Koldo, maestro
El laboratorio de Koldo era – el dolor del verbo ya en pasado- apenas un cuartito arrancado al salón del ático de Iturrama: dominándolo la enorme ampliadora, cubetas en precario, las espirales de película lavándose en el rincón e, impregnado la negrura, el punzante olor a químicos, rememorado en esta terrible tarde de octubre. La sorpresa, aquella vez primera, era que de aquel humilde espacio en el que apenas entraban dos personas, hubiesen salido las fantásticas copias –profundas, negras, luminosas también- de las fotografías que me habían dejado asombrado una tarde dorada en Tarazona, el verano del curso de fotografía en que, escuchaba –fascinado- a un hombre menudo, de cabeza poderosa, vestido de faena, energía inagotable, pasión y risas contagiosas, hablar y sentir la Fotografía como nunca, a nadie antes. Y tampoco después.
Koldo me enseñó allí, en los largos meses de la mili, a revelar los rollos de Tri-X que disparaba en el cuartel, y, sentados, casi cada sábado, a la mesa del salón, me explicaba con paciencia, humor y el té -de tres años, decía- a seleccionar las mejores imágenes, a agotar los temas, a buscar en cada tira de negativo algo más –¿la magia, su magia?- que el encuadre perfecto, el momento justo. Si alguna foto hice entonces que mereciese la pena, fue gracias a su firme mirada; si algo aprendí, de su generosidad. Mis mejores fotos han sido siempre suyas y las demás, mediocres, inevitablemente mías.
Al correr de los años y agotado el impulso inicial de devenir fotógrafo –Aquí, Fotógrafo Koldo- tanto él como Rosa siempre tuvieron tiempo para tardes de conversación amplia, a veces críptica; ratos de relatos levemente apócrifos, anécdotas elegantes, cuentos con sorpresa, mundos posibles y fábulas de nombre propio. Koldo, narrador, Koldo creador, Koldo imaginero, Koldo apuntador, actor, tramoyista, escenógrafo, iluminador, espectador, guionista. Koldo fotógrafo. Koldo maestro.
A Koldo Chamorro de Aranzadi. 20 Agosto 1949 - 16 Octubre 2009
A Rosa, a Ohiane.
A también todos los que hemos tenido el privilegio de conocerle.
Publicado en Diario de Navarra, 17/10/2009.
Gracias a Jesús Rubio por darme un espacio en una de las páginas mas tristes que se pueden imaginar.
viernes, 16 de octubre de 2009
sábado, 25 de julio de 2009
Distort
martes, 21 de julio de 2009
Too much
domingo, 19 de julio de 2009
Dianas (Girls at Left)
Pamplona, July 7, 2009.
"Dianas" or Reveille: the Council Music Band play music at seven in the morning to cheer the people up. I'm shooting the whole thing and it's a fact that, on the melée, I'm composing all the pictures with girls at left and musicians at right. Damm it!
Etiquetas:
Dianas,
Pamplona.,
Pamplona. Sanfermin
The First Casualty
The Usual Thing: "Would you mind to show us a bit more, please, my dear!"
jueves, 16 de julio de 2009
21 Years Apart (or "How I stopped learning and love the mannequin")
Smoke & Alex (I wanna be a grown up!)
July 4, 2009.
Moments before Alex Ubago's concert in Pamplona, teenagers wait anxious to see him and they play to be older and wiser. One of the singer best know songs: "¿Qué pides tú?" (What do you ask for?) would be answered by the dozens of kids with a cry:
I wanna be a grown up! I wanna have the freedom they enjoy (that one I presume they've got)... I wanna be prettier, slimmer, cool, whatever... I wanna be... another one.
Moments before Alex Ubago's concert in Pamplona, teenagers wait anxious to see him and they play to be older and wiser. One of the singer best know songs: "¿Qué pides tú?" (What do you ask for?) would be answered by the dozens of kids with a cry:
I wanna be a grown up! I wanna have the freedom they enjoy (that one I presume they've got)... I wanna be prettier, slimmer, cool, whatever... I wanna be... another one.
One, Two and Three Hemingways
Pamplona, July 04, 2009.
Hemingway lookalikes contest: there are three of them here, but only one beer bottle. If only the good & old Nobel Prize could come over here just for one single here, he wouldn't recognize the place he did visit a few times. We indulge -Pamplona's citizens,- that we're living again same Fiesta than him lived, but simply we are self deceiving ourselves.
In any case, the council might have put at hand several good bourbon bottles, just for trying.
viernes, 3 de julio de 2009
miércoles, 1 de julio de 2009
Windowshop
June 30, 2009.
