Jornadas de historia "Huellas en el presente" - Segundo día

Los días 13 y 14 de julio de 2018 se celebraron en Aguarón unas Jornadas de divulgación cultural sobre la Historia y Patrimonio Cultural de la localidad. Organizadas por la Asociación de Mujeres Algairén, con el apoyo del Ayuntamiento de Aguarón y la colaboración de Acrótera.

 

Visita comentada de la judería de Aguarón

Durante la segunda jornada abordamos la historia de los judíos en Aguarón. Tuvimos el placer de escuchar al profesor Miguel Ángel Motis, que habló sobre la vida cotidiana de los judíos del Campo de Cariñena durante la Baja Edad Media.

Después de su interesantísima presentación, hicimos una visita comentada por la antigua judería de Aguarón, de la mano de Antonio Hernandez.

A pesar de haber pasado 550 años, las calles y las casas de nuestros pueblos guardan, sin saberlo, testimonios físicos de sus antiguos habitantes.

Aquí podéis ver las fotos de la visita comentada a la judería. Poco a poco, iré añadiendo fotos de los otros eventos de las jornadas.

Scratching the surface - Photographic exhibition

During May and June, I am having a photo exhibition in Makkè Kafe, downtown Copenhagen. It is the first time I have an exhibition on my own, and I am quite nervous and exited about it!

The opening party is on May 7th, from 7pm. There will be some snacks on the tables, and wine and beer for purchase at the bar.

You are all invited!!

Ready for this weekend's Flid Marked

It has been a long hard preparation, but it seems we are ready for tomorrow!

For those who do not know what I am talking about, tomorrow and the day after (12 and 13 of December), I will have a stand together with the CCCP at the Flid Maked. Flid is a design market that tries to promote local artists, designers and hand workers.  It runs a few times a year, and this time we are part of the Christmas edition!

I have just finished placing my passepartouts and frames in the boxes, the last thing to finally be able to conclude: "Yeah! I made it!! We made it"

As I said, it has been a lot of hard work for all of us. We have done everything ourselves: of course taking the photos, but also editing, paper choosing, testing, printing, framing and passepartouts, and all the incredible load of logistics that comes with the organisation of an event like this, and that we had no idea about when we started.

But oh, yes! We had lots of fun, a bit of wine and tapas, and learned an amazing amount of things.

Here a glimpse of what it has been like:

Hey! If you ever try to do anything like this, feel free to write me and I can try to guide you!

Hope to see you all this weekend at Flid!

And thanks for everybody that has been supporting us from the trenches these days!! :)

Polaroid wedding - Berta and Paco

Preparing for delivery the pictures from another wedding, I found these polaroids that I took from the marriage of Berta and Paco. Berta and I are friends from our very early childhood, and her wedding day was very special to me. Needless to say that the newlyweds looked astonishing! Such a beautiful happy couple!!



Hasselblad XPan test roll

A few months ago I bought a Hasselblad XPan again, after many many months of missing it, thinking I should have never sold it. 

First things first, I went outside and used a roll to test my new machine. I saw the camera was working properly shortly after, but only on my light table, so I could not share my joy. But today I can! I sent the film for scanning and I just got the scanned images.

Perhaps because I know this city too well, I find it difficult to take panoramas here in Copenhagen. However, I still believe I got some decent shots. 

Take a look!  (Click to enlarge)




First experiments with Impossible Color SX-70 Generation 2.0 film

A few weeks ago I got hold of a few packs of the new Impossible Color SX-70 Generation 2.0 film, as part of the Pioneer program. Life is busy and days pass fast, so it has taken me a while to finally try it.

Overall, I think the film does make a difference. Not only develops faster and you do not need to cover it, but the colors are more sharp. And the most important for me, the transitions between color shades and between highlights and shadows are much more smooth. 

That being said, my favourite SX-70 camera does seem to overexpose the pictures. I have known from the beginning, but I have been unable to determine whether it is the film that is not accurate, or the camera behaves funny when it comes to measure the light. The fix is easy: turn the exposure wheel a little bit towards the black part, but as this was an experiment, I decided to leave it in neutral. Therefore, I suspect my second pack will be richer in color and expression, when the images are better exposed. 

Here the results:

Portrait of Hjalte, who nicely and patiently came with me around Copenhagen trying to find a few good spots to photograph. The picture is a little over-exposed, like the other two portraits in the series. I am sure that by adjusting the camera, the images will me much more rich in color and transitions.

