The 100th
Author: Daniel Cilia
Edited by Charles Cini SDB
Publisher: Salesians of Don Bosco Publications/2015
Extent: 107pp
As its name implies, this is the 100th book that Daniel Cilia has designed and prepared for publication. Since then, he has continued publishing books - the last reference I could find was in November with Book Number 114, a book on Maltese archaeology by Professor Anthony Bonanno published by Heritage Malta. And there are more books in the pipeline.
Cilia is one of a kind. Self-taught, he began his working life as a nurse but he soon found his real vocation as a photographer. His best shots are of the Maltese (and Gozitan) countryside.
He has got Maltese papers fighting to get his photos on their back pages. Recently, his photo of Mount Etna as seen from Gozo early on Christmas Day was the rage on Facebook (and on our front page).
His photos show that photography is not a matter of expensive cameras nor of just pointing the camera and hoping for the best. It is a matter of waiting to get the right shot - such as his shot of a cat skipping on top of a waterfall in Gozo. It is a matter of getting up early to get the right shot, such as that of Ta' Pinu church just before dawn. It is a matter of risking life and limb as in the photo on the back of this book of Daniel hanging for dear life in a window in Victoria Gozo to get the right angle of the statue of St George being carried around. It is a matter of ingeniously rigging a camera high in the dome of the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in St Paul's church in Valletta to get an absolutely unique photo of the chapel's intarsia marble floor.
Cilia is not just a photographer nor just a designer of books. He is passionately interested in Maltese history as this book amply proves. The book chronicles his collaboration with people such as the late David Trump, Ann Monsarrat, Conrad Thake, Alex Torpiano, Frank Ventura, Nicholas de Piro, so many archaeologists ... He is also passionately interested in the life of a community, in this case the parish of St George in Victoria, Gozo.
The book does not contain Daniel's best photos - these are spread around everywhere, not least on his Facebook page. But these first 100 books he collaborated with are just an indication of his enormous talent and potentiality.