Metropolitan Animal
The street, the photography, a philosophy of life
“Nice boys don’t play rock ‘n’ roll” - Rose Tattoo
Straight from the barrio. Where I live.
My photography reflects who I am.
With the cheapest cameras I make my art. My sincere art. Without compromises. I look like a stormtrooper more than a photographer.
There is no fashion in my gait. I just do my thing and can only recommend that you don't go the route of those who want you to spend money. Buy art not gear, guys. Believe me, books, exhibitions, life is what convert you in a better photographer, not camera and lenses. I do my own thing with Canon now becuase they are simply the cheapest brand on the market. And I can see how photographers with more expensive cameras can’t do what I do. Anything is relative, but the photographer makes photography not a camera or a lens.
Between us, I feel privileged. I can still use optical sights. More film-like experience. This is why I am back to shoot with DSLRs. When I use my small mirrorless I don’t look the LCD, in fact I hate LCD and is not the way to generate photography in my opinion. When I photograph with my M200 I just see what is in front of me: by knowing perfectly my 35mm lens I don’t need to look to the LCD. I am mostly a digital photographer but keeping as much as possible an organic workflow. Street Photography is above all linked by experience. Understanding experience about what you are currently doing. I would say it feeds on this to produce the result.
I never thought of Street Photography as something nice and cute. Street photography for me is being connected with the street which is therefore often repulsive, dirty, sick, perverse, dangerous. Metropolitan space can be glamorous and decadent. And the street photographer must be able to convey this dichotomy. If you ask me a photographer to whom I feel particularly connected by approach and vision is Boogie. His photography is not a comedy It implements a lot of violence and decadence but it doesn't do it with a pornographic look. It manages to be a document but at the same time fits well in the definition of Street Photography.
