Francesco Algeri Retraces American Music Roots with Lomography Color Negative 800

When Lomographer Francesco Algeri, a.k.a. @fralgeri isn’t working his shift in a live music club, he busies himself by documenting the historical roots of American Music — particularly the origins of jazz, country and blues from Louisiana to Illinois — in his on-going series, Deep South.

Credits: fralgeri

Francesco goes deep into the south, where music was truly born. Using his trusted film, the Lomography Color Negative 800, history looks evermore livelier and vibrant as he shoots important places along Highway 61 for this series. Francesco also went to Mississipi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri. According to Francesco, jazz and blues originated in the southern Missisippi Delta, and along the river itself found home in Chicago’s nightclubs.

“But it is the suburbs that have cradled the dawn of these genres with its secondary roads that start from small towns, often surrounded only by cotton plantations that today smell of petrochemical odors — and then, between history and abandonment, lead you to the sparkling lights of the great centers. Thus, from Louisiana and following the Mississippi, we arrived in Illinois partly along a river that today seems to guide you above all through memories of what could have been but it was not for those places that, however, still retain the spontaneity that distinguishes a solo blues or a gospel choir, so much so that it is no coincidence that small towns with unlikely names such as Hazlehurst or Rolling Fork or Ferriday, may have given birth to legends such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters or Jerry Lee Lewis.”
Credits: fralgeri

He intentionally used analogue as well to keep the shooting process as spontaneous as possible, without having to fuss too much or have digital comfort.

“Like a typical jam session between strangers, what matters is the feeling of the moment, enjoying the moment itself. These images are a part of those moments lived. And I used CN 800 film because it allows me to shoot in any situation, from day to night, maintaining fast shutter speeds and I love its colors. I think it's one of the best films out there.”

For Francesco, the series not only is an ambitious journey to capture America’s musical geography — but a nostalgic one as well as these genres have been influential to the big and iconic stages in Chicago:

“I think it is a fact that music is present in various forms in the South of the United States, we can consider it the true thread between one state and another and really every corner exudes music. I have always photographed music in various forms: artists, live, etc. I wanted to travel immersed in these ‘sensations’.”

He also mentioned to us that he used the Daguerreotype Achromat Art Lens in some of the shots. The “road trip”-like images give more realism to this visual diary, allowing us to immerse into the pictures — as if we are experiencing the scenes themselves.

Credits: fralgeri

For more of Francesco’s work, visit and follow him on his LomoHome.

written by cielsan on 2021-10-24 in #culture #places

更多有趣的文章