Original subtitles

How are things going?

I hope everything goes as best as possible,

colleagues.

Here we are with a new chapter with

an off-camera and I want to talk

about a session that I did very, very

recently in Colombia and it was not a

random session but it was a session carried

out during a workshop and if I show

it to you, well, if I show you

this session it is because believe me that

usually it is not very complicated to photograph

a couple, more than anything because, well, more

or less, you tell the couple how you

would like them to be dressed, the place

that I would like in which the session

will be held, come on, more or less

everything is directed to create something interesting, right?

Or you play with a certain advantage to

be able to capture interesting things because it

is usually almost all directed, but of course,

in a workshop, first, the session is usually

done as almost everyone knows that it is

a workshop, well, that is, that you have

attended a wedding workshop, I do not know

if now but surely in recent years yes,

with which you already know, right?

That the practical session is a little bit,

it is a little freestyle, right?

That is, if the workshop is done in

a hotel, you usually go out and in

the street, here I catch you, here I

kill you, I mean, there are not many

possibilities to find a very creative place and

it is not only that the worst, right?

Because after all, if a photographer has a

certain baggage, he has certain creative resources, he

can get ahead with the workshop, but the

problem for me, right?

The one that has always been when I

have taught a workshop, it is not just

about taking beautiful photos or it is not

just about taking photographs that more or less

because the couple likes it, but it is

that behind me there are like 15 or

20 students who are wedding photographers and those

wedding photographers have gone to your workshop to

find out what the secret of Coca-Cola

is like, so those photographers are not going

to settle for you to give them or

for you to do a medium-sized normal

job, which is already complicated, but that you

do a job that comes out of the

ordinary, of course, thinking that it is to

have 15 or 20 colleagues behind with the

phone recording, waiting for something brilliant to come

out, right?

