Original subtitles

Hello friends, how are you?

How are things going?

Welcome to a new chapter, or rather welcome

to myself for the fact that yesterday I

arrived at my house after being out of

it for 24 days.

I don't know if any of you have

been following me on Instagram or Facebook, but

well, surely some of you know that I

have been in Colombia for the last 24

days and the truth is that I feel

a little strange because it's been like 27,

28 days since I've recorded myself in front

of a camera, so I'm crazy.

Well, as I told you, yesterday I arrived

at my house after a journey of almost

18 hours, 10 hours by plane, but as

everyone knows, between airports, trains, stories...

I'm finally here.

I still can't believe it, really.

Well, the reason for this video is to

tell you a little bit about what has

happened, what has happened in 24 days or

what has happened during all this time that

I have been there.

Possibly many of you have not felt that

the videos have been missing, because the truth

is that before going to Colombia, I recorded

a lot of videos to have them there

and to publish them and so that you

don't miss the fact that there was constantly

material uploaded to Patreon.

I mean, for me it was essential to

continue being there and to continue being the

professional I am and that no one would

feel that there was a lack of material

out there.

The truth is that this video, and I

hope not to entertain myself more, this video

is created to say hello, to tell you

that I am still here and that we

are going to start working on new material,

on super interesting material and also to tell

you a little bit about the story that

has happened to me or the stories that

I have lived in these 24 days.

I would also like to introduce you to

the next material that you are going to

see on Patreon in the next few days.

I would like to start at the beginning

of everything, of course, and the story is

that I originally had to travel to Colombia,

specifically to Bogotá, because I had to teach

a couple of workshops, specifically on April 12

and 13 and April 14 and 15.

I had two workshops that, as you know,

were postponed due to the fucking pandemic in

which it seems that little by little we

are already taking a little bit away from

it.

The story is that I originally had a

flight, which was only 5 or 6 days,

in which I traveled to Bogotá just for

that thing.

The story is that, although it seems strange,

I receive the request of a Colombian girl

who marries me on March 25, no, on

March 27, excuse me.

The point is that I receive the email

on March 7 or 8, I mean, with

only two weeks of time.

So, the first thing I think is that

the date has been wrong and the second

thing I think, sorry, is that I say,

okay, since so many Colombian photographers have shared

my post that I am going to visit

Colombia today, it is possible that this Colombian

girlfriend has thought or thinks that, simply what

happens is that she thinks that I am

Colombian, so I already answer her and I

say, hey, sorry Adri, I say, look, thank

you very much for getting in touch with

me, blah, blah, blah, blah, but on March

27 we are talking about 2021 and do

you know that I am Spanish?

The quick answer from her is, yes, I

get married on March 27 and I know

perfectly who you are.

So, if you don't mind, give me the

budget and we value it and if we

can, we'll bring you here.

Surprise!

Those crazy things of the fucking pandemic, right?

I say, what?

15 days of time?

So, quickly, I sent the budget, it was

accepted, we changed the flights and quickly, in

15 days of time, I started recording videos

for Patreon, like a damn bastard, so that

all of you had videos weekly.

Not just one, but as you have seen,

two videos almost on occasion per week.

So, that's crazy, right?

The wedding was at Perlas, the wedding was

a pretty interesting wedding that, well, I recorded

several videos with the GoPro to then share

them with you, so what I'm going to

...

or with you, right?

As you can see, I've been in Colombia

and it's always in third person, right?

Like you, you, right?

The thing is that, well, as I say,

throughout the wedding, I was recording with different

...

well, with the GoPro to edit some kind

of video in which we can ...

or in which I can talk a little

about how I've been working, for example, the

wedding, like, well, some bright picture that I

have, some little story so that everyone can

understand a little bit and so that you

can see a little bit how I work

in a wedding, right?

The wedding ended and the truth is that

I had like ...

the wedding ended on the 27th, of course,

and I had until April 17th like two

and a half weeks or three weeks, sorry,

to do things.

So, well, I announced on social media that

I was going to be there because, although

it seems strange, at first the original idea

was to get married and go back to

Spain but many colleagues told me, no, Víctor,

with the pandemic, stay there and try to

get a job.

So that's why in those three weeks I

took advantage, right?

And I announced on social media, hello, I'm

here.

So, thanks to that, I closed or hired

a family session, a couple session and what

were several one-to-one sessions with which

they were perfect.

We also did a session, I mean, a

three-finger session that the couple hired me

in Cartagena de Indias.

