On my way to the
talk I was thinking “the Cartier‑Bresson drag again, is there no one else to talk about?” but since the speaker was Pepe Baeza I decided to go and it was worth it, the presentation was engaging and the topic made me review everything I think about photography. The fascination that everyone seems to have for Henri Cartier‑Bresson has made me tired. Is photography just an instant?
William Klein said a photographer’s life is a few seconds, the sum of hundreds of moments at 1/125 s. How many photographs do you get to know from a photographer? I wondered how much you know about their life in 1 second, 2…?
“There is nothing in this world that does not have a decisive moment”
Cardinal de Retz
I have always felt a passion for painting. As a child, I painted on Thursdays and Sundays, and on other days I dreamed of painting. I had a Brownie camera like many children, but I only used it occasionally to fill small albums with my holiday memories. It was much later that I began to learn to look through the device; my little world widened and holiday photographs contributed to that purpose.
Since its origins photography has not changed except in its technical aspects, which, in my opinion, are not of great importance.
Photography seems like an easy activity; it is a diverse and ambiguous operation in which the only common denominator among those who practice it is the tool used. What comes out of that camera is not alien to the economy of a world of wastefulness, where tensions are increasingly intense and where ecological consequences are already disproportionate.
January 1, 2009