PATRICK ALONSO PHOTOGRAPHE

Aldea the book …

(en français suivant les photos)

My Aldea book project is finally completed, printed and ready for viewing. As you might of guessed from the title, this book, actually a forty page booklet, is a collection of photographs from my Aldea series.

Like the village at the origin of this project, this booklet is rough. Printed on an average print paper (slightly heavier than copy paper) from a local print shop and saddle stitched, the basic premise for this project was that it shouldn’t last or at least stay in pristine condition for very long if handled in a cavalier manner. The only thing that will make these a limited edition is time itself.

The methods used have added their own ingredients to the overall look of the photographs and the completed product is exactly what I wanted these images to “feel” like when I started editing this series way back in January.

I printed a small number for now which I will be selling for 7.50$ + 3.00$ shipping a piece (that’s Canadian dollars). Mail me if you would be interested in getting a copy.

© Patrick Alonso

© Patrick Alonso

© Patrick Alonso

© Patrick Alonso

Mon projet de livre Aldea est enfin terminé, imprimé et prêt pour votre visionnement. Comme vous pouvez le deviner d’après le titre, ce livre, en fait un livret d’une quarantaine de pages, est une collection de photographies de ma série Aldea.

Tout comme le village à l’origine de ce projet, ce livret est rustique. Imprimé sur un papier d’impression moyen (un peu plus lourd que du papier copie) à partir d’un imprimeur local et agrafé à la main, la prémisse de départ pour ce livret était qu’il ne devrait pas durer, ou du moins rester en parfait état pour très longtemps s’il était manipulé de manière cavalière. La seule chose qui va faire de ce livre une édition limitée est le temps lui-même.

Les méthodes utilisées ont ajouté leurs propres ingrédients à l’aspect global de la photographie et le produit fini est exactement ce que je voulais « ressentir » par rapport à ces images quand j’ai commencé à éditer cette série en janvier.

J’ai imprimé un petit nombre pour l’instant que je vais vendre pour 7,50 $ + 3,00 $ d’expédition. Écrivez-moi si vous souhaitez obtenir une copie.

Aldea …

As promised, my portfolios are back up for viewing. Showing work in the form of portfolios as had me torn for the past months, I guess I still am. There seems to be such a finality to work once it’s presented in this format … as if I would never again in my life walk the streets of so and so city or revisit one particular edit.

Nevertheless, here they are in the form of individual galleries in the right hand column of my blog (Portfolios section), totally bypassing the usual website. Some old stuff with new one edited in (both streets series) and one brand new series titled “Aldea” which I produced last December in Aldeanueva de Ebro (Spain) and had mentioned in part here.

Aldeanueva de Ebro © Patrick Alonso

Including beautiful introductory words by Eve, the brief text at the beginning of the “Aldea” series describes my feelings towards these photographs. I am very attached to this particular work. While walking the streets of my grandfather’s village I felt very lucid, very focused and admits the decay, badly planned industrialization and dirt I came to the realization that the only beautiful thing about that place is my grandfather himself. Once he’s gone, any love I have for that particular place will be as well. That pushed me to document parts of it before everything changed too much … nothing was forced, everything was photographed on instinct without over thinking, never more than one frame per subject.

Tourists … in Paris

Following up on my post from two weeks ago … more tourists busily documenting every angle of their vacation, this time in Paris.

Musée du Louvre © Patrick Alonso

Les Invalides © Patrick Alonso

Musée du Louvre © Patrick Alonso

I’m an especially big fan of the « holding Dan Brown’s pyramid » moment. I stood there for quite a while hoping someone would walk up and do something a little more original, alas that sort of luck wasn’t with me on that particular day …

Tourist …

I’ve been fascinated with photographing tourists for a while, it probably started when I went to Madrid for the first time last spring, all these people holding up their arms and making sure they don’t miss a moment of their vacations, all the while missing them … big generalization, I know.

It’s had me wondering lately why I myself, don’t ever capture those « kodak moments » anymore … maybe because I never spend much time looking at those pictures. When I’m older I wonder if I will care that I never took a few pictures of this or that in my life while it was still around …

Starting with this picture taken last summer, I’ll be sharing a few of these tourist pictures over the next few weeks, I think there’s a potential series in all those snapshots of tourists.

© Patrick Alonso

If you’re into road trips, snap shots and the recollection they bring, you should check out this book from Wim Wenders, I think it’s pretty amazing.

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re too close …

I’ve been experimenting with very wide perspectives in portraits, integrating the subject into a larger context, for now, mostly urban. It probably goes against all rules of portraiture, especially if viewing on a screen, but I think it could become very interesting once printed in large format.