Black & White nostalgia, for sure. Once upon a time, in a far, far away mood, we were on a darkroom where, for timeless hours, we struggled against the enlarger and trays to get a good baryta paper print. Not a snapper, we'd say to ourselves: "I can produce a beautiful print!" Take that!
Nowadays, we've got Photoshop sliders. Easy? Easier? Maybe. Maybe not.
Black & White nostalgia, for sure. Once upon a time, in a far, far away mood, we were on a darkroom where, for timeless hours, we struggled against the enlarger and trays to get a good baryta paper print. Not a snapper, we'd say to ourselves: "I can produce a beautiful print!" Take that!
Nowadays, we've got Photoshop sliders. Easy? Easier? Maybe. Maybe not.
martes, 30 de junio de 2009
We both fired at one! For Mr. Caso, a fine professional.
Orgi forest, June 27, 2009
Mr. Caso and Myself at work together, shooting a wedding reception held whitin a small forest on the Ultzama Valley, not far from Pamplona.
Folk dancers perform for the newly weds when we, placed on opposite sides, tried to get a good shot.
According to Metadata on Mr. Caso's camera the time was: 12:01:38.
This should be the official time when we both pressed at one the cameras' triggers. But, the ceremony didn't begin till well past noon! (Bride was not guilty for the delay, however). Thus, right time should be 13:01:38. So it seems his camera's internal clock is one hour behind. The funny thing is: mine's too!
Mr. Caso and Myself at work together, shooting a wedding reception held whitin a small forest on the Ultzama Valley, not far from Pamplona.
Folk dancers perform for the newly weds when we, placed on opposite sides, tried to get a good shot.
According to Metadata on Mr. Caso's camera the time was: 12:01:38.
This should be the official time when we both pressed at one the cameras' triggers. But, the ceremony didn't begin till well past noon! (Bride was not guilty for the delay, however). Thus, right time should be 13:01:38. So it seems his camera's internal clock is one hour behind. The funny thing is: mine's too!
jueves, 25 de junio de 2009
The Portrait (1,618) or The Smart Matematician
June, 04 2009
Eulalia, the matematician, showing off the magic of numbers on Photography: 1,618.
a/b = a+b/a
One tries to compose according to rules but it's never a fixed rule, isn't it?
Thanks, anyway
Eulalia, the matematician, showing off the magic of numbers on Photography: 1,618.
a/b = a+b/a
One tries to compose according to rules but it's never a fixed rule, isn't it?
Thanks, anyway
Etiquetas:
curtain,
Eulalia,
Girl,
gray dress.,
matematician,
phone
miércoles, 24 de junio de 2009
Tags: Fire! (TWO)
Pamplona, June, 23, 2009.
Tags for this picture: Fire, Gas, Red. Danger.
But also: Tuca, Kitchen, June 23, Shortest night. Food. Meat.
How many of them would be needed to convey the whole meaning of one single picture? Does an image have meaning at all?
Moholy-Nagy (cited by Walter Benjamin) and both cited elsewhere: "The illiterates of the future will be the people who know nothing of photography rather than those who are ignorant of the art of writing"
Words. Maybe more.
Tags: Fire! (ONE)
Spring 1992, San Gregorio range & training site.
Tags for this particular picture:
Fire. Mortar. Grenade. Army. Soldier. Barren. Desert. Esperanza & Cia. Trigger. San Gregorio. Zaragoza. Spain. 1992
For most photographers, finding an image after taking & storing it is always a task to be considered with utmost care. Tags could be a help.
Tags, however, have no use on finding a memory inside this picture.
1992: A world apart.
Tags for this particular picture:
Fire. Mortar. Grenade. Army. Soldier. Barren. Desert. Esperanza & Cia. Trigger. San Gregorio. Zaragoza. Spain. 1992
For most photographers, finding an image after taking & storing it is always a task to be considered with utmost care. Tags could be a help.
Tags, however, have no use on finding a memory inside this picture.
1992: A world apart.
domingo, 21 de junio de 2009
You see?
June 20, 2009.
During a trivial assignment for the paper I'm working for these last weeks I discover a boy and a young man playing with a table football. The man wins and, on winning, teaches a small lesson to the boy. Always focused, or so it seems.
The young on the right stares. I make pictures. Never say there's not a good picture awaiting you around the corner. But I need a purpose. This should change, eventually.
Rowers. "Flow"
Saturday, June 20, 2009.
Rower's contest on the Arga river. It comes to my mind a book I've been directed to: "Flow. The Psicology of Optimal Experience", by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly. Not the average book: "How to Be Happy in Ten Lessons".
For rowers and for photographers alike, as for everybody else trying to excel on something, it makes sense to navigate througt the text.
sábado, 6 de junio de 2009
The Party (go-goers)
jueves, 28 de mayo de 2009
Juliana, Mechas & Lighting
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