Surfers – A few more words on my new portrait project

Tom, Hawaiian surfer

I wanted to talk more about my new project: Surfers. As I said in my previous post I’m working on a series of portraits of surfers, mostly in California. This is not the usual tribute to pro surfers, or to the cool surfing spots in the world, or to the surf lifestyle, which is beautiful, of course, but not always true.

Surf is a lot more. And this project is my tribute to this MORE. Surf is made of real people, like you and me, who share the same passion. This passion makes them wake up in the early morning, maybe on a cloudy day, in winter, and drive two hours to get to the right spot. It’s very different from the idealized sunny day, where the water is warm and the girls are pretty. Most waters in California are cold, especially considering that winter is the best season for surf. So you have to wear your wetsuit, and maybe you can consider the water to not be “that cold” (I still can’t). Anyway, these people make a lot of sacrifices to fulfill their passion. For these reasons I’ve decided to do these series of portraits with a different style from my own, which is usually clean and polished. I wanted to be able to show the realness of these people. So, to capture it, I had to shoot them when they just came out of the water. I wanted to get the EXPERIENCE they had that day, surfing. If anybody of you have ever surfed, then you must know that the experience stays alive for a couple of hours after it: it’s a feeling of peace and accomplishment, that I’ve only experienced when surfing or swimming. There something magical in being in the water for long, the mind gets clear, and everything vanishes.

This is what I wanted to capture.

So, this is how I met Tom, from Hawaii, where the water is really warm compared to here. I’ve seen him coming out of the water, and I rushed to stop him. We started chatting. He was visiting a friend, and on this cloudy morning, he decided to grab a wetsuit and a surfboard, and went to Emma Wood beach, close to Ventura. There’s something really cool in his story, in the fact that even if he was travelling outside of his country, he decided to go surfing, alone. 

That was the moment. Can I take a few portraits of you, Tom?

Sure.

Tom, Hawaiian surfer

P:S. In the next weeks I’m going to post more photos from this project, and I’ll also go out shooting again, stay tuned.

Surfers

I’m working on a new personal project, a series of portraits of surfers. I’ve always been fascinated by the surf culture and this project is a great opportunity for me to learn about it through the people who made surf what it is, in one of the most popular places for surfing, California.

This is one of the people I’ve been photographing today in Pitas Point, close to Ventura.

His name is Steven.

I’ve talked to Steven for a little while, right after he came out of the water, his family waiting for him.

“How long have you been surfing?”

“For all my life.”

Subtleties

When you shoot a portrait, subtleties make a huge difference. When you edit a portrait session  you can see that each moment is different from the previous, and that there’s no possibility of having the same photographs or expressions. And that’s because when you shoot a person there are many dynamics involved: how you relate to the person you shoot, how you direct them, and how you manage to get the expression you want from them. These are all variables which you can’t predict. For these reasons edit down the photos and pick “the best one” (if you can actually say that there’s a “best one”, when it’s most correct to say that there’s a favorite one) is the most difficult moment of the entire shooting.

Without talking about the light and the impact it has on the mood of the photograph and on the facial features of a person, there are many other factors that change one photo to the next, like the direction of the gaze, a subtle tilt of the head to the back shoulder or to the front, the chin up or down, framing in the perfect center or close to one border, get close by some inches, tilt the camera just a bit to the left… These are all small adjustments that change completely the photograph.

Here’s a portrait session I had with my friend and photographer Lucas Aznar, and as you can see each of these photos tells a completely different story.

Which one is your favorite, and why?

Portrait of Lucas

Considerations

Since I’ve started the Brooks Institute of photography, in August 2011, I’ve been shooting the most diverse things: landscapes, products, architecture, stock, lifestyle. Even if I don’t like to put myself in a box, and restrict my work on a single category, I have to say that shooting people is one of the things that I like the most. It’s a process that involve all your skills as a photographer, but beyond that, it also show the person you are, more than every other kind of photography. When you shoot a person you have to communicate, give direction to make your vision understandable by the person you are photographing, but at the same time you have to leave the freedom of expression that you want from the person in front of you. It’s an evolving process that is never the same. That’s why I like it.

Daniel Johung, photographer and friend

Here are some photos that I’ve taken lately. They were shot not to far apart from each other. In these different sets of photographs, to my surprise, I see a different me. I can’t say what’s the direction I’m taking, but I’m just enjoying this moment, and the more it takes me off guard, the more I enjoy it. This is because photography doesn’t stop after you’ve pressed the shutter. Photography is going back to yourself to reflect on who you are. That’s why most people stop doing it, because they either don’t like what they see, or they are afraid of it, or they are afraid of what other people might think of their work (and in doing so, they are afraid of what other people think of them). But you have to sit back and relax, and enjoy what you see, because you did it, it’s your work, not everybody else’s.

