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Robert Vizzini

ART PUBLICATIONS

  • Photography MonthlyJanuary, 2011
  • Robert VizziniPhotographer Robert Vizzini is a master of shooting at night. He’s a native New Yorker and the images of his home city after dark are breathtaking, which is the reason we had to feature him. In The Night Watchman on page 36, he explains to Kelly Weech how he uses creative lighting to empower his photographs with atmosphere.
  • ROBERT VIZZINI is a photographer based in New York. By day he works in reprographics and by night he explores the city to fuel his passion for shooting low-light photography. Kelly Weech finds out his tips and techniques for shooting urban landscapes at night.SING AN OLD-SCHOOL APPROACH OF TRIAL AND ERROR, photographer Robert Vizzini is self-taught and has expanded his technical skills and artistic vision. Shooting on film with his trusted Hasselblad 503CW, Vizzini is known for his graphic shapes and elegant eye. Using the relationship between light and shadows as well as extreme contrast, Vizzini portrays his creative vision using long exposures to produce stunning urban nightscapes.Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1952, Vizzini came across the work of Edward Weston when he was eight years old. “His poetic vision opened to me a magnificent world of the natural and ordinary beauty around us. It completely changed my visual life just seeing his shots of ordinary things: a pepper, a commode, shelves. Of course, just being a kid, I didn’t have access to much and I was unable to do any photography until later on in my life. I did do a little bit, my father helped me to set up a little dark room in the bathroom when I was around 12; but it didn’t last very long. I was always seeing shots and beautiful curves in nature and just kept all these wonderful compositions in my head until 1991 when I bought my first camera, a Nikon F3, and started shooting.”Experimenting and learning from his mistakes, he decided to take photography classes at the New York School of Visual Arts in 1993. “I really wanted to learn how to print black and white as I found whenever I got my film processed and printed in the lab the results were always very unsatisfying. I continued to take classes and things progressed from there. I also joined the Camera Club of New York and it was here I met a tremendous number of photographers who are still my friends today. We helped each other to improve and having constructive criticism from other people, whether you ask for it or not, was a big part of my development.”In photography, finding a niche can allow your passion to flourish. When you are inspired by a particular subject you should continue to keep returning to that area to develop a style and improve upon the body of work you are building; for Vizzini this was the ambiguity of the night.
  • “Once I took the plunge and really started shooting at night in earnest it became my passion. I didn’t find any other photographic work as interesting and rewarding for me. Most of my daytime shooting continues to be scouting for night shots and killing time for the real thing; I love it. Photography is based on light and to capture the light. However, night to some extent is the absence of light and this is why it is so fascinating to me.”He loves pinhole, plastic and vintage cameras, although he doesn’t use them at night. “I love the serendipity and possibilities of things happening that you can’t anticipate. There is so much of this in night photography also. When you are taking a photograph you are capturing a time lapse that ordinarily you cannot see with the naked eye, so it’s a different view of what is going on in the world. After a period of time you just begin to develop an educated idea of the possibilities, but there are still such wonderful surprises you can’t predict and I love that aspect.”Vizzini is also a fan of photographers Michael Kenna and Michael Yamashita. “Eventually I took a workshop with Kenna in Woodstock, New York, in 1997, which was amazing. He is a great guy and very open, which I find a lot with the really great photographers and people in the arts. When you are really up there at the top of your game, you are not afraid to reveal your secrets, because you are secure in what you do and you want people to expand their horizons. He was really very much like that with information and his time, so that was a great start. I also participated in The Quiet Landscape workshop with Yamashita in 1999. I had already been shooting a little bit of night photography and this also really helped me to advance.”Vizzini’s day job involves working for non-profit companies creating design for print and production work for magazines in New York. “I feel it all goes together when you are a visual person. I definitely think my design work sharpens my visual sense for my photography, by being aware of new looks, styles and approaches in the culture.”It is becoming rare these days for photographers to prefer film over digital but Vizzini has not been tempted to use digital for his night-time work. “I shoot commercial work at times and you kind of need digital for the odd still life or editorial piece because of the quick turn-around factor, but I much prefer film. I love the look and the quality it gives. There is no