Georgios and Vangelis were visiting Denmark that day, so of course I took the opportunity to take a few portraits of them.

I love how these two images pair up. They are not perfect, but to my eyes they are just fantastic.

Postcards from the USA

Last week I travelled to the US for work. Luckily not everything is hard labor, there is always room for fun. Teams and colleagues are simply great. 

This time I brought my SX-70 and a couple of Impossible Film Packs again, which got to see the day light at two occasions. First, on a wonderful spring Sunday in Saint Louis, trying to be as much touristy as possible. And then during a break from our workshops in the Frankinton office. 

First stop: Saint Louis

One of my favourite places in Saint Louis is, no doubt, the Arch. Designed in the 40's and built in the 60's to celebrate the westward expansion of the United States, it is an astonishing monument that feels so modern that it could have been built today. And I can not stop looking at it. We walked around it, and we walked under it, admiring it from the Mississippi river, from the city center, and from the fresh and comforting grass. The shape, its hight, its light yet very grounded construction..

If I think about it, it is probably one of my favourite monuments in the world. If you visit Saint Louis, plan for some time in the area, and look at it as the light of the day and the city changes. If you can, take one of the tiny capsule-elevators all the claustrophobic way up to the top, and enjoy the view!

Second stop: Frankinton

Going from Saint Louis to Raleigh is somehow a big change that creeps up on you. Not only the landscape changes, but also the constructions. From stone and coloured glass, to more traditional wooden buildings. Even the typography and style of business signs! 

Sadly, we did not have much spare time to hang around. But I managed to capture a sibling picture of a polaroid I took three years ago, during my first trip to our main American site. Which one is the new one and which one is the old one?



When your Polaroid camera leaves you in the lurch

This is one of the greatest fears you may have as a Polaroid photographer. You feel it in the air. You know it can happen, that is a risk, that, most likely, it will happen one day. Your camera suddenly lets you down. 

There are several ways this may materialize. Most commonly, the pack gets stuck when you have no chance to fix it, or when you do not have other pack. For instance, you are using Fuji Instant film in a Polaroid 100 type machine, and when you are pulling your frame out... the tab tears off. If you are lucky or see it coming, you may still have a little piece of paper that can help you save the moment, carefully. Otherwise, find a dark place, open the back, and reinstall the pack. Usually after wasting one or two frames. Similarly, you may be unlucky to get an "sticky" Impossible film pack -although I must say it has not happened to me in a really long time-.

Another classic in my list is simply plainly when you camera dies in action. This is such a painful situation that is hard to describe how it feels. But yes, it does occur, without previous warning.

But today, it was something I have never seen before. The chemicals were so old in an expired Polaroid Sepia pack, that only the negative and part of the tab came out. Yep. Leaving the positive, the rest of the tab, and an interesting amount of crap behind. That is, inside the camera. 

I promise I would have been mad if it wasn't because I found it fascinating. And again, I did not expect it. I did not even know this could happen. I was lucky enough to get problems with the last frame of the pack. But that was a pack that gave me 8 perfect images, one commonly half dry, and just at the end, the bitter one!

Mysteries of Polaroid life.

Today, only the negative and part of the tab came out while taking a picture with old expired Polaroid Sepia film. The positive remained inside the camera, together with dry chemicals made powder. Never seen this before.

Today, only the negative and part of the tab came out while taking a picture with old expired Polaroid Sepia film. The positive remained inside the camera, together with dry chemicals made powder. Never seen this before.

Plans for Easter vacation

This year we are not travelling anywhere for Easter. Instead, we are going to use the time to get done a few of those things that we always say we want to do. In my case, it is mostly related about photography. 

I have never been very consistent with my photographs. Rolls, polaroids and raw files tend to accumulate in the same messy way, regardless of whether the are digital or physical. This has been particularly bad during the last two years. But I am determined to change that. 

So this is my ambitions TO-DO list for Easter:

  • Setup and configure the new iMac

  • Migrate and organise files, creating proper backup workflows

  • Develop old rolls and organise the film in folders

  • Scan polaroids and organise them

  • Re-design my own website! A new look, new portfolio, fresh information

  • Write at least a couple of articles in the blog

  • Upload nice pictures that I find along the way to flickr

  • Print some of those nice pictures - need to experiment more with the printer!

  • Understand color spaces and color profiles: my color pictures are still a little bit off

  • If the weather is nice, go out and take new pictures!

Keep you posted!

Even my fridge would benefit for a bit more of order...

Even my fridge would benefit for a bit more of order...