Vivir

Pamplona, July 6, 2009

21 Years Apart (or "How I stopped learning and love the mannequin")

Madrid, 1988 & Pamplona 2009

July 6, 2009

Back there in the 80's I recall to have used a beloved Yashica, my first reflex camera. Twentyone years after and a Canon that's a far cry from that one I'm not sure I've learning anything at all. Still mannequins lured me, as Ulysses's mermaids off Capri.

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.

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.

Cross Up

July o3, 2009.

Cross Down

July 3, 2009

Public Relations (On Air)

Yesa, July 02, 2009

Framing The Three

July 02, 2009

Framing The One

July 02, 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.

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!

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

The Portrait (One)

May, 25 2009

Maialen on her very last days on this classroom.

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.

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.

The Party (go-goers)

Friday, June 6, 2009

("Haphazard": characterized by lack of order or planning, by irregularity, or by randomness; determined by or dependent on chance; aimless.)

I certainly love haphazard on my pics, but I've came to believe there's a lot of planning & aiming on chance images.

Aux morts pour la Patrie

Gastes, France. May 1st, 2009.

Juliana, Mechas & Lighting

May 24, 2009
Dear public: many months after my last post (a girl and a lighting) another pic close to that (girl & pet & lighting ) demands your attention. No light effects added with Photoshop, as you may infere... File processed with Adobe Camera Raw. Thanks for your support!