Today I come to offer you a different article, based on different stories related to photography and these moments of confinement that we have had to live these days. All this without losing sight of what unites all of us who are part of this blog in one way or another: photography.
To begin with, I would like to tell you about a very special story that arrived in our email a few days ago. It is the story of the photographer Rafa Lanús, his 6-year-old daughter Sophie and his wife Mariella.
THE STORY OF RAFA, SOPHIE AND MARIELLA
Rafa Lanús is a professional photographer born in Argentina who currently lives in Barcelona with his wife and daughter. He has covered events such as the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the Emmys, Cannes, he has worked for various NGOs and much more. He has more than 20 years of experience in the world of photography.
And, like most of us, everything was going more or less well until COVID-19 entered his life and turned it upside down.
In a few days, he found himself separated from his wife, who was confined in Italy taking care of her parents, and in charge of his daughter, who, in turn, had to experience the following total confinement after Italy.
How to deal with this situation? I know that many of you are going through similar scenes. Many even worse. Each of us has our own demons to fight. That's why I want to share this story with you today.
Because this is the story of how photography helped Rafa in his confinement. This is the story of how photography could and can help you too.
I felt that I needed to lean on something, and like a revelation came to my mind; what better than my camera to keep me sane and with the necessary strength, and that's what I did, what I've been doing.
Treating this as the most challenging coverage of my life, this time, not for a client, but for us, the family, a personal project that consists of collecting all these strange moments, but at the same time incredible, unique, truly unprecedented.
Rafael Lanus
Photography helped Rafa deal with that forced separation, with his own confinement, with the fight for the well-being of his daughter, separated for weeks from her mother, from her friends, from her family.
Today I want to share their images with you. I can't add much more, because they are images that speak for themselves. But I hope that they inspire you, that they fill you up, that they make you feel that you too can rely on photography to help you deal with this situation.
As you can see, this incredible story has a more than happy ending. The penultimate image is one of those that makes time stop around you, don't you think? That first hug after weeks of separation and uncertainty...
This is an extreme life experience for most of us, but let's not let it sink us, photography can be our float during confinement, we can rely on it to document this surreal moment that we are living, to remember it, with its sorrows and joys, its lights and its shadows.
This is the best diary we can write, so I encourage you, as Rafa did, to let photography help you sustain yourself in these difficult times.
TECHNIQUE USED IN HIS PHOTOGRAPHS
Now I would like to show you how technique is our ally when it comes to telling stories ? . So I asked Rafa some technical aspects of his images because I'm sure you'll find them interesting ?
- Focal length: For this project, like most reportage-style projects, he works with fixed lenses ( prime ), in this case most of the images have been taken with a 35mm f/1.4 and in some cases in which he needed something more. wide angle used a 28mm lens.
- Equipment: His favorite camera, for its texture, colors and overall experience, and the one he always, always, always has with him is a Leica M240 with a Summilux 35mm f/1.4 ASPH lens. For this particular project, it's the camera he used. Rafa acknowledges that «Although it has certain limitations, compared to DSLRs or the new Mirrorless, it is the perfect camera for this type of work since it is smaller than the others and is less invasive, it goes much more unnoticed than a 5D with a 70-200 or a 24-70mm» .
- For other types of work: such as the Oscars, Cannes, red carpet in general, and posing, use Canon equipment (5d Mark IV, EOS R and 16-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8 and 70-200 2.8 lenses).
- Shooting Mode and Exposure Mode: For this project, and most in general, I worked a lot with aperture priority or in manual mode . As for the exposure mode, weighted to the center and always in RAW format.
- Indoor lighting: Rafa declares himself a lover of ambient light, he always tries to take advantage of existing indoor lights and windows.
- If you have to use flash, if it is a Speedlight, try not to shoot directly at the subject, always recommend bouncing it off a piece of paper or installing a portable diffuser. If they are studio lights, always try to use softboxes or umbrellas to get a more diffused light.
- In any case, the important thing is to try to compensate the flash with the ambient light so that it is not so predominant, this is achieved with a relatively low speed and thus let the ambient light enter, 1/30s, if you are still and the situation is quite static, it is going very well. For less than 1/30s it is best to use a tripod and ask the subject to hold still.
- In this project he did not use flash or studio lights
- Outdoor lighting: The same thing happens with outdoors, enjoy the ambient light and try not to use the flash. In the same way, in portraits these are absolutely necessary when there is a lot of contrast of light and shadow, especially to have well-lit eyes.
- ND filters when there is a lot of light and you want to shoot with very wide apertures 1.4, 2, 2.8, or for low speeds.
- Tripod: He has used it above all in the photos in which he appears, a normal photographic tripod and also the Gorillapod
- Image editor: Historically it has always used Adobe Photoshop , but this year it has started to use Adobe Lightroom as well, so now it is a combination of both. Rafa tells us that, as he comes from the world of photojournalism, what he does not do , especially in this type of work such as the quarantine report , is delete objects or change things, basically he only does what one could do in a dark room. : cut, adjust the contrast, adjust the texture a bit, or the volume. It is important that reality be what it is/was, it does not matter if the photo is not perfect.
Finally, I recommend that you take a look at their website, where you can see and enjoy this complete story.
Thank you Rafa for your time and for sharing your story with us.
