Fire Eater – Piazza Navona

This photograph was taken one evening as I was walking through Piazza Navona. I was on my way to meet friends in Campo dei Fiori. I remember clearly in what direction I was heading and in which point of the piazza it was taken. I took it in a period of my life that I was rarely seen without a camera in my hand. It was a time that I was totally enamoured with imagery to the point of obsession. I would shoot dozens of images almost every day and then be impatient to get into the darkroom.

At that time the camera identified me. As a young man trying to find direction, the camera is what defined me. It was also a moment that maybe I wasn’t that secure. The camera was something to hide behind and perhaps a bit of a prop too.

This is what was written about me in an excerpt from exhibition notes by Creed O’Hanlon in 1979:

“I came across him in one of the streets off the Lungotevere that were the backdrop of many of his photographs. As usual, there were a couple of battered 35mm cameras slung ‘round his neck.”

The result of having a camera in your hands for most of your waking hours is that you become very familiar with its workings. You become the master of the instrument you are holding. You control what gets recorded.

In this case I remember that it was impossible to focus in the dark. No automatic focus in those days. The only time I could see anything through the viewfinder was when the flames erupted from the street performer’s mouth. I like to think that I remember feeling the heat from the flames but that may be an embellishment I have added with the passing of time. I guessed the focus distance, set it by hand on the lens as well as the shutter speed and aperture.

The resulting image of the Fire Eater is one that has been greatly admired. I used it for the poster of my 2003 exhibition in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. No doubt it will feature again in my 2013 exhibition next year. This, together with the Tor di Nona photograph, will for the first time be printed in a limited edition. Again I have daily dilemmas on how to print it in what quantities and what sizes.

Every day I come a little closer to a decision.