Burying the Past, Present Hopes

On December 13, 2015, I took a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  The trip was a rendezvous with my wife, Martha; who I have not seen since April of the same year.  Martha went to Argentina to continue her studies in surgery, she was making a fellowship in coloproctology.  Furthermore, the trip was a way of separating from all the issues I had at home (Dominican Republic) due to matters that where weighting heavily on my soul, owing to family and work related problems.

Photo No. 1 (above) / X-Pro 1, 18mm F2/0 at ISO 2000  1/100 Sec at f /2.0: Coming from buying groceries with Martha, I saw this restaurant, it had mist being sprayed through a sprinkle system every now and them; I found the shape of the metal holding the onyx, the fluorescent lights, and the hint of people symbolic of my state of mind/soul: a fog that did not allow me to see thing clearly, a fence that stopped me from reaching what it is clear, while a woman passes by, and I need to hold her.

I had used photography as therapy before; what I was not expecting was that working with the Fuji system would help me to accomplish my goal easier. Additionally, Lens Culture had a Story Telling Contest that looked appealing in the sense that I needed to produce it with what I had at hand, by this I mean that I had no subject matter decided or old work to upload.  I determined that my present circumstances, meaning my problems and the joy of meeting Martha was a story that I could tell. Also, being in a country in flux was something that I could photograph and relate to it. Argentina had 12 years of Kichnerism, a political movement named after President Fernandez Kichner (president from 2003 to 2007) and continued by his wife and also President Cristina Fernandez de Kichner. Kichnerism is against neoliberalism, free trade and had ties to the Venezuela Chavez government. The New President, Mauricio Macri is the opposite, he just took office a couple of days before my arrival.

I had five more days of shooting to go, before submitting my images to Lens Culture.

I did not brought a computer with me because I was just expecting to hang out with Martha, and copy my files to a portable drive and work on the images at home.  But, the contest changed everything.  Martha’s old Mac had Lightroom 2 on it; I decided to work on JPEG and RAF files, that I would edit back later at home.  There was one image from the Airport in Santo Domingo, on which I used the in-camera conversion and it was ok.  Another plus for the Fuji System, so far it is the only digital camera where I think that in-camera JPEGs actually work.  I ended up using Lightroom 2 to organize the story.

For my trip I took the X-T1 and my favorite X-Pro1, which carry two different concepts and approaches to photography in my daily life. I tend to use the X-Pro1 as a street machine: discreet, quieter and allowing you to see what it is unfolding before it happens, thus the camera “street philosophy” becomes an instance to follow in my daily life; meaning that I need it to flow easier with my problems, try to capture what I can, and move on.  I basically use the X-Pro1 with the 18mm F2.0, the 28mm F2.8 and the 35mm F1.4. I can carry all this in a small bag with a notepad and some extra batteries.  It is a system I can live by, but I really enjoy available light photography and extreme wide angle, so I took the X-T1 and the 10-24mm f/4; the 16mm and 23mm f/1.4 plus a couple of teles, a Voitglander 75mm F1,8, and an old Olympus 90mm F2,0 Macro. The X-T1 is a joy to use because of its ergonomics and easiness of functions; it also allow me to explore different angles of seeing due to the tilting screen: moments like picture number 2 or 3 in this article. Furthermore, it is a machine that is quite simple, noiseless (in terms of shutter speed and sensor noise), and versatile.  When I use this camera I feel that it is what DSLR should have become in the digital era: small, reliable, quiet. I have a camera that can adapt to any shooting situation due to its construction and weatherproofing. The X-T1 is my camera for available light and wide angles, due to the excellent EVF and the fast optics.

Although this sounds like a lot of camera equipment and it is, it is not as heavy compared to carrying the old Nikon D3 and a D800. So, I could tailor my gear according to the situation.  It all fits in an old Think Tank Photo Urban Disguise bag, which has the peculiarity of converting to a backpack too, and it does justice to its name, by being quite unobtrusive.

Fuji has something that I think was lost in the digital cameras: it is a feeling, a sensation, the smoothness of the equipment that makes you want to go out and shoot: which I think is in part ergonomics, a simple classical approach combined with excellent optics and image quality. Plus – all the controls are right there for you.

My shooting was just street wondering; the country had a major political change a few days before, resulting in a lot of uncertainties and expectations in the population. I guess it was a situation similar to mine. I decided to try to capture the tension on the streets and document my daily life with Martha at the same time.  So I went to the streets to sort of document Martha’s life in Buenos Aires. On some days I went to museums or went sightseeing with Martha, on the others I just walked the streets on my own.  Buenos Aires has lots of murals and beautiful architecture, so there was plenty to photograph. In the end, I choose images that I felt related to my situation and what I wanted to express about the changes within me, and what I felt of what was going on in the country at the time.  The only difference with the original essay is picture #5, which I used in black and white for the contest, but now that it works better in color.

To conclude – I am glad I did this essay, it is sort of a catharsis and an a way to show Martha my love to her.

 

 

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