“10 years ago, I understood that the camera could be my round-trip ticket. It is a small, light object that fits in a backpack and is able to generate, in a moment, what in my youth took days to make with paint or charcoal.”
In 2018, he was nominated for the World Press Photo 6x6 Global Talent Program and his project MATAGI received the National Geographic Society Explorer Grant.
In this interview, he talks about his career and inspirations:
The advantage of being a director and photographer of an independent agency (OAK STORIES) is that we choose our own projects, taking as our starting point the interest we have in discovering, exploring, documenting, and sharing the realities of a world that we do not know and that fascinate us.
Our trade is a lifestyle which demands a lot when we are at home, and that takes us away from our loved ones during certain periods of time and in which we also live with the rest of the team. For this reason, we like to consider each project as an adventure, a vital episode for all those involved, in which we strive together to achieve our objectives, but also to generate a dignified experience, a beautiful story that is parallel to the work we produce and reveal to the world.
10 years ago, I understood that the camera could be my round-trip ticket. It is a small, light object that fits in a backpack and is able to generate, in a moment, what in my youth took days to make with paint or charcoal. I became familiar with the instrument and its language at the age of eighteen, but it was not until I was twenty-one that a first outline of how to combine my vital interests to discover the world around me with a work methodology, close to the visual arts, that would allow me to turn it into a profession.
In April we finish the second episode of our project “Matagi”, a hunter community north of Honshu, the main island of Japan. On this occasion, we have the support of National Geographic, who has awarded us one of their prestigious research and exploration scholarships to document the inclusion of the first female hunters in this community with more than four centuries of history. Also, nowadays we are working in a two-year project about Urban Resilience around the world with UN Habitat.
It was an extraordinary opportunity to connect with other photographers, curators and editors in Europe. I am very happy to be among the Future Talents, and I plan to use the platform to grow up in my professional career.
I am developing a big project about the North of Europe. In a couple of years, it will be finished, and a very special exhibition of this work will be coming up. I want to use the platform to be in touch with the partners of different festivals around Europe, keep them updated, and at the end I want to generate a traveling exhibition around different countries with their support.
