Giovanni Savino Photography: Recently Added Galleries and Collections

New York City

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:09:37 GMT

]]>Lately I have been receiving an increasing number of requests to buy my prints.

Up until now I always dealt with collectors or photo galleries on a one-to one basis, personally taking care of printing, sometimes framing, packaging and shipping to my clients. While I can still be contacted to discuss individual needs and will do my best to accommodate each and every one of them, in order to speed up the print purchase process and keep prices reasonable, I decided to offer online ordering of certain images of mine. So you can now click on any of these images and have them immediately professionally printed and shipped to your address. I decided not to offer framing as I think it is best to be left to your personal taste.

Please note that all images have different dimensions so be careful not to order a square print of a rectangular image or vice-versa.
Also, most images due to specific crop factors might have a white border around them or on the longest sides. This can be taken care of when framing them, by using an appropriately sized mat.

If you don't see a photo you would like a print of in any of these galleries but you can find it elsewhere on my website, I encourage you to contact me by email so that I can enable the print purchase option for you.

Thank you very much for your interest and for supporting my work.

Giovanni Savino

Nudes

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:42:04 GMT

Portraits

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 02:15:04 GMT

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Rural Portraits

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 14:32:52 GMT

Caribbean

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:46:54 GMT

Landscapes

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 03:32:17 GMT

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:31:59 GMT

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POLAR BEARS 2012

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:43:50 GMT

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Death of a Cinema

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:58:10 GMT

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Streets of Chinatown

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:55:51 GMT

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Documentary Films

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMT

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Punch life in the face

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:46:41 GMT

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GAGA in New York City

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:29:19 GMT

]]>Originating in Haïti, rara is a form of festival music used for street processions, typically during Easter Week. The music centers on a set of cylindrical bamboo trumpets called vaksen (which may also be made of metal pipes), but also features drums, maracas, güiras or güiros (a percussion instrument), and metal bells, as well as sometimes also cylindrical metal trumpets which are made from recycled metal, often coffee cans. The vaksen-s perform repeating patterns in hocket and often strike their instruments rhythmically with a stick while blowing into them. In the modern day, standard trumpets and saxophones may also be used. The genre though predominantly Afro-based has some Taino Amerindian elements to it such as the use of güiros and maracas.

The songs are always performed in Haitian Kreyòl and typically celebrate the African ancestry of the Afro-Haïtian masses. Vodou is often implemented through the procession. The genre was imported to the Dominican Republic and is now an integral part of the Afro-Dominican music scene, where it is known colloquially as Gaga. In the Dominican Republic, the music is often played by the Afro-Dominican population as a cultural tribute to their African ancestors in the same manner as their counterparts in Haiti. Rara in Haiti is often used for political purposes, with candidates commissioning songs praising them and their campaigns. Rara lyrics also often address difficult issues, such as political oppression or poverty. Consequently, rara groups and other musicians have been banned from performing and even forced into exile—most notably, folk singer Manno Charlemagne who later returned to Haïti and was elected mayor of Port-au-Prince in the 1990s.

Rara performances are often performed while marching, and are often accompanied by twirlers employing metal batons. Performances generally begin on Ash Wednesday and culminate at Easter Weekend.
"The Rara festival most likely developed during the period of colonial slavery, when enslaved Africans and Afro-Creoles in the colony of Saint-Domingue were said to parade with drums and instruments on Easter Sunday. There is also some evidence that troupes of maroons marched with drummers, horns, and singers, similarly to Rara."

VUDU

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 02:36:47 GMT

]]>This documentary is a voyage into the understudied world of Dominican Vudu, also known as LOS MISTERIOS.

I shot in New York City, The Dominican Republic and Haiti.

A misterio is something inexplicable, a mystery, something that requires faith and belief to approach and observe, something that inevitably defies a scientific and rational explanation.

A misterio is something that cannot and should not be revealed to a voyeuristic audience in search of a thrilling magic spectacle, it’s a serious spiritual happening that cannot be easily recorded by a video camera and a microphone, something one cannot and probably shouldn’t try to dissect and analyze with a western rationale and a cynically charged urge to understand.