I don't know if any of you know

Cartagena de Indias but wow, what a place!

For everything, for the light, for the city.

If you are Europeans or from the United

States and you have not visited Cartagena, please,

when the pandemic ends, do not miss a

second and if you can, see.

It's something you have to do, right?

So, as I say, be prepared to suffer

a heat and a humidity that your balls

are going to fall to the ground.

I mean, literally.

The moment I landed, I remember in Cartagena,

I almost died.

I mean, I almost died from the heat.

And in the session, I don't even tell

you.

I remember I had a three and a

half hour session because, well, I wanted to

get a lot of things out, I wanted

to take advantage and, well, I finished the

session I mean, I didn't sweat anymore because

I think I didn't have liquid in my

own body.

A real madness.

But I was lucky to be able to

photograph, to be able to take several photos

and, of course, to get at least one

that really gets into my favorites.

If I say one, it's because I always

have a special folder in which, throughout my

professional career, which has been like ten years

as a wedding photographer, I've always hung...

Well, I go...

Sorry, throughout all this time, I always...

I mean, the best photos, I throw them

there.

And the truth is that every year, I

only throw or I only keep ten, fifteen

images that, or even less sometimes, are favorites.

And thanks to this post-wedding, I have

one of those images that, at least, I've

been able to photograph that gets into one

of my favorite photos.

I'm talking about this image.

And, well, I'm going to create an episode

on Patreon just talking exclusively about this image

because it has a super long story.

It has a good story behind it and

the truth is that, even if it seems

so simple, behind it, it hides for almost

ten minutes until I finally managed to photograph

it.

And, well, I like it for everything, for

the place, for the moment, for how it's

balanced, for the composition, for the light, for

what it transmits, for the atmosphere, and because

it's quickly located in what was done there,

in Cartagena de Indias.

So, it's one of those images that I

keep for myself and I'm eternally grateful for

it.

I've told you many times that the photographer

doesn't only live for the money he earns.

I mean, I, from that session, from the

post-wedding and the wedding, the truth is

that I earn money, clearly, and well, right?

But the best thing that fills me up

is having the photo.

Why?

Because the money goes away.

The money, as it comes in, ends up

going away.

But the good photos come and stay.

Do you understand where I'm going?

And that's fantastic, okay?

And then, well, as I told you, I

had a family session, I was able to

take advantage of it with one of the

students who hired me, one of the students

from the workshop that I was going to

have.

Well, he hired me for the family session.

The truth is that I'm not very, well,

I'm very, very used to doing family sessions,

but, fuck, work, right?

It was work for me.

I had just been in Spain where I

hadn't worked at all, I mean, I hadn't

photographed any sessions in months.

I don't know, well, many of you from

Spain follow me, but what happens in this

country and in Europe is totally fantastic.

It's clear that the virus is everywhere, in

Colombia, in Mexico, and in Latin America, and

in the United States, and everywhere.

But the restrictions on the part of governments

and the fear in which all citizens and

all future clients means that our profession in

Europe or in Spain is about to disappear,

gentlemen.

I mean, this is pathetic, disgusting, that there

is a virus, and I've been there, and

I've worked, and I've taken, I don't know

how many planes, and I've flown again, and

a thousand stories, and I've constantly covered myself

with a mask.

I could have caught the virus, obviously, but

I haven't caught it, well, I think.

Well, after two tests that I've had done,

one there and one here, I think I

don't have it, just in case, but I

mean, come on, Europe is a mess, and

we're heading towards total apocalypse.

This is a disaster at the highest level.

That's why coming to Colombia and being able

to work, I mean, it was fantastic, I

mean, to recover, and suddenly, right now, I'm

downloading cards, well, no, sorry, not cards, I

mean, hard drives, and I think there are

500 GB or more, 600 GB in images,

wow.

How long has it been since I did

that?

A year, or more, no, what do I

say, a year, almost two years, you know?

I mean, this has been brutal, right?

Well, as I told you, I had, you

know, I had family sessions, one or another

session I also had as a couple, and,

of course, the long-awaited workshops arrived, right?

I had a couple of workshops in a

good hotel that I had booked, and my

surprise, in the hotel that I booked, when

I went to see the rooms, I saw

that the room, well, the area of the

congress, the area of this, there was no

natural air entrance.

It gave me a horrible fear, I didn't

want to be with 15 people in a

room that didn't have ventilation, that didn't have

windows with, I mean, with natural air, so,

finally, you're going to hallucinate.

The workshop wasn't done there, in the congress

room, but it was done in the parking

lot.

