On resetting yourself

A stable and repetitive life is probably bad for photography, and art in general. If we believe our photography is a reflection of our lives -as I do-, then doing interesting stuff should lead to compelling images.

On the other hand, being on the move the whole time won't leave us any time to actually process what we've done. We need to take a moment to look at the map to check where we are, and to appreciate what we've done.

There's a time to be moving, and there's a time to reflect.

As you know, I'm a big fan of local photography, but I also love to shake things up with the occasional road trip. It's in the combination of the routine, the boring, the repetitive... and the new, the exciting, the chaos... that I thrive the most.

I credit our nomadic lifestyle and the balance between chaos and routine it creates, as one the reasons why I am so committed to my photography.

Every time we move (and that might happen a few times a year), our physical location is just one of the things that change in our lives: diet, habits, language we speak at the grocery store, people we interact with on a daily basis... but eventually, one adapts to the new reality. Routine always finds a way.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

As annoying as this question might be, there's a reason why it's the first one customer support asks -- it usually fixes the problem.

Perhaps, we need to perform a little reset on ourselves every once in a while, too.

Carving the path, click by click

The only way to improve as photographers, and to build a collection of good images, is to do it... one click at a time.

One click at a time

Building a collection of images we love from scratch can feel overwhelming. Being constantly exposed to the work of thousands of photographers every day doesn't help.

The feeling of falling behind can materialize really quick. And before we know it, we give up.

This is a trap, and we must avoid falling into it.

Photography is a lifelong journey, it does take a lot of time and effort to build a portfolio of good images. It's not going to happen overnight. It won't be easy. But it's something we need to do everyday.

Quite literally, it happens one click at a time.

Remember: you are just one click away.

Always look for the light

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I made these two images last week, in my parent's farm.

When I saw the ladder, I knew I had to capture it. The light was just so beautiful! While trying to find new angles for the ladder, I saw the cloud and the power lines crossing in front of it. Of course, I took a photo of that too.

Light can happen at anytime, anywhere. Always look for it.

On photographing where we live

I am a big fan of local, everyday photography. I don’t want to limit myself to photographing just a few days or weeks a year, whenever I have the chance to go to an overcrowded, and over-photographed place. I like that too, of course, but even though it can be very frustrating at times, carving my own path, discovering images that are unique to me, that — that is way more interesting.

Photography as a lifestyle, from Zion National Park

I breathe photography, it’s my life. I always have a camera with me, ready to create something at any moment. If photography were to be done only from beautiful and stunning places, I wouldn’t be doing it. I believe photography should be done anywhere, at all times. There’s an image to be made everywhere.

In this video from beautiful Zion, I talk about this approach to photography.

How we travel

We are moving again, leaving Colorado and heading towards Utah. In this video, we talk about how we travel, why we do it this way, what we carry with us, and I make some images in Salt Lake City.

Nothing lasts forever

Hello, friend, from somewhere in Iowa.

I’m typing this on my iPad from the passenger seat of our truck. Today, we left Indiana after being there for a couple of months, as we head West in the search of new adventures.

We’ve “moved” several times in the last few years. It doesn’t get any easier. Leaving behind a place and a routine, the comfort and safety they provide, and the people you shared your life with even if only for a few weeks, is always hard. And in some ways, the uncertainty of a road trip can be a bit scary.

I’ve come to realize that all of this is a good reminder, though: nothing lasts forever. Memento mori, some say. This is a fact we all are aware of, but it can get lost in the everyday, automatic behaviors we engage in.

Knowing that we only have a few weeks left of whatever we are doing, of wherever we are, and of whoever we are with, makes me enjoy all of it a bit more. It makes everyone around us that way.

It wasn’t too long ago when we were saying good bye to everyone in Spain over meals and drinks, or when we were celebrating being back with our loved ones in Indiana. This week, it was time to enjoy the last few days with them.

Even though I always try to keep in mind how lucky I am to even be alive, this approach to life has made me even more aware. Every day is special in a different way.

Take it all in today. Because we aren’t going to be here tomorrow.

How to afford new cameras and lenses

I still remember the moment I threw that last cigarette butt on the ground. It’s been almost 5 years since I quit smoking.

Health had always been a concern, but at the time, all I could think about was all the money I was going to save by quitting -money I was planning to spend on new cameras and lenses, of course. It was an exciting plan and it helped me quit.

Indeed, I was spending a lot of money on tobacco. It was hard to see on a daily basis, it was “just” $5 a day. But I did the math, and turned out to be more $2,000 a year. Or, the way I started to see it, a new A7iii every year.

Humans are terrible at understanding things that are far away in time. That’s why most services today are based on subscriptions: it’s just X a month!. These little things add up, though, and quite fast. Translating the annual cost into photography gear helps me see the big picture.