And I have to admit that in the

first workshops that I gave, I am talking

about 5 or 6 years ago or more,

even the practical sessions were a real disaster,

they were a shit, but in capital letters,

that is, it was a disaster because it

is not that it made me nervous, that

it did make me clear, but no, no,

no, no, it is that it was super

uncontrollable everything to have, that is, to have

colleagues next to you, that is, to answer

questions, to explain what was being done at

every moment, I mean, it did not come

out, but luckily I have been like three

years or four that things start to come

out and well, and the session that I

am going to explain today is quite good,

it is not good that I say quite

well, but I left happy and I had

4 or 5 shots that I like, not

only 4 or 5, but first of all,

I would like to show you a little

the 14 photos that I have delivered to

the couple, both to Nicolás and Joana, they

were the models or the couple that I

photographed and what I would like to show

you the 14 photos that I have delivered

and in today's video I would like to

explain a few, but not only the 2

or 3 that attract me the most, but

I would also like to show the 2

or 3 or 4 that do not attract

me so much and I know that many

of you not only like to see the

good photos but also the photos that do

not seem so good to me or that

I have discarded and why not, so what

we are going to see first is that

those 14 photos and then we started because

in matter, it is worth so that the

first photo was this, it is good, it

is a photo in black and white without

more, but I am going to explain it,

calm down, another photo that I took a

little with this one with my hands to

break the rhythm a little, not to show

a small detail of what the couple was

worth and in fact it reminds me a

lot of this black and white to a

Mexican portrait photographer named Luis Garbán, but hey,

let's continue, this third photo is one of

my favorites and it is one of those

that we are going to detail in this

video, another fourth photo that I will tell

you the story that is hidden behind, it

does not convince me, nor does this fifth

image convince me, I will tell you why

I photographed this image, well and in fact,

as you can see, it already includes a

flash, but hey, I'll tell you later, then

this sixth image is worth the one that

I am already starting to get a little

closer to what I already like and we

already change the registry and we go for

this one, as you can see, it already

attracts me more, it is one of my

favorites, another very similar is this image, changing

the rhythm again, you see that if we

are working all the time with American shots

or portraits and such, it is not bad

that we change the rhythm a little and

that we do or that we make a

very first first shot, this could go or

fit perfectly with the photo number 2 with

the one of the hands that I think

worked quite well, we change the registry completely

and we go to this one in which

everything appears white everything perfect, you see, the

couple is 100% connected, it is a

more romantic photo, but I really feel like

doing these things because then I think about

how I am going to combine later, I

do not know how I am going to

publish or how I am going to show

my work and for example, this image breaks

aesthetically with the previous one and breaks aesthetically

with what could be the third photo, for

example, which is a completely different registry, from

the photo that I was telling you, we

change the registry again to a photo like

this, I will tell you how I did

it, then we go for another photo of

my favorites that we are talking about this

image, another one that is this one here,

it is a very simple photo, very natural,

the couple looks at each other, it is

as if it were taken by a professional

photographer, in which the couple is already super

relaxed, they look at each other, come on,

I know it's very simple, but I like

it and the last one has saved me

for me, because it is the best or

my favorite, sorry, in which I think it

picks up a little more what my current

style is, how I see a little bit

of all this, I mean, how I see

the wedding photograph, the composition, the colors, the

energy of the couple, come on, I think

that this last one is one of my

favorites, but what I was telling you in

this chapter or in this video, sorry, I'm

going to talk about a few good ones,

two specifically, and I'm going to stop also

in some that are not so good, okay?

And in the next video I will stop

in the same thing, in the photos that

remain and in some other photos that do

not seem so interesting to me, right?

So, first of all, let's start with how

I started the session, it is true that,

as in the workshops, as in a normal

session, I do not start by photographing or

taking incredible photos, but I start a little

by seeing how the couple is, trying things

and such, that is, well, first of all,

I must tell you that I was in

Usaquén, Usaquén is a quite interesting neighborhood in

terms of atmosphere, it is an old neighborhood,

very very colonial, with the houses, I mean,

with the floors, I mean, with the houses

on the ground floor, all full of colors,

but it has certain limitations and perhaps for

a practical session or for a session, well,

you can do it, right?

There we were, of course, the first things

that I was doing, that is, things that

I don't like, was trying to get creative

resources, it is important that a photographer has

a lot of creative resources so that at

a given moment, when a creative block arrives,

he has a plan B or has a

plan C, right?

For me, one of those plans B, C

or D is always to shoot through things,

right?

That is, through reflections, whatever, that is, materials,

anything, you understand me?

With which, as I was saying, when I

start a session, I start a little doubtful,

I start trying to get to know the

couple and that is why I start doing

things that cannot, that are not as good

as shooting through, you see how I tried

to get, well, through all these reflections, to

capture the couple, to see what I could

have, what I could, that is, what I

could scratch, but that was just a little

mission of mine, a little plan, to gain

time and to gain confidence in myself, to

get to know the couple, who they were,

and to start working, right?

Or to go to work, sorry, that I

speak badly already, okay?

Well, you see that, well, you see that

the reflections that I got do not convince

me much, that is, it is not the

style that I was looking for, the couple

does not come out as beautiful as I

wanted, which is not something interesting for me,

okay?

I mean, because I'm not contributing anything new,

just like I think I'm not contributing anything

special, although the photo is already starting to

be a little better, it's this one, you

see that it was, that is, what I

liked was that, well, that the couple is

fitted, right?

It is, or it is framed, sorry, in,

that is, in this box, I thought that

a black and white could work, it could

be interesting, I asked them to, well, to

join, right?

That is, that they will try to find

the gap, especially Joana, who will try to

find the gap in what was, well, that

is, my colleague, that is, my colleague Nicolás,

in which they will play, right?

With, that is, with body language, with the

hands, and I was already directing them so

that each of them was perfectly fitted in

one, that is, that it was connected, you

see that each of those hands works perfectly,

you see how, that is, because I directed,

well, I asked Nicolás that, that is, because

the hand, that is, his right hand would

work, or it would go directly to the

hip, as it would go, well, the other

hand to the other hip, and it was

super important for me to ask Joana too,

that above all, that she would hold, that

is, that she would stretch her arm to

try to connect those two bodies perfectly, because

for me it was very important that, that

is, that not only those fronts or those

faces were perfectly connected, but also by the

arms, but as I say, it is not

one of my favorite photos either, but yes,

we are going to go now for one

of those photos that I find really interesting

and I have to admit that it was

not my idea, and I think it was

the idea of ​​a photographer named Luis Zurita,

in which he proposed it to me, hey

Victor, how do we not go here and

how do we not try to play with

this light so hard?

