Zapata, the Clash and the urban dimension of the street photographer

I support the idea that immersing oneself in the urban dimension we live in is a fundamental requirement for a street photographer interested in conferring documentary honesty on his work.

From the observation that visually returns the world in front of you, you can make your photography reflect an intent to portray the society of that place. I have always insisted on the fact that street photography belongs absolutely to documentary photography. Which makes it absolutely different, for example, from photos of colored bricks or a set of wristwatches.

What I do in the New York bronx will inevitably be different from what I do in a Mexican barrio. It is not in the research of what I do but in what I have in front of me and which I decide to photograph that I will determine the documentary value of a certain photographic proposal.

In photographing the image of Emiliano Zapata under the flyover in a composit of a street artist, with that The Clash hat, I am also presenting how much metropolitan dimension draws on characters who have made the history of a country and who therefore entered in popular imagery and iconography and therefore urban.

Here, a simple photo like this becomes an opportunity to recognize identities and settings that can only be revealed in a specific social context.