Ben Flynn, photographer and friend

Daniel Johung, photographer and friend

Classmates

A few months ago I’ve shot these pictures of my friends Ben, Chelsea and Lexus. I’ve stumbled on ‘em today while I was selecting some images to print for a portfolio review. Even if it wasn’t that much ago, it really feels like years, for how much I’ve been working lately!

Here they are.

P A R A D I G M

Since tomorrow I’ll be in charge of the editorial line of the Paradigm website. My friend Ben Flynn (who’s a great photographer too) gave me the opportunity of run his blog for a week. Paradigm is a great concept: it’s a blog like this, but of a different kind. It’s a place to share pictures that inspire you for their visual style, their content or their beauty. Or it’s simply to share something that you like. It’s more direct, as you display the picture in a grid, and you scroll down and down. It’s great if you are a visual person. First of all, because you can be inspired by watching so many pictures, and second and most important, it’s something that help you build your own style. By saying “I like it”, you become more aware of what you find interesting, of what you want to be. And most important, you get to know yourself even more. 

I’m very excited to do this! I believe that having a place where you can put the images you like, it’s like having a box where you only put the things that have a meaning, that you want to save forever.

And it’s even better to share this with others, so that they may find to have something in common with you, or even find your style boring or ugly. That’s ok, it’s part of the game.

See you on PARADIGM (click on it to check it out!)

Digital Vs. Film

They say that digital have made photography so much easier. That in the old days with film you couldn’t see what you were taking pictures of, and since now you can do that, you can repair a bad shot instantly. Thus life is way easier nowadays… Or it should be…

I really don’t agree with this at all! I feel that not only life is not easier, but also you have to work much more! And part of this comes from the fact that shooting more doesn’t cost money. But the problem is not just “how much you shoot”. The problem is also “how much you work on a single file”. You can work for years on a single picture and always get a new one. I’ve found out that with the film pictures I already have, the 60% is “good as it is”. If you don’t process and develop the negative on your own, you already have the final picture, there’s not much you can do. And if you’ve been shooting that in black and white film, black and white will be. Maybe it’s also the fact that the beauty of film resides in its being imperfect, so you just go with it… And I love it!

Now you start from the original file, and you think “let me see thins in black and white”. Then “let me see this in black and white with more contrast”, “let me see this in black and white but with a washed out look”, “what about a sepia tone?”…. And so on…

Life is definitely not easier!

Fifteen virtual copies of Lexus Gallegos, talented photographer, painter, designer and friend

SF

I’ve been in San Francisco again for Thanksgiving. This is the second time that I’ve been there since August, and every time I leave the town thinking that I’ve got to see more of it. It’s an amazing place, one of the cities I like the most in the States, so far. Maybe it’s because it reminds me of Genova in some way… Big city on the sea, hills, going up and down, and no parking at all, and… I got a parking ticket… That’s why!

There’s a nice hostel on Clay street: it’s cheap, the food is good and you have a unique view of the town from the rooftop. The only problem with this place is that you have to live with this italian designer, Nicola Mondini, who is a pain in the ass when he’s busy (most of the time) and nervous (because he doesn’t have time!). But for the rest, he’s a cool guy. And a great car designer (maybe one day he’ll stop drawing micro machines…). Here he is on the roof of his house, on a rare moment of relax.

And then there is his landlord, and old man who owns two buildings in SF, and makes money by renting them to people. I caught him moving non paying tenant’s body parts from his garage to the trash, back and forth. Here’s the evidence. It’s a dirty job, but it has to be done…

My friend Nicola pays his rent regularly…

Anyway, since he was busy all the time, I’ve spent three days going around and shooting like mad, and going back home to download the pictures, work on them, and out again… But it was worth it!

And I had a great time with Nicola, photoshopping like two nerds and laughing like crazy with the daddy long legs video on youtube (“I don’t, I don’t…What??!). If you wonder what I’m talking about, just click here, you’ll understand…

Anyway… Here are some shots that I took. Enjoy!

Ben Flynn (photography) meets Leica

Today I’ve been finally shooting with the Leica M8! For those of you that don’t know what it is, the Leica is a german camera brand which is legendary. The quality is in fact outstanding: I understand now why famous photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Sebastian Salgado and the italian Gianni Berengo Gardin love this camera. It has the reputation in my school of being difficult to focus with, but it felt pretty easy and comfortable to me. It just has to be used. Especially if you can use it for free (I had the camera and two lenses, for a total of 15.000 $!!!), which is a great privilege!

I was scouting a new location in the area of Santa Barbara with my friend and classmate Ben Flynn, which is an amazing surf photographer (check his website out by clicking here and you’ll see it by yourself), when i decided to snap a couple of portrait of him. And the results are amazing! I’ll definitely find some more time to shoot with this camera, since I won’t be able to afford one for a long time…

Shooting surf

Today I went with Ben and his housemate Mike to shoot the picture story for wednesday, or at least trying to find inspiration on the way… I ended up