Analogue photographs

The Slowness of Light

Photography exhibition by Decio Barci Carvalho.

From 5 to 22 April, the Creative Space is hosting ‘The Slowness of Light’, Decio Barci Carvalho’s first photographic exhibition.
The exhibition presents a selection of large-format 8×10 black-and-white analogue photographs, the result of a slow and deeply artisanal process. The images arise from a practice rooted in observation, silence and patience, where each shot is the result of rigorous research and intense emotional engagement.

Having begun his journey with digital photography, Decio chose to devote himself entirely to analogue photography, finding in large format not merely a technique, but a genuine vision: a way of inhabiting time and light.
The work unfolds as an intimate dialogue with the landscape, in which slowness becomes a tool for understanding and photography is transformed into an almost ritualistic gesture, capable of conveying depth, texture and presence.
The exhibition will be hosted at Spazio Creativo, a venue born out of a passion for sharing and beauty, in the heart of the village of Suvereto.

A word from the artist

My name is Decio Carvalho and I am a landscape photographer. I started out with digital cameras over 15 years ago. After seeing a number of analogue black-and-white photography exhibitions and various videos on YouTube, I decided to switch to analogue: first medium format, then 4×5 large format and finally 8×10. The first time I looked at an image under the cloth, on the frosted glass of an 8×10, I fell in love

I was completely captivated, because looking at an image on an 8×10 gives you that sense of infinity: from right to left, diagonally, above, below… so many details. And that’s when I decided: this is my world.

With analogue photography, I create images exclusively in black and white, using an 8×10 large-format camera. It’s a choice that’s not just technical, but also philosophical. Large-format cameras are slow and really difficult to control, yet they produce images that are extraordinary in terms of detail, depth and a unique, marvellous tonal range. For me, photography is a unique ritual.

My photography is made up of silence, slowness, meditation, and prolonged observation of a place, but above all of that combination of dedication, love and the most sublime emotion that creates beauty.

The analogue process is fascinating: from the moment the shot is taken, it is a long, slow journey towards the final print in the darkroom.

I like the limitations, the imperfection, the lack of immediacy found in digital photography, and the rewarding wait that enhances the emotional value of the image. Analogue photography demands attention to light, keen observation, technical knowledge, manual dexterity and craftsmanship in the darkroom – which is the most creative part of the entire photographic process. I love spending my days creating photographs amidst nature, surrounded by silence and atmosphere, and finishing off my sessions in the darkroom is fantastic. The crux of the matter: passion is the element that ties everything together.

Creating analogue photography is much more than a mere technical act: it is an artistic practice, a ritual that combines dedication, perseverance, time and passion.

The only essential tool I refer to is, essentially, passion, and you can’t manufacture it: it has to come from within you.