© Patrick Alonso

This one is of fellow photographer JF, and its particularly fitting considering that he’s been working on a very cool project called « Espaces Utilitaires » in which he explores mostly urban areas that we’re constructed to serve one single purpose with little regard for design or aesthetics.

© Jean-François Hamelin

Go to Jean-François’ website, then click Portfolio and then the last series « Espaces Utilitaires » to view the ongoing project.

Sancho the squire

As of late I have been going through my photographs of Spanish Corridas for an upcoming proposal and this particular shot, a favorite of mine which I haven’t showed on my website (just doesn’t fit into the current edit), feels like front and center in terms of how I feel about this whole project.

© Patrick Alonso

The guy, I forgot his name (we’ll call him Sancho), his squire to Sergio Dominguez, a Rejoneador (Matador on horseback) whom I was photographing on that particular morning. When I asked him to demonstrate how exactly they trained horses for the day they end up in front of a live bull he quickly called in Pancho who, armed with cart/fake bull wheeled contraption, started running after the horse which Sergio gallantly maneuvered around. It was a hot humid day and I felt sorry for the guy, I took a few frames and told Sergio I had what I needed so that he’d make Pancho stop running.

Now I am not implying that Sergio wasn’t treating Pancho fairly, quite the contrary, he was nice, polite and even a little shy. Nevertheless I could still feel that master/squire relationship of old. In fact bullfighting in Spain feels very much to me like it belongs to another time. Matadors still act like they are Princes walking above the masses, they still court ladies ringside and the whole fanfare around a Corrida looks like it came straight out of the 1750s.

This tradition which is fading quite rapidly (faster than some people think), whatever its faults, remains a big part of Spanish culture and history, in a way it defines a part of who they are. I feel that its important to document it before its relegated to the history books.

Two links that you might want to follow if you want to see what a Rejoneador does … they are not overlly gorish but its still bullfighting.

Sergio Dominguez

Pablo Hermoso (this guy is the Wayne Gretzky of Rejoneador)

This post will be multilingual …

This post will be multilingual … mostly because I feel like it.

Inconnus au Vices & Versa

Commençons avec la partie en français …  avis aux Montréalais qui fréquentent le bistro Vice & Versa sur St-Laurent, jusqu’au 30 janvier vous pourrez y voir accrocher cinq de mes photos d’inconnus prises l’été dernier. Je suis de ceux qui maintiennent qu’une photo ne prend tout ça beauté et son sens qu’au moment du tirage et voir ces cinq photos d’inconnus en format 12×18 leurs confèrent un tout autre aspect.

Les inconnus © Patrick Alonso

Si les photos ne sont pas une assez bonne raison pour vous déplacer … ils ont d’excellentes bières.

Lackluster week

I didn’t post a shot last week and it wasn’t for lack of shooting, I spent a great deal of time outside in the hellish cold but inspiration never really showed up. It happens. So to sum up last week I have this shot … its lackluster, dirty, ugly, cold and green … kind of like last week.

© Patrick Alonso

Plusieurs changements apportés au site

J’ai apporté plusieurs changements à mon portfolio récemment. Vous trouverez une nouvelle galerie intitulée « Montréal » qui contient trente-cinq photos captées ici même à Montréal au cours des dernières années. C’est la première fois que je publie ma photographie de rue de Montréal, je crois qu’elle fera bon complément à ma galerie de Paris.

© Patrick Alonso - série Montréal

La section « Portraits récents » s’intitule maintenant « Les connus », vous y retrouverez deux nouveaux portraits. La nouvelle galerie « Les inconnus » est une sélection de dix portraits d’inconnus, un projet en cours qui me voit photographier des inconnus que j’approche dans la rue.

J’espère que vous apprécierez ces changements et les nouvelles photos, vos commentaires sont toujours les bienvenues.

Les inconnus, projet entamé

C’est samedi dernier que mon projet de photographier des inconnus, pigés directement dans la rue, prenait son envol. Après maintes préparations et test, tôt samedi matin, moi et une collègue photographe sommes allez interpeler des passants pour leurs demander de bien vouloir poser pour nous quelques instants.

© Patrick Alonso

Quoique je n’avais pas d’attente de manière ou d’une autre, je n’étais pas certain de la réaction que les gens auraient à se faire demander de poser comme ça, sans avertissement, sans préparation. J’ai été surpris de constater que les gens de ma génération (ou plus jeunes) comptaient parmi ceux qui étaient les plus intéressés par notre projet. Il s’est avéré beaucoup plus difficile de convaincre les passants plus âgés.

© Patrick Alonso

Je suis satisfait des résultats et, moyennant quelques ajustements, je crois que j’aurai la recette gagnante pour recréer le « look » des célèbres photos d’Avedon. J’ai l’intention de répéter l’expérience à plusieurs reprises au cours des prochains mois et si possible à des endroits différents de Montréal.