Hence, I had many concerns on how to go about this visual investigation and maintain a respectful attitude toward these cultural and religious phenomena so ancient, mysterious, extremely private yet socially widespread and avoid the common western presumption to explain, judge and criticize what I was being allowed to witness.

The Pantheon of LOAS (Lwa) pertinent to Dominican Vudu,”Las 21 Divisiones” (the 21 Divisions) is extremely broad but there are 3 main divisions I am focusing on: The White Division, the Black Division and the Indio Division.

While the majority of the Loas (spirits) are graphically represented by Canonized Catholic Saints such as St. Miguel, St Carlos Borromeo, St. Elia, St. Antonio, St. Lazaro, etc., there are exceptions such as Santa Marta la Dominadora, a Loa of the Black Division, a beautiful black woman fiercely holding a dangerous snake with her hands and giving shelter to a newborn baby in her lap.

A vast part of my visual investigation focuses on Her, Her powers, Her followers, Her “Caballos”.

MISTERIOS- the documentary- CLICK HERE

RIVER CROSSING

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:12:43 GMT

]]>RIVER CROSSING is a collection of images shot on the banks of the Artibonito River, separating Haiti from the Dominican Republic. It is a series of environmental portraits of the ever-increasing number of Haitian nationals crossing the river in search of better life conditions and work opportunity in the neighboring country after the devastating earthquake of 2010. These illegal migrants are not welcome in the Dominican Republic, a country with many great political and economic problems of its own. There is an increasing tension especially along the border towns, but also in the big cities for what Dominican media defines "a Haitian invasion".

Mnemonic Plates

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:36:44 GMT

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Occupy Wall Street

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 02:54:21 GMT

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Medieval Festival

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:51:33 GMT

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Summer in the City

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 04:09:31 GMT

]]>These photographs were taken in the less explored neighborhoods of Manhattan and The Bronx during the summer months of 2011.

Obviously, I am focusing on a particular face of the summer metropolis and some of my photographs depict people sweating away in tough and broken neighborhoods, but I also try to show the fun that can be had in the summer streets, as well as the irony and the surreal, timeless outlook of certain scenarios I come across.

The project is entirely shot and processed with an iPhone. I have a live daily feed (or stream) of my photographic explorations using what has recently become one of the most successful photo-sharing sites, especially amongst iPhone photographers: Instagram

You can follow my Instagram stream by looking for my name (magneticart) after you download the Instagram app for free on your iPhone.

Alternatively you can follow the live stream from any computer by clicking here

A limited edition book has been published on Blurb.

You can find a short essay about this project here
You can view and buy the book here

MERMAID PARADE 2011

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:57:40 GMT

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Gallera

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:47:31 GMT

]]>In the Dominican Republic a “Gallera” is a round arena, usually carpeted, with tribunes and chairs overlooking, where cockfights take place.
A smell of blood, sweat and alcohol, permeates the place.

The “sport”of cockfighting is mainly a manly one.

The women you meet in a “Gallera”, aside from the occasional wife or daughter, are mostly prostitutes (“Cueros”), usually working along with the “Gallera”bar owner on a commission for the bottles sold. They entertain their clients between fights and then, after the last “pelea” (fight), they might go off with someone to a cheap hotel nearby to either celebrate a victory or soothe the pain of a loss.

The cocks are first weighted and matched in fighting pairs, then stowed in plastic, numbered cubicles, where they can be observed prior to the fight for everyone to detect their strength, their defects, their combativeness and place bets accordingly.

Before they fight, the cocks are “armed” with deadly spurs enabling them to stab their adversary more efficiently. The preparation of a fighting cock can take up to several hours. First the natural spurs are cut and shaped with a knife so that the plastic replacement spur can be glued over it, then stripes of a special sticky tapes are wrapped all around the spur in a similar way you would do with a boxer hands before slipping his boxing gloves on.

Also, before the fight, often for several weeks, the cocks go under a regimen of all sorts of vitamins and energizing potions. In addition the lower part of their bodies is accurately shaved and repeatedly sprayed with chewing tobacco (“andullo”) impregnated saliva by their trainers.