doubt in my mind it is a different look to digital but I guess I am a little bit of a throwback. For me, digital is the opposite of what I want to do. I want the long exposure and not the instant exposure that digital offers. It simply continues to work for me, so as long as they keep making film I am going to continue using it. My exposures do depend on where I am. If I am in the city, a two-minute exposure is pretty long but sometimes my exposure could be up to eight minutes. I have done longer exposures in rural areas, even up to an hour, but I haven’t really gone beyond that, although some people do. I know Michael Kenna has done up to eight-hour exposures.”The most important thing is to be really meticulous. Always record your exposures, bracket a lot and use a light meter. “There may be times when the scene is way beyond what the meter can record but it is still an indicator of what your exposure should be, give or take a few stops. In the city you can use a light meter but always remember that because it is night the meter is still trying to give you the middle grey.”To solve this problem Vizzini will always go by the reading on the meter and expose two stops below that to allow the images to record as a night scene; otherwise you are going to blow out the entire atmosphere within the shot.
  • He always shoots three or four bracketed shots of the same image to ensure he gets something that is really usable and admits these are all things he continues to do, even today. He explains: “When you keep doing something you really gain an educated idea about what you can do, what different scenes are going to give you and what kind of exposures you need in different lighting conditions.“Some people assume I use a star burst filter for the street lights within a scene but if you stop down to f/16 or f/22 with any light source you are going to get a star-like effect. Personally I would never use something like this. I have used neutral density filters in the past and would certainly use red and orange filters with black and white work to enhance the sky, but for night work I don’t use filters. There is a lot of information out there on the internet, including different charts, which are a pretty good reference, but nothing is perfect, no scene is exactly the same or what it says on the lists, so you still need to bracket. The best thing about these charts is they give you an idea of where to start. I would advise getting a whole load of these different charts and see what works for you by doing it.”Vizzini believes that different scenes benefit from colour or black and white. “In my mind it is hard to shoot both black and white and colour at the same time. I feel I have to dedicate the time to one or the other. With black and white you are dealing with tonality and with colour the composition is essential. When shooting with friends who shoot on digital, they can take up 20 shots while I am still doing my first shot. It can be a little frustrating at times but I find digital can rush you. When I intend to do serious work I do it alone because when I am on my own, I go where I want to go and do what I do, the way I do it and take my time.”There are, of course, disadvantages to shooting on film. “Although I love film, it can be pretty tough for me, when commissioned for a project, to wait to get a film developed. I have to ensure the exposures will be usable and you can never be 100% positive. There is always some kind of doubt and it is a little scary, because when you are doing your own work it doesn’t matter if you don’t get the shot, but with something like the Tribute in Light assignment, which I was recently commissioned to shoot, it is simply something which can’t be repeated. But this is what I do and I am confident knowing that I will get something to work with.”The Municipal Art Society of New York, co-founder of Tribute in Light, commissioned Vizzini to shoot a selection of images of the 88 7,000-watt xenon light bulbs which echo the shape and orientation of the Twin Towers. Marking the tragedy of 9/11, these lights have been assembled each year on a rooftop close to the World Trade Center site. The illuminated memorial reaches four miles into the sky and is visible from as far as 30 miles away.“The Tribute in Light was a long day, 14 hours in total, but the preparation for the shoot started a couple of weeks prior to the lights being switched on. I researched what might be good vantage points and tried to get access in buildings nearby. However, that didn’t really work out apart from one, 7World Trade [Center], which is where my day job is based. I knew there would be an impressive view of those lights so I got permission to shoot from the 29th floor and did a few test shots before the lights were even on. I also did a few test shots when the lights were being tested the night before.