A 360° view of Malta by night

Miranda Publishers' Malta 360° By Night has been launched in bookshops, casting a new light on the island.

The publication marks another landmark in the 360° series, which is intended to be extended by another eight over the next three years.

Complementing the revised Malta 360°, published in December last year, the By Night version is also available together with its daytime counterpart in a novel maxi box, turning them into "more of a coffee table than a coffee-table book," said brothers Tony and Eddie Aquilina of Miranda Publishers, who have been working on the project since last March.

Pleased with the end result, they highlighted the many constraints and time limitations that come hand in hand with night shooting.

"Twilight only lasts 15 to 20 minutes, so not more than one photograph could be taken in a day. Exposure for each image could last up to 10 minutes at that time," said Eddie Aquilina.

"We lit up places not normally lit up, such as Hagar Qim - the most complicated, St Paul's Islands and the façade of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, where we used generators.

"It was not a matter of simply setting up the lights, but these had to be designed to create the desired image.

"We were only disappointed that it was technically impossible to illuminate Blue Grotto, despite numerous visits to the site to figure out how it could be done."

The professional, technical lighting operations were painstakingly carried out by Nexos Lighting, while, for the first time ever, the services of an additional four top local photographers - Kurt Arrigo, Jonathan Beacom, Daniel Cilia and Darrin Zammit Lupi - were used, apart from Italian photographer Enrico Formica, with his 360° and 150° cameras.

Mr Formica visited Malta on five occasions to carry out the job for the book, the text of which is by Geoffrey Aquilina Ross.

Malta 360° By Night aims to offer a cross-section of the island. The photographs do not just portray monuments, churches and palaces, but also evening activities, such as the jazz festival, the Maltese folk band Etnika, the Elton John concert, the opera La Bohème at Portomaso, horse racing by night at the Marsa track and re-enactments.

Moreover, to enhance conference and incentive business in Malta, the book includes a stunning image of Valletta's Piazza Regina, dressed up to host an open-air banquet, with a 600-metre red carpet down Republic Street.

"As regards village feasts, we did not want to offend anyone, so we chose the feast of the patron saint, St Paul, in Rabat, and after acquiring the necessary permits, we created a spectacular shot, which is spread over four pages," Mr Aquilina said.

Unfortunately, due to excess red tape and confused bureaucratic measures, Mdina does not feature in the book, the brothers pointed out.

Next year, Miranda intends to launch another two of the 360° series - Underground Malta and Underwater Malta - which are expected to generate interest, showing places that are not easily visited.

Miranda may be known for its lavish 360° books, however, it plans to veer off that path and create a series of nine publications on Great Exhibitions Revisited.

The 100-page books are each to treat - solely through photography - a different exhibition by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti.

But a major project, its most important to date, is the 440-page Malta Before History - The Oldest Free-Standing Stone Buildings in the World, also referred to as "the bible of neolithic Malta". Written by 10 important authors, each dealing with a particular aspect of neolithic Malta, it is being launched in April.

Miranda has also just published Malta's first-ever, hard cover, glossy, full-colour cookery book, 25 Years in a Maltese Kitchen, by Pippa Mattei, with pictures by Kurt Arrigo.