Highlights October 2024

An intense month of work, crowned on the street by one of the best photos I've ever taken.

It is often said to photograph at close range. But it is not said that this should be in accordance with the situation and not because we must do it every time. Each situation justifies the distance and therefore our position in relation to the subject and from there the composition that we are able to realize.

When you shoot in a dangerous neighborhood with a photo like that. And it doesn't explain anything about the danger of photographing there. Only you know.

My photography doesn't live in situations where everything finds its place because I give myself time. Rather, it is a sudden and therefore instinctive reaction to what I find in front of me. In short, stuff that will never win photography awards, but that gives me a lot of satisfaction.

Photographing in a way that is present "expression of culture of the place where I am" has led me over time to enjoy the respect of those who really matter in the world of photography for me. Also because I don't know what to do with others.

Offering ideas and creating poetry. Through a t-shirt that I encounter.

What does humanist photographer mean to you? For me, it’s something I’ve had since before I started taking pictures with my first camera. It dates back to reading THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway.

Today black and white is a punch in the face to the noise and sloppiness of a world that I don't like. And only with black and white do I feel that I am truly in the dimension that I prefer. Arriving to capture imagery that responds to my world, to what I saw when I was still in the stroller pushed by my mother. It was the 70s.

And it is a living flame the immeasurable beauty of existence that leads me to enjoy sublime notes of everyday life where poetry is punctuated by images that belong to me from the first moment I see them. And I recognize them as mine. They belong to me.

“Oh, rude” she said when I got close and took the picture. I am sorry but I could not resist to this scene. Like a crazy ball in a pinball machine echoes of Winogrand and I had to have this photo.

Is there anything else I can say about this photograph? For me it is one of my masterpieces. And that is because it condenses in a wonderful way our existence as inhabitants of the barrio.

THE VIDEO

CONCLUSIONS

This month was characterized by the last photo you see here and in the video. And that would have been enough. Instead I worked for L'EQUIPE. Of which I have decided not to insert any photos here. Because here I try to deal rather with street photography, at least the street photography that I do.

I think that this month of October sublimates in an extraordinary way who I am as a photographer. A professional who, thanks to street photography, trains and tries to become a better photographer. During this continuous process I can see how I am recognized by those who really matter in this profession and decide to hire me. What matters and what is really important is this. Not photographic awards that are a waste of time and that don't even make a CV in my opinion. And the approvals of the entire street photography circus are not. I'm not interested at all and I never have been. This is why many hate me. This is why they think that by leaving me out of their circle they keep me away from success in the world of photography. And then, to contradict them all, the contracts, the assignments arrive and I can boast clients that they can only dream of.

Today I say goodbye to that poor girl who said I was taking random photos without planning. Or that other one who told one of my students who had the misfortune of running into such a lady that she "didn't understand what Alex Coghe was doing".

This Red October marks my revenge against so many poor wretches. I am here and I can see where you are. I obtained all this alone. Through the hard work, sacrifices and the support of my wife and my family, but alone in the sense that nobody would this happening. So, I would clarify: contnue to ignore me and excluding me from your crappy events, festivals and other crappy things. I think is better not to confuse me with certain rubbish.