Manfrotto about Roberto Bigano
Roberto Bigano is a unique photographer. First and foremost he seems to escape any attempt to pigeonhole his style or specialisations, regarding an overly narrow focus as something that stifles creativity. Then there’s the fact that he doesn’t hesitate to swim against the current of many of his professional colleagues.
Roberto Bigano: not your standard photographer, but a photographer who sets the standard
Extract from the Bigano’s Corner in Manfrotto’s Website
Roberto Bigano is a vital partner for Manfrotto. Before our products reach the market, they’re photographed by Roberto. So he knows and uses virtually the whole Manfrotto range, and has helped design and improve many of our products. The photos published on our websites and in our catalogs have been almost exclusively his for more than 20 years! From the perspective and lighting perspective, they are photos that one would now think of as “normal” – almost standard.
And in fact, if the world over, tripods and photographic equipment like our own are now photographed in the same way, we have to acknowledge that Roberto Bigano invented the standard when he first started shooting for Manfrotto, back in the days before digital. That way of making our heads, tripods, and special products look that little bit more dynamic, more appealing, is all his. So this 360° incursion into Roberto’s professional world is long overdue! It will be both pleasurable and educational… after all, who better to show us how to get the utmost from Manfrotto’s technical innovations? Happy viewing!
A classic photographs taken for a Manfrotto advertisement.
Above, my page for “Imagine More”. This Company Monograph celebrating the Manfrotto Forty years has been sent to 300 institutional personality worldwide. I was with acclaimed photographers celebrated this important Anniversary, as Douglas Kirkland, Don Gale, Bryan Adams, Bill Frakes, Drew Gardner, Harry De Zitter, Adam Hinton.
Bigano’s spirit and technology. A different approach.
Roberto Bigano is a unique photographer. First and foremost, he seems to escape any attempt to pigeonhole his style or specializations, regarding an overly narrow focus as something that stifles creativity. Then there’s the fact that he doesn’t hesitate to swim against the current of many of his professional colleagues.
To tell the truth, he does have a specialization, not of style or sector, but, as he puts it, a specialization of “methodology”: he takes the type of photo that so many of his contemporaries shy away from, using and pushing the limits of the best technological resources available today.
For example, the photographs automobiles on location, using a set that he can transport in the back of a station wagon, which allows him incredibly fine control over the light. Or he photographs a fresco 15 meters from the floor at the highest resolution possible, capturing the most amazing detail. Or he worms his way into the tightest crack, so small that the body of his professional camera won’t even pass completely through it, and by taking and piecing together hundreds of partial images, he brings to light an unseen Longobardic fresco from 1000AD.
For Manfrotto, I made memorable “Lessons” and Newsletters. Among them, “Shooting Technical Products,” “Shooting cars on location,” and “Shooting from an elevated point of view“.