How Old Do You Have To Be To Retire

Dominic Lucchetti , a great photographer, a great man.

Our city owes a great deal to Dominic Lucchetti, who died in February of 2008, I want to mention here as he has been on a cultural level, and would add no doubt, human.

He has, over decades, a passionate, commendable and invaluable research photographic and documentary - and not just interest Bergamo - giving us valuable evidence about the characters, monuments, events, civic life, works and crafts.
a spirit of generosity and sharing, Lucchetti has always made available to bodies or private individuals interested in the history of Bergamo, his precious books and pictures, allowing the realization of a series of cultural events - exhibitions, shows, lyrics ... - If not impossible.

valuable addition to books and pamphlets on the history of Bergamo provided by Dominic Lucchetti, I want to recall here the collections of his photographs merged in the Photographic Sestini at the Historical Museum of Bergamo , allowing construction of a photographic archive town with large gashes on Bergamo and around the world.

Lucchetti has accompanied the donation of his valuable material with a beautiful letter, a kind of test where you can trace his love of photography, his experience, his knowledge, his philosophy and purpose of a life's work as well ultimately, the soul of one who was a great man.

An archive, a life. The archive
Lucchetti at the Historical Museum

The basis of any form of collecting, there is a 'passion', which often borders on morbidity. It 's a pleasure to explore, discover, catalog, many times for things that have little cultural value, such as bottle caps or razor blades. Yet even in these seemingly mundane objects there a historic significance that attaches to human creativity. In many other types of collectibles, including that relating to photographic images, meanings multiply and became a large corpus, which emerges in various fields: art, documentation, ethnography, anthropology, psychology, etc.. So at some point, the collector can give a sense of pleasant pastime and become deep intellectual expression.
To understand the individual motivations that gave rise to various research and collections need to investigate a young age. In my case I owe it all to a common 'photographic climate' that lived in my family. My father was an excellent amateur photographer, present in national and international competitions. From him are familiar with the objectives, film and enlargers, but not particularly comfortable with the conventional photographic images that he worked: fascinating and exciting. However I could not rationalize such feelings and to be honest, despite having read and thought about, even today what I can. I can explain many aspects of photography, but I can not explain, if not empirically, how a piece of paper with a little 'more or less blackened jelly can cause certain sensations. Some eminent scholars have spoken of a "soul of things" and if so we would have in a sense, the solution of the problem, as the soul escapes the reason, but I do not believe in this thesis too evasive. I therefore find that the answer lies in the field of psychology.
need to go back around 1860 when, with the discovery of dry collodion negative, there was a real 'photo explosion'. It became much easier to take pictures and print copies in large quantities. The product
were the most popular cartes de visite, photographic cards of tasty cm. 6X10. As their name suggests, they tended to replace the card and replaced him in some ways more effectively. The beloved or the beloved was sent his effigy as a sign of sensory involvement. Sensitive as the receiver, detected by the appearance faithful friends, rejoiced and emotions, and could also miss the concept of space-time, to wander among the living memories. So not only a piece of paper with a little 'more or less blackened jelly, but rather an extraordinary messenger feelings. Beyond that remained even photograph the object, which became fetish, how to preserve the relics of the holy body.
The effects produced by various evocative images are examples. Enough to remember those women who committed suicide in his hands, taking a photographic portrait of the newly deceased Rodolfo Valentino. Even a photograph torn, as if following a disappointment in love, a tear is identified with the 'body' and not just a piece of paper, almost like a voodoo practice.
addition to the above the power that the photographic image, its strong objectivism, to fix or stop time. Vittorio Sgarbi said well: "The painting expresses life, while the photograph expresses the death." In fact, when we look at a photograph, watching and covering the details, we perform an autopsy of a still body, and that is still in a state of suspended animation, given the presence in him of sensitive feedback. In any case looking and involve a photograph is a fundamental operation in many circumstances to understand more than you can understand directly observing the fleeting reality. Valga what Emile Zola said: "You can not really say that I have seen a certain thing until he has photographed" .
This is certainly not the occasion to recall all the many aspects of photography applications with high able to document all human knowledge: art, science, history, etc.. You just have put the emphasis on its sensory and emotional values, to identify the spring which in this case can push a collector looking. After the youth
family experiences I have tried with determination to practice as a photographer.