OTHER INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPHIC PROJECTS CARRIED OUT DURING CONFINEMENT
Although Rafa's story is what inspired us to write this article on photography and confinement, we cannot fail to share with you other projects that you will surely find interesting. I encourage you to look for them on RRSS and let yourself be inspired by these and other projects.
CHARO TEN
Charo is a Technical Engineer residing in Madrid where she works in a telecommunications company. Photography is her main hobby for more than 20 years.
In these years he has played with all kinds of photographic disciplines: portraits, travel, landscapes, details, documentary, artistic... although for the last five years his children have been the main object of his photographs, capturing his childhood from his particular point of view. , always in black and white.
As a result of the confinement situation due to Covid-19, she thought of taking a series of photographs, traveling through the history of women's clothing throughout the centuries, it would be a way to occupy the hours and also entertain her children.
From that first photograph, another 30 followed, closing a full month. From ancient Greece, to the 80s, going through the roaring 20s or the medieval princesses until closing the series with a tribute to the health personnel who are doing so much for us these days.
A full month of confinement where he took a photograph every day.
LUIS RODRÍGUEZ (@LUISONSTREET AND @LUISON)
louis rodriguezHe is an architect by profession and a photographer by passion. He is from Madrid and self-taught, he has never studied photography. He started taking photos in 2010 when he bought his first iPhone and since then he recognizes that his perception of the world has changed 180º; he stopped walking with his eyes forward, paying no attention to what was happening around him.
In 2015 he began to collaborate with Huawei, and since then, he has taken his photos with mobiles of this brand. The photos that illustrate this text are taken with a Huawei P30 Pro. In 2017 she became part of the La Calle Es Nuestra collective.
Regarding confinement and photography, this street photographer tells us:
I feel the need to document this historical moment that we are living. I realize that confinement is forcing me to reinvent myself. I no longer go down to the street, and if I do, the scenario is diametrically opposite.For this reason I have to look for new ways of looking. I have discovered that the street can also be photographed from my balcony. I have discovered that the street is also inside the house, that a patio with hanging clothes, a basket with freshly washed clothes on the floor, a bed with ruffled sheets, or the toys thrown on the floor with which my friend has been playing. four-year-old daughter are also street, and more so in a situation like the one we are experiencing.
I, who am an architect by profession, even by vocation, now feel like a photographer, I am a photographer.
louis rodriguez
I recommend you visit their pageto see a diary of his confinement and his social networks: @luison and @luisonstreet.
This is the confinement seen by a street photographer.
ALAIN LABOILE
Personally, I've been following him on his Instagram for a long time and I find every image he uploads incredible. Alain Laboile is a French photographer, father of 6 children who, among other works, has dedicated himself to portraying his family.
The long-term project that he carries out portraying his family is wonderful. His images are fresh, realistic, hard, direct and his compositions are magnificent. She has an amazing photographic eye, and an ability to anticipate action achieved based on practice that will not leave you indifferent.
Although it is not an exclusive photography work of confinement, you can be inspired by it to portray everything that is close to you. Or at least, you will enjoy a walk through its images.
You can see his work on his website: http://www.laboile.com/works.html
On Instagram: @alainlaboile
I STAY HOME PHOTOGRAPHERS
Another initiative with photography as the protagonist that emerged as a result of the confinement is that of this group of photographers who share some online chats and encourage you to publish your images of the confinement with their hashtag #yomequedoencasafotographers and #eltarrodelamemoria. In the image you can see its bases.
You can follow them on Instagram yomequedoencasa.fotografos and on Facebook
PHOTOESPAÑA (PHE FROM MY BALCONY)
PHotoEspaña is an international photography festival that has been held annually in Madrid (Spain) since 1998 during the months of June and July. It has been consolidated over the years to become a reference in the audiovisual world.
PhotoSpainIts objective is to discover new talents in the world of photography and, during these days in which we have been hit in many parts of the world by the COVID-19 virus, they offer us to participate with our images taken from the balcony ?
HereYou have the bases to participate if you are interested ?
COVIDPHOTODIARIES
These are not images that we can make by living in confinement. Yes, on the other hand, they are a graphic (sometimes harsh) document of what we are experiencing these days.
If you like documentary photography, I think that these diaries of (the?) COVID-19 have very good material in terms of photographs. Covidphotodiaries is made up of 8 photographers and a virus, as they introduce themselves.
These are the photographers that you can find in their virus image diary: Isabel Permuy, José Colón, Judith Prat, Ana Surinyach, Javier Fergo, Susana Giron, Olmo Calvo and Manu Bravo.
You can follow them on Instagram: @covidphotodiaries
Finally, I would also like you to take a look at the profile of @remysdoorartand her diary of an inmate. The self-portraits with her dog are wonderful and the stories she tells are the most fun. The profile of @pixelartcreativos is also very interesting., a wedding photographer who, among other portraits, is photographing his daughter to honor relevant women in history.
And up to here this article, different from what we have accustomed you to, but the situation we are experiencing is also different, so why not? ?
I hope you enjoyed it, but above all I hope that it has touched that part of you where you hide the photographer inside you, that it has removed it from you, and that, by the end of reading these lines, you already have your hand on your camera with the clear intention to document around you.
This situation is what it is, disgusting ?, but the way we face it as individuals (and obviously as a society too) is what will make the difference, don't forget, write your diary so you never forget how it was, how you you felt, how was the world around you.
Portray light and shadow. It doesn't matter, take pictures, vent, live. A virtual hug, soon we will get out of this. We read each other in the next article ? .
