26
Years Photographing
104
Countries I've Visited
51
Tours I've Hosted
+100
Photography Awards
“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list” (Susan Sontag)
I am a freelance travel and nature photographer from Spain who has had the privilege of travelling around the world since 1998 collecting an extensive and hopefully strong set of images of people, places, wildlife and landscapes across more than ninety countries in all continents.
For me, travelling is a lifelong passion for seeking adventure, discovering new places and collecting new experiences. I travel because I am curious. I am curious about people, their cultures, how others live, what they believe, and how they see us.
I also hope to make a difference through my travel photography. I want to raise awareness about the environment and human rights in some of the countries I have visited. It is my hope that people realise that we have a beautiful world and we should protect it.
Every trip enriches me and expands and changes me. I discover more about myself.
“It is my hope that people realise we are privileged to have such a beautiful planet and we should work to protect it. For many years in my career as an engineer I tried to do my bit for the world and future generations by developing renewable energy projects”.
Like many other photographers, what began as a hobby has finally turned into a profession. It all started back in 1998 when I went travelling to North America.
That was an amazing experience that changed my life forever but it was during my second long trip around the Middle East that I realized that I loved travelling just as much as I loved photography. I was hooked from the first roll of film but in this trip I also realized that I had a lot to learn and that the world was such a huge and beautiful place that it would take me a considerable amount of time to travel and photograph it.
I was not quite ready to take the final step to become a travel photographer, but in May 2007 following a number of trips to Europe and three consecutive trips to India, I went travelling around the world for nearly two years in Asia, Australasia, North America and Africa.
“Everywhere is walking distance, if you have the time” (Stephen Wright)
It was during this first round the world trip, and particularly in India where I learned to watch and wait for life. All good photos start with a great journey, and journeys open the heart, the mind and the eyes. During this fourth trip to India I got really inspired and made the decision to pursue a career as a travel photographer and follow in the footsteps of three generations of photographers in my family. Since that trip, I have been drawn back to Asia again and again, lured by its people, architecture, temples, ceremonies, festivals, its colours and smells.
I still consider myself a traveller and then a photographer although that might be changing… I enjoy simply spending time at a beautiful location, amongst the local people. I believe that there are many different ways of experiencing a place and photography is one of them. Every time I travel, in every single moment, I look for possible picture opportunities. This passion to photograph the world makes me focus on details that I was not aware of before.
PHOTOGRAPHY QUALIFICATIONS
In 2016, I was also given the great honor of being announced as a Master of Photography by the AIPP (Australian Institute of Professional Photography). I am extremely proud to have achieved this honour after a number of years working towards it. In 2018 I obtained my first Gold Bar (double Masters).
Entering the Australian Professional Photography Awards since 2009 has been fundamental in establishing the quality of my work and the photographer I am today. It is a great benchmark but there are other competitions I also enjoy entering, all with their different rules and flavours and all of them have shaped my style and given me confidence in the work that I produce.
EQUIPMENT AND PERSONAL STYLE
I always strive to get the perfect shot. I aim for strong compositions, great subjects and light to capture the reality of a place. I try to stay for a long time at a location to develop a personal affinity with the place and the people and to have time to explore it in depth. I hope that people who see my work can feel the place as if they were there.
When I travel for short periods of time around Australia I use a 50 Megapixels medium format camera and four prime lenses. The equipment that I use provides superb image quality and allows me to make further improvements during digital processing. When I travel overseas, and for long periods of time I tend to photograph different types of subjects, and for that reason, I use Nikon gear as Medium Format is bulky and heavy. Nikon’s quality is also superb but also more versatile to photograph a range of subjects during the same trip.
While my primary focus when travelling is people in their natural environment, landscapes and wildlife, I also enjoy photographing other subjects like festivals, food, markets and architecture.
My approach when taking portraits is very different from photographing landscapes. In my portraits, the subject and composition are key as it is the human condition, its struggle, happiness and diversity that drives my photographic portraits.
When I photograph landscapes, my approach is the opposite from portrait photography. While light is important, a strong subject matter and composition come first. This means using a tripod, a medium format camera, a lot of planning and a bit of luck.
Landscape photography is as much a state of mind as a technical skill. Patience and dedication are as important as the right camera, lenses and tripod. Over time I embraced the digital world and since discovering Photoshop, a whole new world of possibilities to fulfill my creative desires opened up for me.
Over time, I have grown and matured as a photographer and my personal tastes have progressed towards creating simple compositions and paying more attention to texture, lines, patterns and colour.
I started out very literally recording everything I saw in a landscape as accurately and with as much detail as possible. As my work has evolved, and I continue to learn and improve my artistic vision and image-making skills, I am becoming more creative and abstract in my approach.