last seventeen years I have found work in the office of a mature and rigorous teacher: From King Umberto . After an apprenticeship I went into business with studio in Piazza Vecchia in Bergamo.
here for so many years I played, and plays with dignity my business and obviously ensuring the preservation of my negative.
The initiative to collect and save also photographs of other for me has always been implicit in my work, especially with regard to negative or photographic prints are subject to decay. Considering that photographic images can evoke unique moments of life, not tolerate their loss or destruction .
When I learned that the widow of a famous photographer Valdimagna had buried in the henhouse all plates of the husband I had a physical pain. The best spirit of the collector is to ensure that brings you to possess, but also to know in good hands the material that you do not have .
's research photographic material for me has been slow and patient, but always paid great attention to favorable opportunities. I tried not to take the 'Collector's disease', which usually leads to search only for the original parts. So, without neglecting collecting authentic works, I made much of the content, performing thousands of reproductions . To do this, I turned to various institutions or collectors in possession of important original, but mostly I followed the different aspects provincial or neighborhood, often the result of a local search door to door. I then played private archives, often related to noble families. I also scratch around in flea markets, attics and photographic studios available for families in liquidation.
I moved in particular for finding material of interest from Bergamo, although I have not missed work in the national interest and international , all with issues ranging from the very cheap, the cheap and free. Sometimes the excessive passion for research has made me take steps unnecessary or unprofitable. This reminds me, by analogy, the collection made at the time by the late lawyer Luigi Locatelli, on libraries and iconographic works on Torquato Tasso, works now preserved, complex world as the highest in our Town Library: Locatelli taken by excessive zeal in doubt, to err, went so far as to send away for books on the mammals of the same name.
However the most moving of my collection have resulted from the donations. Friends donors often accompanied their generous gestures with the statement: "I pay tribute to this material because we know that curerai and keeps it properly" . Morally challenging a sentence that has accompanied me in recent years with the thought, since I am a mature age, to give continuity to my archive. In substance, the most obvious reflection, and I think wiser than I was led to decision to place the collected material in a public photo library, photo library, but what? This opens up a painful chapter. Although it is recognized by all equal di valore culturale tra la fotografia e l’opera libraria, noi vediamo, con riferimento all’Italia, una grandissima quantità di biblioteche, ma una scarsissima presenza di fototeche. E’ vero che tecnicamente è più facile gestire libri che materiale fotografico, ma è pure vero che esiste di fatto una sottovalutazione dell’opera fotografica, forse perché è neonata (anche se è già in agonia) rispetto all’antichissimo e radicato libro. Paradossalmente si parla di “archeologia fotografica”, mentre non si provvede, salvo rari casi, a curare il molto materiale che è ancora in superficie .
Per quanto mi riguarda ho pazientemente continuato nel sostenere il mio proposito, esternandolo a persone che ritenevo culturalmente influenti. Da alcune di queste persone , o da chi per esse, ho avuto sincere condivisioni e da loro ho anche avuto proposte interessanti, ma mai finalizzate alla concreta realizzazione di una funzionale pubblica fototeca. Poi ho incontrato un personaggio fortemente propositivo: Mauro Gelfi , direttore del Museo storico della città. Egli ha saputo e potuto tradurre concretamente il mio desiderio, grazie all’intervento del sindaco Veneziani, dell’assessore Marabini e soprattutto della benemerita Fondazione Sestini .
Ora presso il Museo are deposited, from my archive, around twenty thousand photographic subjects of interest Bergamo, already officially designed to serve the public photo library.
The management of a photo library is mainly due to technical problems, followed by the aspects that are also typical
essentially a library: cataloging, retrieving, distribution, etc..
It 'clear that the technical demands specific attention. Firstly there is the problem of
preservation of books, especially if the originals. In particular I am referring to the delicate glass negative, which require a separate space (not heated by drying radiators), with an average temperature, but above all with a moisture content not exceeding 60%. Theoretically these conditions, in an ideal environment, there may of course, but to fight the damp days is best to have a dehumidifier. Plates should be stored in boxes, vertical, horizontal or in boxes, cardboard must be interleaved with neutral (pH 7). These temperature-humidity conditions are also essential for the conservation of photographic prints. They can be protected with special envelopes transparent, but also, in some cases, leaving them loose in special boxes. The most important thing is that they are affected as little as possible from oxides and dalla luce, che è creatrice ma anche distruttrice.
