Hasselblad 500 C/M: Photography as a Practice of Presence
Traces of an Ongoing Artistic Research
Before the Image: The Gesture of the Gaze
Before the image, there is an act of attention.
Within my artistic research, photography does not arise only from the desire to capture a form, but from the necessity of dwelling with it. It is a space where the gaze slows down, time expands, and reality becomes perceptual matter.
Photography, like painting and sculpture, belongs to a broader investigation into the relationship between presence, matter, and perception. Each language explores the same question: at what moment does something become form?
The Memory of the Hasselblad 500 C/M
When I was young and working at the renowned photographic studio Artic0, I encountered a camera that would leave a profound trace in my memory: the Hasselblad 500 C/M.
I still remember the precise gesture of loading the film, the concentration required before each exposure, and the awareness that every image demanded time, attention, and responsibility.
The darkroom, the portrait studio, the process of developing and printing belonged to a world where technique and sensitivity were inseparable.
It was not only a way of producing images.
It was a way of educating the gaze.
Returning to Photography Through Matter
Years later, after studying art and developing a long practice through painting and ceramics, I returned to photography.
My practice was already deeply rooted in material experience: hands immersed in clay, large-scale painted surfaces, and forms emerging through a direct relationship between body and material.
Rediscovering the Hasselblad 500 C/M felt like reconnecting with the same research through another language.
When I loaded my first roll of film after many years, my hands were trembling once again.
It was not nostalgia.
It was the recognition of a gesture that had remained alive.
Twelve Exposures, A Different Sense of Time
A fully mechanical camera, independent from batteries, the Hasselblad requires a particular form of presence.
Each roll contains twelve possible images.
Twelve moments in which to choose, wait, and compose.
Analog photography establishes a different relationship with time: it does not allow the endless repetition of the digital image, but invites a deeper form of listening.
Before the image, there is a suspension.
A silent interval in which the gaze prepares itself.
Photography as Painting with Light
The development process, contact sheets, and the choice of black-and-white printing belong to a slow and contemplative practice.
Deep blacks, soft whites, composition, and depth of field are not only technical elements.
They are perceptual qualities.
Within my research, photography naturally enters into dialogue with other artistic languages:
sculpture works with volume,
painting with surface,
photography with light.
Three different forms through which the same research encounters matter and time.
A Tool, A Relationship with Time
The Hasselblad 500 C/M is an instrument capable of crossing different eras: it can embrace digital technology while preserving its essential nature.
It remains a camera that asks for participation.
A reminder that the image does not emerge only from the device, but from the quality of the gaze.
Perhaps this is the deeper value of photography: not simply to stop something in front of us, but to learn how to be present when that thing appears.
The Artistic Process as an Everyday Practice
The creative process can reveal itself through any gesture.
In painting, ceramics, photography, or simply in the ability to observe.
Not every moment requires a photograph.
Sometimes the practice consists in recognising that it is not yet the right moment.
Waiting belongs to creation as much as acting does.
Photography, in this sense, becomes a practice of presence: a way of encountering the world through a slower, more conscious, and more open gaze.
