“Hey Hey, My My. Rock and roll can never die“. Così cantava Neil Young in one of his most famous pieces and that prophecy is still true today. To reiterate it once again are events such as the Summer Jamboreean extraordinary festival that returns to Senigallia again this year to immerse fans in the rock’n’roll music, atmosphere and lifestyle. Instax he invited us to discover this world, framing it from the lens of his new Square SQ40 who accompanied us on this journey through time.
The Summer Jamboree of Senigallia is a continuous surprise
There are events that arrive in a city without overwhelming it, that come and go and maybe don’t even leave their borders. The Summer Jamboree of Senigallia is definitely not like that. Nine days that involve the entire country of the Adriatic Riviera, transforming it into a continuous whirlwind of events, scents, sounds that seem to have been transported directly from the 1950s.
What it represents cannot be summed up in a few words. The first impact is of course all the stands they show an endless variety of gadgets, clothes and accessories which take us back to that era. From the most elaborate glasses you can imagine to colorful Hawaiian shirts, passing through leather jackets, patches and polka dot hair bands.
But the gaze widens easily and here we see a exceptional crowd which perfectly embodies the vintage taste and is ready to go wild at rhythm of the most classic and biting rock’n’roll. Throughout the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia you can experience great concerts that recall the genres in vogue in that golden decade, from rockabilly to doo-wop, country, swing and again and again…
Of course it’s not about music that should only be listened to, but also ballad. So here it is raining on every corner, courses and workshops to learn how to move like our grandparents did, but more generally enter body and soul into this retro world. That way that sound really gets under our skin. And like it or not, we start moving our feet, to let loose in a frenzied lindy hop.
Capturing a memory, in its purest form
A perfect partnership for the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia it is Instax, with its line of instant cameras. Products that are born with that sense of nostalgia and vintage incorporated, bringing to light ideas that in the digital age of shooting they seemed lost. And that fit perfectly with this event and with a journey in general, whether it is in time or more traditionally in space.
The Instax Square SQ40 that accompanied us in our days in Senigallia has proven itself an excellent adventure companion. Solid and light, she was very comfortable to always wear around the neck (the leather cord is included in the package, after all) so as not to miss any moment. Whether it was an exciting sunset over the sea, a dance lesson or a motorcyclist racing up a vertical wall – yes, it really happened – she was always ready to shoot.
This also at a maximally simplified design. Simply rotate the lens to quickly switch from Off to On to Selfie Mode (with which to take advantage of the very useful and ingenious mirror on the front) and back. One key, for shoot at the right moment. A very simple and practicable film replacement mechanism even when standing and on the move. And above all a automatic exposure systemto leave us the sole task of pointing and… Click!
Giving weight to a memory
Of course, the game it’s not always so linear. There is a learning curve with instant cameras too, to learn the best conditions to get the perfect shot, to get exactly the shot we have in mind. But this is secondary, because a camera like the Instax SQ40 it doesn’t serve to take the perfect photo, but to capture a memory.
We’re getting into rhetorical territory, but let’s deal with it. Back to duty choose carefully what we want to photographlimited by the number of shots available in the film, without the possibility of correcting in post-production, bring back to a different experience. And that leads us to give true meaning to each image we bring home.
Because the physicality of a snapshot is part of its own charm, that a simple file fails to have, even after all the tweaks we can imagine. It’s as if every time we pick it up we can really feel the weightwhich not only includes that of the film, but of all the memory it has encapsulated. You look at it and following in Proust’s footsteps you immediately find those perfumes in your nose, those noises in your ears and the wind on your skin. And it doesn’t matter if you misdirected and focused on the wrong subject. Why there is never really anything wrong with these shots.
Whether it’s the Summer Jamboree in Senigallia or your next adventure…
It’s always worth bringing along one Instax. Because although our smartphones (or better yet our cameras) can allow us to capture an almost unlimited amount of images, it is with tools like these that we can truly a take home memories. Shots that we will look at with pleasure every time, rediscovering that same atmosphere that made us think “Yes, this moment comes with me“.