Old craftsmanship and everyday situations by Christian Robert Fiedler
In Tuscany, and especially in Florence, old craftsmanship is still alive.
Every year millions of tourists travel to Florence to see Michelangelo’s David in front of the Palazzo Vecchio and Botticelli’s birth of Venus in the Uffizi Gallery. They climb up the campanile to catch a glimpse of the city on the Arno and rush past the numerous jewelry shops along the Ponte Vecchio. Then they hurry to Pisa to take a picture of the Leaning Tower. The culmination of every Tuscany tour is the tasting of local specialties such as olive oil and Chianti wine. But hardly a tourist manages to see the true beauty of Tuscany and its inhabitants, far from mass tourism, in the traditional workshops of artisans and on the streets.
To photograph the real life in Tuscany, four years ago I exchanged my Canon Eos 5DII and 6 Zeiss ZE lenses for the Leica M240 with 50 Summilux. Later, the 35th Summilux was added. During my numerous trips to Tuscany, I have made unique photos of traditional crafts and everyday life, which I presented in October and November 2015 under the working title Insight (E1nblick) to a wide audience. Especially the proximity to the people and the familiarity with the craftsmen inspired many visitors. Today I work with the Leica M240 with the 50 Summilux, the Leica M262 with the 28 Summilux and the Leica M10 with the 35 Summilux. My photos can be seen at Leica Photography International and Leica Fotopark. There you can also see the everyday and artisan photos from the exhibition Insight (E1nblick).
Three years after the opening of the exhibition, my photo book, titled “Insight – A Passing View“ has finally been published:
