The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSubject:TheCity

Beforephotographingthe 14thCentury

castleofthe

Este

familyinFerrara,

Italy

(right),LuigiGhirrihadalreadydevoted

hundredsofhourstoexploringcitiesfor

several

photographicprojects:foraspe-

cialinvitationalstudyofParis,forabook

aboutRome,

and

for

asurveyofthecities

inItaly'sPoRivervalley.Evenso,this

assignmentwasafreshchallenge,

be-

causeforGhirri,inanItaliancity"past

andpresentarewoventightlytogether"

into

a

riddle

henevertiresoftryingto

penetratewithhiscamera.

Thetaskinshooting

thecity,Ghirride-

cided,wastoportray"aweboftangled

clues,thebindingtogetherofhistory,
sol-

idwalls

constructedfromrelationships,

connections.Nobodysees
a

citysimply

as

bricks

andmortar.It'salayercake,a

historynotebookcompiledinstrata."

Tofindaplace

wherethesecomplex

ideasmightbeunitedinasingleimage

GhirritraveledtoFerrara,aRenaissance

capitalof
commerce,learningandthe

arts.Althoughhehadvisitedit
before,

Ghirrifelt
thattherewasinFerrarastill

plentyforhim

to

explore.

Ashewalked

abouttheoldtown,hesays,"Ibecame

fascinatedbythevariouslargeandsmall

modificationsthattimehadwroughtupon

theoriginalplan.Irealizedthatitwas

muchmore

complex

in

structure,plan

andspiritthanIhadrealized."

Onevistaparticularlyappealed

tohim:

It

wastheancientcastleofthe Estefam-

ily,apowerfulfamilythatruledFerrarafor

morethan

300 years.Ghirrihadadmired

thecastlefromawindowinthehomeofa

relative."But,"

hesays,"thelighthadnot

beensointerestingthen,andtheivywas

thinner.Thistimeitall

cametogether,

dominatedbythegreattower,andthe

light,too,wasjustright—very

clearand

bright,

makingsharpedges."

Here,Ghirrifelt,wasasimpleviewthat

formedthe

connectionbetweenthepast

andthepresentthathehadbeenlooking

for,between"suspended

timeandpres-

ent

time,betweentherenaissancecas-

tle

—

anantiquejewel—

andtheanony-

mous

touchoftodayinthewallcovered

withgrowingivy."