Of course, I have to say, in Bogotá,

in the place where we photograph this, if

you are from Colombia, you know it perfectly,

because as soon as the sun comes out,

all day it is clouds, or very clear,

dark, I mean clouds, a minute of sun,

five minutes of clouds, a minute of sun,

suddenly it rains, I mean, it's a mess,

right?

But in those five minutes that the sun

came out, I think it was Luis, okay,

as I tell you?

And he told me, why don't we try

something?

Of course, when I saw this, I quickly

told the couple, put yourselves there, please, and

the first thing I noticed in the triangular

shapes or in the virtual lines that created

triangles, right?

And I already understood that the couple could

go perfectly centered in the center of the

image, right?

I mean, in the center, that they both

lean on their backs and start playing.

Of course, the light that fell was so

powerful, that is, so overwhelming, that when I

simply put them face to face, what happened

is that the shadows were very, very marked,

right?

With which, well, in fact, as you can

see, both in this image in which Nicolás

is completely in the shade, or this first

image that I made them pose, in which

you can see the shadows of Nicolás, right?

I mean, you see that his face does

not finish working.

From there it comes, in which I told

them to raise their faces up, that is,

to raise their faces, why?

Because the sun was just above everything, it

was just above, it was not in the

sunset or in the dawn, I mean, it

was not perpendicular, but it was just up

there, with which came the idea that I

would raise them up so that they did

not look like Count Dracula and that they

did not look like, for example, raccoons, right?

So, then, that was the reason why I

told them that both of them, that is,

that their chins or that their faces would

go up and then, well, get this image

that, as I say, is one of my

favorites.

We are going to go for two photos

that I do not like very much and

I do not like them because it is

not entirely my style and I do not

like it because I did not find the

angle, right?

Of course, I have already told you that

in the previous photo it was a photographer

who told me, hey, why don't we try

something here?

And in these two photos that I am

going to show you, it was a Venezuelan

photographer whom I admire, who has a very

good job and his name is Miguel, okay?

You can find him as miguelfoto.com and

the story is that Miguel, the very bastard,

told me, why don't you try to do

something here?

Or why don't you do something here?

Let's see what comes to mind.

Of course, the shapes that there were, for

example, metal shapes, the truth is that if

there were no buildings around me, there may

have been more possibilities because I would have

found a cleaner background, that is, the sky,

in which I could play with the couple.

But the story is that, well, I tried

to scratch something from there, I tried to

do something.

Of course, I must say, I would never

have gone to stop there because I would

have already realized before going, or I would

have felt before going that that place was

so complicated that I would not have wasted

time or energy going there.

But if a student asks me to go

there, let's see what we can scratch to

show the whole group what can be captured

there, right?

So the first option was to try to

avoid the flash, because in the second one

I did use it, but in this first

one it was to try to play with

the gaps in the metal structures to tell,

for example, Joana to stand on one side,

to ask, for example, Nicolás to stand elsewhere

and try to play.

What I wanted was to try to get

something organic, something human, in a location with

very artificial matter, very lifeless.

It was something like playing with that contrast

between life and death, in this case, or

something that is empty, for example, of life,

as it was the metallic structure that you

are seeing.

With which I tried to make each of

them occupy a place on the metallic platform.

But as much as I tried, as much

as I moved to one side or the

other, I tried to get ideas, I tried

to get Nicolás to move, to raise his

chin, that Joana would do the same, that

they would move again, that they would change

again, that they would go up, that they

would go down ...

In the end, I mean, I captured the

photo that I was showing you, but hey,

it could work, but it was the best

option I could capture.

But, as I told you, it is not

one of my favorites, far from it.

The second option that I captured, and perhaps,

perhaps, if I had not had those buildings

on my left and on my right, perhaps

I could have captured something with more energy,

perhaps, but what occurred to me was to

work with flash, to expose everything to the

maximum, to play only with those lines, with

the metallic structure again, to ask Nicolás and

Joana to put their little faces together, a

lot, a lot.