An aspect of the relationship between the trainers/cock owners and their animals that I must admit escapes my personal comprehension is how can someone care so much, invest so much money (in vitamins, special food, etc) in their animal only to throw it into an arena to fight to their death?.

The fights are very noisy and quite bloody. People scream, to the top of their voices to change their bets and to encourage or insults to the fighting cocks.
Spectators in the front rows, closer to the arena, sometimes protect their clothes with the pages of old newspapers from the too common sprays and spurts of blood from the wounded cocks.

Money quickly changes hands as bets are doubled and tripled as the fight progresses. The cocks have a pre-set time limit to kill their adversary or else they can win (just like in boxing) with “points”, unless it’s a draw.
Weekly and monthly wages are doubled or lost in matter of minutes.
Utter desperation and exhilarating joy are common sentiments to be encountered at these cockfights.

The cock often becomes the living (or dead) symbol of either good luck or endless misery.

Some poor lady often collects the dead cocks, washes the blood off, peels them and sells them for their meat. The meat of a cock that died in a fight is very tough so it is usually cooked for many hours ,then shredded and mixed to herring filets to improve the taste. Obviously this culinary concoction is said to have marvelous aphrodisiac properties and strengthen a man’s sexual potency.

PANORAMIC

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 18:12:48 GMT

]]>These panoramic photographs require stitching between four and eight individual shots together with a specialized software to achieve a 360 degree view. This procedure allows the creation of an "equirectangular" image for printing purposes as well as an interactive panoramic image ( available in different formats) where the viewer, using the computer mouse, is able to pan around as well as zoom in and out any desired portion of the image.
For the "interactive version" of several of the panoramic images in this page please click HERE

The iPhone Diaries

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:04:57 GMT

]]>One day I felt I needed a new, small, unobtrusive camera that would occasionally allow me to make a phone call.
So, I got myself an Apple Iphone.

I believe that photography is not about technically complex set-ups or mega-pixels; it is mostly about vision and having a photographic device ready to shoot whenever you see something that catches your imagination.
The Iphone is exactly that, in a lightweight, stealth, unintimidating, almost reassuring cell-phone form.
The Iphone lets me be near my subjects and take their picture, sometimes openly, sometimes not, without resorting to a telephoto lens. At the same time it forces me to concentrate just on framing and on how to overcome with ingenuity its optical limitations, something I find refreshing, being accustomed to work with highly sophisticated (and heavy)equipment most of the time.

READ MORE

GET THE BOOK

FRIDAY AT SUNDOWN

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:23:26 GMT

]]>Trying to make the best of a bitterly cold winter in New York City,at the beginning of January 2011 I started taking photograph in a Hasidic neighborhood. With utmost respect for their right to privacy, I walked around one of their Brooklyn enclaves just a few hours before the start of Sabbath.

My experience, for peripheral and marginal it may appear, triggered and augmented both my respect and my interest for this community.

I admit that, as an American in a brutally divided and divisive America, the close-knit social tissue of the Hasidic fascinates me.
Obviously a lot of my fascination also has to do with the visuals of it.
I admire the tenacity and the political statement of dressing today, even here in New York City, in exactly the same way they dressed centuries ago in the remotest regions of Eastern Europe.

Read the full essay HERE

Portraits 2

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:17:44 GMT

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iPhone Photo-journalism

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:47:07 GMT

]]>I have been singing praises about the Iphone virtues as a visual creativity tool for a long time now, but can the Iphone be useful in reportage of current events too?
Can this small camera, without optical zoom capabilities, with fairly slow and awkward shutter actuation, a mere thee megapixel resolution ( I have a 3Gs) be used to document something happening across the police and fire department lines?

READ MORE....

POLAR BEARS in Coney Island

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 02:33:03 GMT

]]>The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest winter bathing The club was founded by famed health advocate Bernarr McFadden in 1903. Members swim in the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island every Sunday from November through April. organization in the United States.
Every New Year's Day, the Club is joined by participants from around the country - although most hark from New York - who partake in an annual swim

LIVE MUSIC RECORDINGS

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 04:42:35 GMT

]]>For the majority of the many superb musicians I had the pleasure to meet during my extensive documentary filming in the Dominican Republic, unless they get signed by a record company, the chances of self-financing a studio recording and burn some CDs to promote themselves is a very remote option, far out of their financial capabilities. And by the same token, how can they approach a record company and try to get signed as recording artists if they don’t even have a demo CD or cassette to showcase their musical talent? Impossible.

