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Franco Fontana

 

Franco Fontana (b. 1933, Modena) is celebrated as one of Italy’s most influential photographers, renowned for transforming ordinary landscapes into vibrant abstract compositions through bold color and minimal form.

Vision & Visual Philosophy

Fontana emerged during a time when fine art photography was still dominated by black and white. He embraced color early—once saying:

Photography should not reproduce the visible; it should make the invisible visible.

He often works from telephoto viewpoints, compressing terrain and flattening form to create chromatic bands of fields, sky, and architecture—shaping large-scale landscapes into abstract imagery.

Camera Gear: Proven Choices for Saturated Colour

Fontana’s equipment was practical yet powerful, enabling his signature visual style:

  • 35 mm Canon film camera (Canon Eos 1), paired with just three focal lengths:

    • 17–35 mm zoom

    • 35–300 mm zoom

    • 14 mm prime for wide, abstract geometry
      These lenses helped him control perspective, isolate color planes, and sense structure across the scene.

Canon Eos 1


  • Film Stocks:

    • Kodachrome 25 and Ektachrome 64 slide films—favored for their saturated tones, archival quality, and color fidelity.

    • Fontana routinely underexposed by one stop to further intensify color saturation.

  • Technique:

    • Avoided filters—choosing instead to control color and form through exposure and composition.

    • Often shot handheld, embracing natural light and sweeping geometry to guide his compositions.

The Work & Its Legacy

Fontana’s most famous series include:

  • Puglia and Basilicata landscapes—sun‑lit farmlands reduced to rhythmic color bands.

  • Asfalto—street surfaces photographed from above, turning patches of asphalt into geometric textures.

  • Urban and seascape studies in Ibiza, Havana, Los Angeles—each stripped into formal, graphic statements of hue and line.

His work graces international exhibitions, over 400 solo shows, and spans numerous publications and design collaborations—from Vogue, Time, and Life to campaigns for Canon, Versace, Volkswagen, and others.

Why Fontana’s System Worked

  • Simplified toolset meant creative clarity: lenses chosen for scale and color impact.

  • Slide film and underexposure provided maximal saturation without manipulation.

  • Graphic vision first—gear served the idea, not vice versa.

Final Reflection

Fontana’s photography isn’t about documenting the visible—it’s about turning light, color, and form into visual language. Through a humble Canon film body and a few precision lenses, he reshaped how we see real landscapes—transforming them into poetic abstractions infused with emotional resonance.

Books featuring Franco Fontana

America : see it on Amazon

Dietro L'invisibile : see it on Amazon




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