Why?

Because I wanted them both, when they looked

to one side, that their heads did not

touch either on the left or on the

right.

That was fundamental to me.

I mean, their heads could not touch that

metallic structure, sorry, because otherwise the composition would

no longer work.

I asked Miguel, since he had asked me

for that piece of crap that would help

me with the flash, with a light support,

I asked Miguel above all to raise the

flash to the maximum, to try to simulate

that it was the sun that was illuminating,

for example, so then the flash, I assure

you that it is at 1.1, that

is, at maximum power, because we were working

at noon.

That was the moment when I left with

the group out to do the session, so

then I asked Miguel to hold the flash

up, the flash is at 1.1, we

started to make a couple, three, four shots,

until I more or less captured something that

could be more or less attractive.

Of course, you may think that, well, it

is not such a bad photo, no, no,

if I do not say that they are

bad photos, I say that they do not

attract me and I say, well, in fact,

I did not even publish them, if I

am going to give them to the couple,

obviously, if I thought they were bad, I

would not have given them, but it is

not my style, they are not my favorites

and well, no, I am not going to

do it.

Well, let's go for the last photo and

this photo, yes, I like it better, it

seems to me more attractive, due to the

fact that, one, I think the couple looks

super natural and sometimes one of my mistakes

is that sometimes the poses or how I

direct the couple, sometimes it is too artificial,

not to call it that, that is, when

I separate the couple so much, when I

make them adopt positions so strange, sometimes it

is a little crazy, but in this one

that I am talking about now is one

of my images, as I tell you, favorite

after the session and I have to tell

you that there is no video, there is

no video, I'm sorry, I did not record

myself, okay?

Of course, being sometimes in a workshop and

trying to record myself is a bit complicated,

but hey, even though I did not record

myself, I do have, that is, I have

captured, well, with Google Maps, how, that is,

the location as such, so that you understand

it, because if not, if I show you

the photo as such, the result can induce

a little error or not, or not to

get it, to get it to understand perfectly,

right?

I mean, first of all, I have to

tell you, right?

The photo was shot with, again, with the

45mm still shift, okay?

And it was shot through a glass, okay?

I want to show you first of all

the location as such, we were in a

street, no more, a street with not much

charm, and as you can see, the couple,

I put them in the background that I

am indicating to you now, you see that

it is the door of a parking lot,

but that door for me was very interesting

because it was a neutral background, okay?

That is, a background in which it worked

perfectly, you see that the metal lines are

so thin that it is going to become

a repetitive background, I mean, in a neutral

background, also when I put the 45mm, I

am going to decenter it and that background

is still going to be twice as attractive,

okay?

As I tell you, that is, the couple

was placed in the garage, at the garage

door, and I took the photo through the

glass, through the window that I am showing

you now, that I am marking, there I

was, okay?

And the couple was shot, as I tell

you, through the glass, okay?

That is why those reflections are seen and

it seems that it is a photo, I

don't know, made with post-production or made

with photoshop or some, or some strange thing,

right?

I mean, it's important, right?

You see that I tried to focus on

the same horizontal line, sorry, both the couple

on the right and this little plant on

the left, I mean, for me there are

two elements, both the plant and the couple,

that I must, that is, that I must

balance perfectly both on one side and on

the other, and everything is hidden, I simply

edited it with a certain, well, with a

certain contrast, with a certain strength, and I

assure you that the photo is very basic,

okay?

I would like to show you what the

RAW is like, the RAW is this, you

see it, it is very simple, and the

photo, well, the edited photo, as you are

seeing, this is the basic JPG, okay?

So that you can see it, you see

that, well, it has a little post-production,

but you see that, well, the result is

very simple.

So, so far, friends, this first part, this

first part of this off-camera that I

did in the first Colombian workshop, okay?

We are going to save some good photos

for the second and some bad photos too,

so that someone who is happy, right?

When I take bad photos, so nothing else,

friends, until next time, be good and see

you soon!