Queste indicazioni, che sembrano minimali, coincidono di fatto con la specifica realtà archivistica dei passati centocinquanta anni. Infatti se molto antico materiale è giunto integro sino a noi è perché è stato conservato volontariamente o involontariamente nei modi suddetti, escludendo artifizi di sorta .
Per quanto riguarda il materiale deteriorato è implicito che necessita di un gabinetto di restauro . Ad esempio certe smunte stampe fotografiche possono essere rinvigorite con bagni di nitrato d’argento, anche se il buonsenso invita a non toccarle, visto che sono riproducibili con un netto miglioramento dell’immagine. In contrast, negative on glass can be directly addressed, and for separations of gelatin, the presence of rust or mold. Various chemicals are used and it is even possible, to exterminate the pests, the use of Roentgen rays.
early nineteenth century it was thought the length of the photographic images, and some practiced on the original (for aesthetic reasons) the "gold toning" , knowing that the gold was much less oxidation of the usual silver. With the stock
conservative restoration and the Cabinet must be parallel with the reproduction of room and darkroom , necessary to perform various photographic prints.
It 'true that today (and the more it will be tomorrow) is the real possibility of creating an electronic photo archive , both starting from negative to positive prints, and then obtain excellent reproduction by printers laser or the like. In this regard, allow me to express a thought that is outside or near the theme photo library. We welcome the electronics, but be careful, since entering into the spiral of automation you risk losing the unique 'flavor' of craftsmanship, that flavor is often synonymous with creativity. With electronics (and is not little) you save the document, but you may not give 'life work'. The same traditional photography has suffered with the arrival of fully automatic cameras and printing material from the plastic support. Quality has often given way to cheap! It 's a question of awareness, when it exists, the computer can become an extraordinary creative medium.
The material available in the archive that I have deposited with the museum is divided into three blocks: original photographic prints (a few hundred years old), original negative and negative reproduced by other archives. The
original works will be kept in groups, according to the source of funds, so as to facilitate the reconstruction of family histories, institutional, local, etc.. All material should be appropriately reproduced or printed, in order to proceed with filing and also to provide users with images of the subjects required . The filing
may be paper-based (cross-tabs with test applied, of which I have already given about eight thousand copies) or electronic . The second case, given modern technology, it has practical advantages, not least because the cards will be able to be included in a media circuit, promoting the relationship with users. Even the preparation of the work required by users can be of two types: either through the traditional photographic print (for those who need refinement details) or through the electronic press (for those who need a simple faithful documentation). With the electronic system will also be possible to provide the images recorded on CD-ROM, to facilitate any subsequent commercial printing, saving time and expense. The method of filing
used in about eight thousand ballot papers already prepared and a pyramid, with the top three main groups: Bergamo city Bergamo, Bergamo Province life. The first group has as sub-headings: the streets and squares, chapels, churches, private buildings, public buildings, old and new fair trade fair, monasteries and cloisters, monuments and fountains, walls and doors, panoramic lower city, panoramic city high , documentation of specific exhibitions. The second group has as sub-indications of various locations, be they common or village. The third group is certainly the most varied because there are many subheadings and partly because they often are connected to the first two groups. They are: animals, archeology, recreational activities, natural disasters / wars, postcards, conditions environmental hygiene, water courses, castles, costume / costumes, paintings and emblems, folklore, photography, local features, anonymous places, events / ceremonies, various monuments, works of art, forest landscapes and nature, people and diverse groups , particular people, bridges, prints and maps, theater and opera, humor, traditions and customs of other nations. All these in turn are sub-divided again until reaching the individual.
E 'implied that in addition to the locations previously mentioned need for other premises for the cataloging, historical and scientific for the library to accommodate users and possibly even for a small museum of photography. As a photographic library
un polo culturale ne deriva che in essa, tra l’altro, si svilupperanno specifici studi, che troveranno supporto in seminari o gruppi di lavoro. Anche una eventuale edizione periodica a stampa potrebbe portare notevoli contributi. I temi da trattare saranno più che molteplici, visto che l’immagine fotografica è presente da molti decenni in ogni frangente della vita dell’uomo, persino nei suoi momenti fetali .
Ho forse esternato i miei pensieri con accenti troppo 'passionali' e per questo chiedo ai lettori amichevole comprensione.

                                                                                         Dominic Lucchetti

Faces in the City (From the Exhibition "The Visible City" - Historical Museum of Bergamo)