In the hotel's parking lot.

I mean, why?

Because it had two huge doors with air

entrance, so, even though the hotel thought that

Spanish was totally crazy, it was done there.

The students, I don't know what they would

think, but I tried to explain to them

that it had to be done there, because

we all had to take care of ourselves,

and, in fact, I even took from Spain

the FFP2 masks, which are the ones that

several doctors have recommended to me, because, I

don't want to talk much about the virus,

but, gentlemen, the masks, the blue ones, the

surgical ones, they're useless.

No, they're useless.

And the fabric ones, neither.

They're useless.

Why?

The surgical ones, because there are holes and

because it's not a material perfectly resistant to

the virus.

And the fabric ones, well, I'd better not

talk, right?

But, that's why.

I took the masks that I thought were

going well, all the students took them, one

for each day, for each of the students,

and I think it worked.

So, I thank everyone for coming, for helping

me and all that, and I hope that

none of those who attended the workshop got

the virus.

At the moment, I don't think so, because

even photographers came from Panama for the workshop,

to whom I have to thank from the

bottom of my heart for the effort they

made, because they had to get a PCR

in Panama or another PCR in Colombia to

go back to Panama, and in Panama they

had to get another PCR, and to this

day they must still be in quarantine.

By the way, I also have to be

in quarantine at home for 10 days, so

here we are, editing and enjoying a little

bit of life, right?

And besides the two workshops, I had a

super masterclass for 100 people, and the masterclass

was organized by a good friend, Julia Gentil,

and another great friend called Julián Barreto, and

when Julián wrote to me, I said, yes,

I'm interested in doing that masterclass, but it

has to be a conference room so big

and so well ventilated, because otherwise I'm not

going to teach any kind of workshop.

And so it was, it was a big

room, huge, huge, huge, with its spaces, everyone

with their masks, FFP2 masks, and everything worked

out, in the end, right?

So everything went well, everything went well with

that conference, because I was very worried, super

worried, 100 people in the same room, but

in the end it worked out, right?

So I'm back in Spain.

Oh, wait, before coming to Spain yesterday at

the airport, I was just with my backpack,

with my backpack of photos, and a policeman

came up to me, but a policeman who

was from...

well, not dressed as a policeman, and a

person came up to me, he took out

a badge, the police badge, and he said,

hello, well, do you mind telling me where

you're going?

And I said, yes, I'm going to Spain,

very calm, very relaxed, and he said, do

you mind giving me your passport so I

can see it?

And he said, how long have you been

here?

And I said, well, since March 25th.

And since he came here, of course, I

couldn't say that he had gone to work,

right?

I said, well, I came to see a

friend, and then also several friends who hadn't

seen us in a while, and one of

them had health problems, and I said, okay.

And does he mind that I see what's

in the backpack?

I said, no, of course, you can look

at it.

And there, in the middle of the terminal,

everything starts to come out, boom, boom, boom,

boom, and he says, so, do you mind

coming with me to a room for a

moment?

I said, yes, of course.

He took me to a door, and I

said, this guy, of course, the police thought

that I was a drug dealer.

So, they took me to a room, there

were a couple of police officers, one took

my passport, I guess to check the data,

and the other one starts asking me questions,

but all the time, to see if he

contradicted me, and where I had been, and

so on, all kinds of stories.

In the end, another police officer with a

dog arrives, with everything there, boom, boom, boom,

he didn't see the dog at all, as

it was logical, and I'm saying, fuck, and

in the end, they even took me to

a room to do my X-rays, to

see if I had drugs inside my own

body, as I didn't have it, and as

I guess they would see me so calm

and honest, in the end, I flew, 10

hours, then, I had to wait a little

longer, go to the train station, get here

to Zaragoza, get to my house, hug my

wife as never before, Erica, give a hug

to my son, give him a gift that

I had brought him, for the great adventure,

I think that was my dream, give a

hug to Erica, and finally, see my son,

as you can't imagine what happens when you've

been away from home So, that's it, I'm

here, the truth is that I don't have

jet lag, I always have it when I

go to the other side, but not when

I come here, I've slept 9 hours peacefully,

like a little kid, and here I am,

recording, so soon we're going to start working,

soon you're going to see videos, because I've

had time to get inspired, to work, and

to enjoy again a profession that in this

country has been forbidden to us, like in

the rest of Europe, and thanks to the

Colombians I've been able to be the photographer

that I've been during the last years, and

I'm tremendously happy, so, see you soon, with

more videos and interesting information, take care!