In the late 19th century, on the standing bend of Swiss Alps, a long, mustachiode, eccentric man – often sang himself – used to travel around the spoiled Blenio Valley Hawking Seed Packets while carrying something else: a large format plate camera.
Roberto Donta is a very unusual photographer. He died because he was born, about a world that he could not navigate and he was never satisfied, and his photos are still bursting with humor and conspiracy for his clever use and his ability to keep the subjects easily.
In 1912, his wife left him and took six out of his seven children with him because he was unable to provide him. On his 46th birthday, all his belongings – including his beloved glass plate cameras – were seized from him.
Most of the men born in the Blenio Valley left to find work in a nearby industrial city. But Donata, partly due to his love of nature, never left the rural areas that he loved so much, mourned changes as roads and new railway lines were established.
PhotostifungWho performed his work, Donta is called a “contrasting personality”, because technology collided with his love, ie photography, his ludite personality.
This eventually led to the villagers of the Blenio Valley to consider as a vagina. But despite his shift reputation, it is clear that he was well liked, and many villagers would request their photographic services; However, he often distributed late commissions as he developed plates repeatedly to save on chemicals.
After his death in 1932, 5,000 photos taken by him were the only objects that could not get rid of the sale of all his belongings to the auctions who lent him money and never got back.
It was not until the mid -1980s that Mariarosa Bozina discovered her life work in the rural village Korzono, where she died. The incredible photographs of Donta depict yesterday’s world which was being left behind.
Although Donata did not have a shop, he would try to re -create the latest photographic studio by hanging his own immediate background and using what he could take.
Fotostiftung Schweiz says it is “clear” that Donta’s technical skills improved their 30 -year career a lot because they found their photos faster and better.
Says the museum, “Over time, Donta carried out his figures to take out a picture, in nature, inherent in a landscape, which was very familiar to them,” the museum says.
Image Credit: Photos by Roberto Donta