“The night involved a lot of running around. Usually in New York I take the subway or a bus but for this I took cabs everywhere, especially as I was carrying my equipment, which weighed about 50lb. The shoot was quite simply exhausting.”A little post-production work was done, consisting of colour correcting and minor adjustments such as putting up the shadows a little bit, but nothing too much. “I basically do whatever I have to do. I did crop a few images, although this is unusual for me, but I felt some had a small number of problems, such as the flare was a bit too much. I do like flare but I felt it needed less. I didn’t want to sacrifice the images completely and I knew that they might be cropped for promotional use anyway.”Vizzini has photographed night scenes outside of the United States, as well, including Paris and Italy. He explains: “Every place I have photographed I want to go back to but there are so many other places I want to photograph that it’s hard ever to repeat. I think the places I want to visit are varied in terms of what they offer. I sometimes feel I have a lot of water imagery and I do also gravitate a lot towards architecture, but it has been rough financially, so I do shoot a lot here in the United States for that reason. I have a friend in Nebraska and I really like it there. I couldn’t live there but I love shooting there, so maybe I will return again in a few months. I need to keep moving around and trying new places, as there are so many places on my shoot list.”Night photography is about patience and persistence. Experimentation is the key as night-time photography brings the unknown and the anticipation of trying different things. “I am always looking to break the rules, especially with my black and white work. I feel I have experimented tremendously in the darkroom and a major part of my imagery is done there.“What you see on the final print is not what is on the negative, which is where black and white differs hugely to colour work. Colour is a lot more what’s there and this is why I want to get back to my black and white work, to experiment again. It has been a while since I’ve printed black and white and everything has changed now; so many papers have disappeared but so many new ones have come into play. Some are papers I’ve never used before and I feel it could be interesting again to see what I can get. It’s good to learn the rules but then to go ahead, break them and make your own.” PM
  • American PHOTOSeptember/October, 2006It wasn't until Robert Vizzini turned 39, an age of midcareer retrospectives in the art world, that he began to pursue photography in earnest. Yet his interest in visual expression dates at least to 1960, when at the impressionable age of eight he saw the work of Edward Weston on a Today Show broadcast. “In a real sense he taught me to see,” says the New York City-based photographer, who works days as a graphic designer. “I fell I’ve been internalizing images my whole life.” Despite his muse, Vizzini strays from the Weston fold in Communing with the Universe, a series of nocturnal images shot in locations ranging from Nova Scotia to Italy’s Tuscany region. No creamy AZO-Pyro tones for him; Vizzini combines traditional silver bromide paper with undiluted lithographic developer, ordinarily used at lower strengths to produce a high-contrast result. This gives his prints a grainy, sketchlike quality and a pinkish image tone the reinforce their often otherworldly content. In this six minute exposure, made with a Hasselblad 503cw and 50mm f/4 Zeiss wideangle at the Red Carpet Motel in Bouton Iowa, a satellite dish seems to ,send a lonely message to the stars, though it is also a sly reference to the photographer’s youthful enthusiasm for the fledgling sciences of space exploration and TV. Because Vizzini’s printing technique produces unique artifacts with every sheet of paper he slips into the developer, he can’t create the consistant editions that galleries often demand. instead, he call the prints “expressions,” making 15 at each of two sizes, 13 x 13 and 17 x 17 inches, then stopping. The work sells briskly at New York City’s ClampArt Gallery.Russell Hart
  • From The World of Lith Printing, By Tim Rudman, Published by Argentum (2006)Sixteen Wheeler Star Trail, Valentine, Nebraska, 1998 Robert J. Vizzini, USALith developed, gelatin silver prints, Image Sizes: 13{quote} x 13{quote} & 17{quote} x 17{quote}. Ilford Multigrade IV paper, Kodak Kodalith Super RT developer, full strength (1 part stock A 1 part stock B), approximately 100 degrees F, no toner. I use Kodalith developer at full strength starting hot as mixed and I will usually print for hours. My negative exposure times are from 5 to 40 seconds in the enlarger. I slip the exposed print in the developer and continuously agitate for from 2 minutes to 10 minutes depending on the negative, snatch the print at the time I feel is visually correct for contrast and development. Immediately slip it in the stop bath (Kodak indicator) for around 15 to 30 seconds, drain and fix in Kodafix.Late Morning Light.1, Stovepipe Wells Sand Dunes, Death Valley, CA, 2003 Robert J. Vizzini, USALith developed, gelatin silver prints, Image Sizes: 9{quote} x 9{quote} & 15{quote} x 15{quote}. Forte Fortezo grade 3 paper, Kodak Kodalith Super RT developer, 1:4 (1 part working solution [A+B] 4 parts water) approximately 80 degrees F, no toner. My negative exposure times are from 4 to 12 seconds in the enlarger usually at f4-5.6. I slip the exposed print in the developer and continuously agitate for from 5 minutes to 17 minutes depending on the negative, snatch the print at the time I feel is visually correct for contrast and development. Immediately slip it in the stop bath (Kodak indicator) for around 15 to 30 seconds, drain and fix in Kodafix.
