Country life

My recent trip to DC, New York and Amsterdam put me in hyper-productive mode. I continued to make more images and videos once I got to Spain, I was inspired and wasn't going to let that go.

This came to an abrupt end after I got sick from a stomach bug that was affecting many people around me. It was just one day in bed, but enough to break the streak.

Since then -almost a couple weeks already- I have not grabbed my camera and gone out on a dedicated photography trip. Instead, I've been embracing country life, spontaneous shooting, healthy eating, reading and relaxing.

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I entered hibernation mode as I've been scheduling images and videos along with working with new print orders, but that was pretty much it. I've been disconnected from the outside world (no social media at all, no news, no nothing).

As much as I've enjoyed these last 2 weeks, I have only a few days left before I embark on yet another adventure.

PS: I have 3 new videos I didn't even share here. Just in case you've missed them - The Hague in monochrome, Never give up (back in Spain) and There's beauty everywhere.

Embracing thyself

A former boss of mine once told me:

You do your best under pressure

She was damn right. This was many years ago, but it has stuck with me since then. No one had ever figured me out so well so fast the way she did. Not only did I work better under pressure, I enjoyed my job more.

At that time I was doing zero self-reflection. All I knew about myself was whatever others thought of me: smart but lazy. I seemed to deal with pressure better than others, but surely this was due to my nature - too lazy to even care about deadlines.

For years, I approached this the only way I knew: trying to "fix" it. I should be able to work like everyone else.

Only recently I've started to reflect more about myself and to embrace parts of me that maybe, and just maybe, don't need to be fixed. If I thrive under pressure, maybe I should put myself under pressure more often.

I've found that I write my best when I give myself a limited time to finish. I've noticed that my best images happen when I don't have much time to make them - maybe that's why I enjoy fading scenes like sunrise and sunset so much.

I also tend to go all-in when I start something, I focus 200% on that. The general advice is to take it easy, to go slow, to do things little by little, one by one. That is sound advice for most people, it's not for me.

Reflecting on the last few months, I realize that I've created some of my best work and I've come to be in the best shape of my life - at age 37, despite my doctor's recommendation of "daily short walks and a beer afterwards".

Most importantly, I've become hungrier than ever: I want to learn more, I want to do more.

Pushing yourself to the extreme comes with some risks, it's important to be aware of our own limits so we don't go too far. But I also think that staying within our comfort zone doesn't lead to anywhere, it's not challenging, it's boring and brings no joy.

"We must all either wear out or rust out, everyone of us. My choice is to wear out"
- Theodore Roosevelt

I've chosen to wear out, too.

Where does "aows" come from, anyway?

This is a question that comes up every once in a while.

Years ago I decided that I wanted an email address like adrian@otero.com. It looked cool, I guess.

otero wasn't available in any of the major domains, so I started to look for alternatives. I eventually found ws. This is the domain for the country of Samoa and I guess they weren't selling many because they started promoting it as an acronym to website.

adrian.otero.ws

adrian - otero - website

That was the idea. I liked it.

Today, I don't know of anyone using that domain in that way.

Anyway, about that time, Twitter launched and I had to get a username. I went for "adrian otero ws", aows. I loved how short it was.

Over the years, I kept using the same username in every social network and platform I signed up for, including Instagram. That's where my photography career started, and since I couldn't find a better / easier username I stuck with it.

And this is where aows comes from.

Winter is the best time for photography, but you have to be careful

In my opinion, winter is the best time of the year to make images. It comes with some risks, though.

While I do go on some hikes, most of the shooting during the cold months is done not too far from the car. I drive to a location and make a few exposures. Then I drive to the next spot. This is what I did last week during some intense cold and foggy weather.

I wasn't careful enough and several days of moving between a warm car and the freezing outdoors have taken their toll on me.

It's just a cold and I'll be out making new images soon. It just kills me to see that the fog is still with us and I can't stop thinking about the images I'm not making. All because I was careless.

My Story

There are many things you might not know about me.

I'm 36 years old and I quit my well-paid job last year to become a full-time photographer and videographer.

There's more to my story, watch the video if you want to know more.

April, 2000 -

My mom is a collector of memories.

For years, she spent a lot of money and time putting together photo albums with side notes: where we went, what we ate, how we felt.

"1985-90", "90-93"

They are images of the highlights of our lives: that wedding, that party, that birthday, that day at the beach.

"April, 2000 - ", says the label of the very last photo album.

As you turn pages on that album, you start noticing that whereas one from the 90s would have 3-4 photos per event, this one had 10-20, getting worse and worse towards the end.

No more side notes, no more anecdotes.

And one day, suddenly, no more photos.

There wasn't room for all of them.

Digital happened.