certainly must be many, many great black and white (and color too) photographers out there we’ll never know about. Like Gianni Berengo Gardin.  But there are many others that have been/are out there publishing and exhibiting, not to mention all those that were/are great but do the work solely for themselves. Or those that simply don’t have the desire, or lack the horsepower to play the game. Think Vivian Maier.  All we can do is try to find them, discover their wonderful work, learn from it and enjoy it.

I can’t really say any more about Gardin now, because there’s so much more I need to learn. But what I can say is it’s something I must do. And then I need to discover and learn what I can about the many others I need to know about.

So much to learn, so little time.  #$$%^&*!

If you’re not familiar with Gianni Berengo Gardin, please do yourself a big favor and check out his wonderful and inspiring work. Better late than never … a true great!

Stay well,

Michael