Magnum Post-Piazza del Campo...

Piazza del Campo with shadow of Torre del Mangia, viewed from above.  Siena, Italy.

Credit: Bruno Barbey, 1984

Artstor: Italy. Tuscany region. Italy. Sienna. 1984. Bruno Barbey. 1984

I chose this photograph because of its visual appeal and a personal attachment to the subject depicted.  When analyzing the photograph with Szarkowski’s elements of photography we can see the documentary elements of the photo.[i] “The thing itself” is a photograph of the Piazza del Campo.  This is not in the ARTstor caption, however this is a well known landmark in Italy (where Il Palio takes place) and with complete confidence I can say that the Piazza del Campo is the location.  “The detail” is part of Piazza del Campo.  We do not get the whole image of the square, but most of it is represented.  It is a snapshot within the city of Siena.  However, the focus of the photo changed for me when I began analyzing “the frame” element.  At first I thought that the photographer, Bruno Barbey, chose to incorporate most of the Piazza del Campo.  But as I started to really look at where he decided to crop the frame, I notice that the image includes the entire shadow cast by the Torre del Mangia and the Palazzo Pubblico.  Now I realize that the photographer’s intention is to focus on the shadow of these historic landmarks. This leads to the important element of “time” in this photo.  At no other time of day will the shadow be the same.  The “vantage point” also plays an important factor in this photo.  It is an aerial view and is likely taken from within the Torre del Mangia.  At no other place can the photographer have this shadow and this perspective of the Piazza del Campo.  This photograph can be described as documentary of two landmarks in the city of Siena; the Torre del Mangia and the Piazza del Campo on a specific day, at a specific time, a particular frame, a certain focus, and the subject itself.

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[i] Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, Diane Vogt-O’Connor, and Mary Lynn Ritzenthaler. Photographs: Archival Care and Management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006. Print.