These are other ways I stopped wasting my money:

• I don’t drink alcohol anymore. I used to, at least one beer a day, and probably a glass of wine afterwards. Definitely more on the weekends. This amounted to even more money than smoking: 500 rolls of HP5 a year.

• Starbucks must miss me. I used to go there on a daily basis, spending at least a couple of good ND filters a month, or a new RX100vii a year.

• The brewery¹ we had downstairs in Portland? We used to go there at least once a week, and going through the charges of 2017, I see we spent a Hasselblad 500cm with 80mm lens on that one place in just 10 months. Today, I go out less often -and yes, the pandemic has helped quite a bit here- and save a lot of money.

• My phone (an iPhone 7 Plus) is 4 years old. I used to switch to a new phone every year, which cost me a round-trip to Iceland every 12 months.

A beer here. A coffee there. A dinner out. A new gadget. Nothing big, just little treats. But these small things add up and were making a dent on my savings.

Most people think that the key to save money is to make more, when it’s much easier -and faster- to lower your expenses and live below your means. And the good thing is, this doesn’t have to involve big changes, but we can do it by changing small bad habits we do on a daily basis.

Just by not smoking, not drinking alcohol, making coffee at home instead of getting it to go, cooking at home more often, and not buying a new phone every year, I’m saving a lot of money. Money I can invest on things like camera gear or a trip somewhere to make images. Translating those saving into specific things you can do with that money -like buying photography gear- can help.

Big change is always about the little things.

1: The brewery closed its doors just a few months after we left Portland. Apparently, they couldn’t afford rent anymore. Coincidence? Or did our departure have something to do? I will never know.

Nutrition and Exercise for Photographers: my simple approach

We, outdoor photographers, need to be able to deal with the heat and the cold, the sun and the snow, standing up at the same spot for hours waiting for that shot, or hiking for miles looking for an image.

If we can go further, stay out for longer, deal with uncomfortable situations better, and remain focused on the goal, our chances to make a good image increase exponentially. 

For the last few years, but especially in this very challenging 2020, I’ve been experimenting with different approaches to nutrition, exercise and lifestyle in general that are making me stronger, and in the process, helping me grow as a photographer.

In this video, I want to share some of those ideas and practices, because they might help you too.

Push your limits further away

A couple of years ago, the furthest I was able to run was around a hundred feet. On a good day, I might have been able to do a couple of push ups. A 5-mile hike felt like a huge achievement, deserving of a few beers and a week of rest.

Back then, those were my limits - I had never pushed my body to go beyond them. I thought running, push ups and long hikes were for somebody else, athletes, people who had had better luck than me in the DNA lottery. Nothing I could about it.

Thankfully, at some point I realized there was a lot I could do. I was never going to make it to the Olympics, but I wanted to see how far I'd be able to go.

Today, I know I can run 10 miles without much problem (I expect to run my first half-marathon this week). I know I can do 100 push ups every day... because I do them. After the Camino, I also know I can hike for 25 miles a day for a whole week.

Nothing impressive, but I'm very proud of my progression in the last couple of years. I'm in a much better shape now at 38 than when I was 20 - and I can't wait to see how much further I can go from here.

They say we are stronger than we think - we are. But we can get even stronger. Limits aren't fixed, they can be pushed further away, wherever you might be right now.

This can be applied to almost everything in our lives. There are so many limits we haven't tested yet - they can be pushed as well. This is how we grow.

Quarantine life: a photographer on a farm

Here for the long term

I’ve been making images for a few years now. Back when I got started, I had no idea where this passion of mine would lead me. Today, I spend most of my days taking photographs, editing photographs, writing about photography, thinking about photography, talking about photography, studying photography.

While I don't know how long I'll be able to do this full time, I do know that even if I had to get another job to pay the bills, I'd still be doing photography.

This project of mine has grown to the point of being the purpose of my existence: to record what I see in a visual form, and to inspire others to do the same.

As I admitted recently, there's something missing in my work, and there always will. The same way a diary is never finished, I will never be "done" with my images which I consider to be my reflection, a part of me.

This is a life-long project. One I'm extremely excited about.

Why you should keep your camera gear in a bag

As someone with a semi-nomadic lifestyle, I've gotten used to live off a suitcase.

Instead of organizing my gear on shelves and drawers, I keep all my cameras, lenses and accessories in my bag. Having a limited space to store my stuff makes be very selective about what I buy: a new item usually means another one has to go.

But the reason why I always keep my gear in my bag is because that way I'm always ready to go. If I see fog in the morning, I grab my bag and get out. If the Spanish government establishes a mandatory quarantine, I grab my bag and go to my parents' farm to spend the lockdown there.

I know I won't be forgetting anything because all the gear I'd ever need is there, and ready.

A day in the life (of a photographer), part II

Second part of the mini-series "A day in the life". I show you what I do on a slow day.