  • Popular Photography & ImagingDecember, 2004Robert Vizzini likes to work in the dark. His nocturnal time-exposure landscapes have a Close Encounters feel, complete with streaks of light and blips from moving stars, cars and airplanes. To further emphasize the otherworldliness of his photo, Vizzini prints his Kodak T-Max 400 negatives on standard paper, then process them in Kodalith, a finicky, extremely high contrast developer. “Every print comes out looking different,” he says. “It’s a challenge.”Mason Resnick
  • Harper’s MagazineOctober 2004
  • Photography NOW 2002 CompetitionSelections & text by Kathy RyanPhoto Editor, New York Times MagazinePhotography QuarterlyCenter for Photography at WoodstockWinter 2003
  • Photography NOW 2002 CompetitionThe most memorable pictures this year were those that reflected observation of the real world. The ascendance of documentary photography at this moment in time was definitely reaffirmed by strength of the images that follow. The very best pictures are those depicting a smart and truthful rendering of a human story and images that place unexpected and savvy attention on the ordinary in life.Selections & text by Kathy RyanPhoto Editor, New York Times MagazinePhotography QuarterlyCenter for Photography at WoodstockWinter 2003
  • Photography NOW 2002 CompetitionRobert J. Vizzini's (New York, NY) beautiful photographs are love poems to New York. He takes on the big landmarks and makes them his own through his spare and elegant eye. His classical sensibility is deftly applied to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, roads and bridges. Nighttime and moody skies always reign in his pictures. Whether he is isolating out the underside of a roadway across a bridge or focusing our attention on tenement buildings seen through a rain smudged window screen, there is no doubt about how he feels about his subject.Selections & text by Kathy RyanPhoto Editor, New York Times Magazine
  • Photovision Art & TechniqueJuly/August 2003Robert VizziniCommuning With The UniverseAn Exploration In Nocturnal ImageryI have been capturing images at night for the last three years using time exposures from a fraction of a second to one hour. This has produced some mystical and magical compositions. As you will see many of the shots reveal star trails due to the long exposures lending a sense of motion to an otherwise stagnant scene. Also emphasizing the interaction of man and the natural landscape. I employ a lith development process (see May/June 2001, {quote}Lith Printing,{quote} by Tim Rudman) used with a multigrade photographic paper that facilitates the rich textures of the prints adding to their sketch like quality. Each is developed by inspection and due to the volatile nature of this chemical and paper combination each print is a unique specimen. This body of work consists of 100 images at this time taken in such varied locations as the Tuscany region of Italy; Nova Scotia, Canada; Bouton, Iowa; and New York City. I am producing the series in two sizes, each in editions of 15 expressions.
