All the pictures in the 'Personal' section are extreme in the sense that they tend strongly toward the abstract. They represent sensations, feelings, visions that it was possible to stop in the photographic process. I realize that they are things that I see, and that is precisely why I make them available to everyone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but still the desire to share them remains high.
In the past I have used titles that explained, induced, winked at an aspect of the vision I was representing. However, some photographers are convinced that the title, more often than not, is either ridiculous or misleading. And if this is true for images whose meaning is more immediate, let alone abstract ones. I found myself agreeing.
So I remembered a famous statue, a half-bust of Jesus Christ, that stands at the foot of the steps leading to the Church of St. Anthony Abbot, a stone's throw from the Vucciria. It is an 'Ecce Homo’. The Christus crowned with thorns and bleeding. 'Ecce homo!' is said to be Pilate's exclamation as he presented Jesus to the Jerusalem crowd. A scourged Jesus, crowned with thorns and holding a reed instead of a scepter. It is the very human symbol of Christ's Passion.
'Ecce' is Latin. It means 'Behold, this is it'.
And this is precisely the meaning of the title 'Ecce' for my personal photos, accompanied by a number. A rational, strict symbol, only useful for me since there are so many images. And so many 'Ecce', so many 'there it is!', as if to say to every single viewer, there it is, that's just what you're thinking, suffering and seeing, and that's just all there is.
'Ecce'.
All this reminds me of a famous and very tasty novel by G.K. Chesterton, 'Manalive,' which is an exclamation, but also a literal way of life.