I did some research and found out that in one of the most affordable recording studios in Santo Domingo (a very basic one, using equipment that I wouldn’t call exactly “state of the art”) an artist who wants to record a CD should budget at least 100thousand pesos for studio, remix and mastering time, not very much by New York standards but way unaffordable to the great majority of independent Dominican musicians and groups.

And that figure does not include neither CD duplication costs (the minimum in DR is 500 units at a very steep price per unit) nor any kind of graphic design on the CD face.

In other words, whereas here in the US many young talented musicians can afford to buy a small, cheap but very sophisticated home studio and make a short run of professional looking demo-CDs to send to record companies or even sell at their gigs to give their creative career a chance, the great majority of Dominican artist are simply cut out of the game altogether.

I quickly understood there was an interesting niche in the market that would allow me to gain professional fulfillment and more importantly do something that would greatly benefit the Dominican musical community.

I opened a company, “ARTE MAGNETICA” offering digital live recordings on location and short run CD duplication including graphic design and printing onto CD.

The outfit is very mobile, flexible and versatile, we record individual musicians and groups performing live in acoustically interesting and naturally quiet locations, using the most sophisticated microphones and field recorder available, instantly mastering onto CD, then we offer two different duplication packages, 50 or 100 CD on which we are able to print a digital picture of the artists (or any other required artwork) and musical / contact information.

All this for a fraction of a studio price and what’s even more interesting to our client is that we keep their master in our computer archive so that should they require another short run (or even larger run) at a later date, all they need to do is to place the order over the phone and we can deliver them the chosen quantity within a few days, neatly printed and encased in transparent CD cases.

So far most of our clients can hardly believe that we can achieve such high quality recordings and even do the printing and duplicating for such a low price, but as soon as they hear, see and hold their investment in their hands their excitement and happiness becomes our best reward.
And of course they immediately spread the word to their friend and colleagues and, happy clients being the best form of promotion we can ask for, more and more musicians request our services every day….

It feels really good to be considered the best at what we are doing, but it feels even better to give so many valuable artists a viable avenue to express themselves and move forward in their careers.

A catalog of live recording releases can be found HERE

FACES OF THE PLACES 2

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 03:05:26 GMT

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MAYDAY SB1070

magneticart@gmail.com (Giovanni Savino Photography) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:34:11 GMT

]]>Every year when we get to the first day of May I can’t help but feel sad.

My maternal grandmother was born in Italy on May first 1912.
Her father, Orlando, was a horse-cart maker and a community leader.

With the advent of Mussolini and his fascist “black shirt” punitive squads, they would go to Orlando’s home and, in front of the little girl’s eyes, arrest him, often beat him up, “purge” him-shoving cod liver oil down his throat (with a funnel)- and throw him in jail for a few days.

This would usually happen on the last week of April every year so that he would not be able to throw a party to celebrate his daughter’s birthday on May first, which could enable him, in the fascists’ eyes, to actually celebrate Workers Day, a strongly forbidden festivity in those years.

Yesterday, May 1, 2010, a large workers march was being planned in New York City and although I had received no assignment by any news organization whatsoever, I just decided to go along and cover it for my own sake.

The marchers were mostly legal and illegal immigrants, chanting at the top of their voices a desire to be recognized and integrated by a society they joined by the necessity to earn a living, to raise and educate their kids, as well as to provide for extended families left in their sub developed countries of origin.

Of course yesterday the recently passed Arizona law sb1070 on immigration was a hot and sad topic on everyone’s mouth.

I don’t feel this is the time nor perhaps the place to expand a lot about what I think of this issue, however I can say that, being an immigrant myself, having experienced poverty myself, having dreamed the “American Dream “ and to an extent having been able to live it, my heart is with these people.

Politics and politicking aside, I just present here some views I was able to capture of the immigrants march in New York City, May first 2010.