  • Photovision Art & TechniqueJuly/August 2003Robert VizziniCommuning With The UniverseAn Exploration In Nocturnal Imagery
  • AperturePhotography and TimeIssue 158, Winter 2000
  • Black & White MagazineIssue 8, August 2000SpotlightRobert VizziniPhotographing at night presents unique challenges in a medium that by definition depends on light. For photographer Robert Vizzini, these challenges excite and provide his artistic sensibility and provide him with the opportunity to see in new ways. His current body of work consists of over 100 nocturnal images. Some of which have been published in recent issues of Aperture, DoubleTake, and Blind Spot.{quote}It actually began as a visual attraction,{quote} Vizzini says. {quote}like the mystery of nocturnal imagery, and as the series has progressed I've learned to see more; my sensitivity has increased.{quote} Vizzini's photographs capture the mysterious and moody quality of the night. His photographs combine the stillness of the nighttime atmosphere with the motion created by moving stars or passing vehicles. They suggest a certain element of science fiction, pointing the viewer's attention to the night sky and the other side of appearances.The limited and varied light sources available at night force Vizzini to think creatively and to take risks. Whereas during the day there is a constant source of light, at night there are often several sources of light, usually coming from the side and in varying degrees of intensity. Every exposure therefore involves a new set of variable as well as the ever-present element of chance. Vizzini studied night technique with photographer Michael Kenna. He learned how to master time exposure and multiple sources of light. He has also drawn upon his years of experience working with plastic and pinhole cameras, where technique, experimentation, and chance play equal roles in the creative process. He enjoys this combination of elements, often relying on intuition as he works.Vizzini uses an alternative printing technique for this series in order to further emphasize the character of the night atmosphere. It is a time intensive darkroom procedure, in which he uses Kodalith developer and a multigrade paper, and must pay careful attention to the developing process.The resulting prints have a handmade, textural feel which varies slightly from one to the next, making each print a unique interpretation of the negative. The photographs seem at once very contemporary and crudely archaic, a surreal combination that underlines the {quote}otherworldly{quote} subject matter. {quote}Nocturnal imagery has given me a whole other way of seeing,{quote} Vizzini explains. {quote}It’s night. It’s dark. You think you don't see things, but there's so much out there.{quote}
  • Jupiter Rising (top left){quote}That night I was photographing at the World Financial Center in New York City. The steak in the middle is the planet Jupiter, recorded during a four-minute exposure. I was attracted to the contrast of the moving planet with the towering, motionless buildings.{quote}Untitled.31 (top right){quote}I was returning from a trip to Nebraska when I took a picture of this satellite dish at the Red Carpet Motel. It was such a great place, I could have stayed there photographing for a week. It connected to feelings regarding the coming of the Millennium, as if it was pull in the universe, and gave me the idea for the name of the series Communing with the Universe. It was also with this photograph that I figured out my printing technique. In making this print I experimented with different papers and developers until I found the effect I was looking for.{quote}Sixteen Wheeler Star Trail (bottom left)I took this photograph very early in the body of work. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the light, or how I would end up with. It could have been overexposed, underexposed, I just didn’t know. I set up my 4 x 5 by the side of the road and made a few exposures. It wasn't until I saw the film that I noticed the streak on the right side of the image, which turned out to be a searchlight. I hadn't even seen it when I was out there, so that was a happy surprise.Country Road (middle right){quote}This photograph interests me with its multiple light sources. I lit the road with the headlights of my car to activate the center reflectors, but there is also the moon, a streetlight, and the light within the house. All of these different sources combine to give a night image its special quality.{quote}Gettysburg Garage (bottom right){quote}I had just recently acquired my Hasselblad when I made this photograph. One evening, while exploring the area around the motel I was staying in, this little structure caught my eye. In itself it was a very interesting still life. And the moon contributed a mystical mood.{quote}
  • Photo ReviewVolune 23, Number 3Summer 2000
  • Blind Spot, Issue 15, Spring/Summer 2000
  • DoubleTake, Issue 20, Spring 2000
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