“If a tree in a forest falls and there is nobody to see it and hear it, does it exist?” This Buddhish Koan about observation and knowledge of reality can be extrapolated to photography.
Is there a momento if it has not been captured in an image? The answer is yes, but only for the protagonist and probably as a daily moment that memory in some cases forgets, and in others, deforms.
The work of the Street photographer is to recover these ofter inconsequential moments, and to retain them in some cases for the collective memory. There is a wide photographic tradition that supports these situations. If we resume the appointment with Ansel Adams at the head of the nature photography base don the zone system, until Henri Cartier Bresson, considered as the father of Street photography, going thourgh contemporary classics such as Arbus Davison, Doisneau or more recent still Gilden or Parr for mentioning only a few chroniclers of the collective imagination.
The observation of everyday moments on the Street is the motivation of this series of photographs, adding the essential component of light. Essential element in any photograph, forced and emphasized in this case by balck and White. Thus, the series introduces elements as familiar to all of us as a couple of girls taking a selfie that would probably later hang on the networks, the image that we all know and have associated with the collective imaginary of an older man watching a play, a band playing at Street to get some coins, an employee taking notes in the shop window, a woman driving an urban bus, a kid sunbathing while waiting for the person who has been left or simply a group of anonymous people crossing a traffic light. All of them are some of the moments that i have chosen for this series. Situations any one of us can feel identified and that are not as distant as the photographs of posed or advertising with which we bombard each day social networks or advertising.
Really is like that, lights and shadows that intersect in eveday moments. As valid as the potos of glamour and luxury that we want to sell as something that we should try to reach or enby of people who supposedly have idyllic lives. Neither that is the reality of most of uss, nor the devastating images of war in countries in conflicto. Our life develops here and now and we must learn to value it. Any momento is worth remembering and can be as evocative and aesthetic as a photo shoot in a studio with makeup, hairdressing and model lights. The Street is inspiration.
Stand a second in your hectic and stressed life and look.
About Victor Gualda
Victor Gualda is a self-taught photographer in addition to being a screenplay writer, producer, camera operator and an occasional waiter. Selected in 2006 at the Berlin film festival and a regular contributor to renowned and award- winning Spanish writers, he develops his photography persona on the streets of Madrid. You won ́t see him here with a tripod, flash or beauty dishes, though. It will be just him and his portrait machine. [Official Website]
