Original subtitles

How are you?

How did you start the week?

As always, I want to send you all

positive energy for everyone and I wish you

a perfect week, full of contracts and if

you have pending weddings, that no wedding ends

up postponing and that we start working little

by little.

So I knock on wood and we hope

that everything will be done as best as

possible for all of you.

As always, I can't forget, since we started

the month, the gratitude for all of you

who are still there, for those of you

who support me or do not support us

and for all of you who are signing

up in the last days, so welcome and

enjoy as much as possible.

In today's chapter I'm not going to talk

about an off-camera or a quick tip

or anything similar but I want to talk

about Fearless Photographers, nothing more and nothing less

of that famous international directory in which in

the last round that the results were published

two or three weeks ago or yes, I

think a week or two, more or less,

I got three of my images to be

awarded but I was not only happy about

that but I was also happy because Erika

also got three of her images to be

awarded.

But I'm not going to talk about the

last round because thanks to that last round

I got the last image, which is the

one you are seeing now.

That photo made me win Fearless number 100

and I had always wanted to create a

video or I had proposed to myself I

won the number 100 prize, I want to

create a video in conditions and I want

to talk a little bit about my relationship

with Fearless Photographers what it has served me

and above all, mainly, this video is going

to be directed to tell you a little

bit about my career as a wedding photographer

from the beginning, since I started back in

2012 until today and I would like to

launch a little comparison or talk a little

bit about how it has been all that

journey to express myself a little better and

tell some anecdotes problems that I have had,

things that have come in handy, things that

have helped me with which I think it

can serve to create a pretty interesting video

and also tell you that this is not

going to be the only video that is

or that helps me to talk about Fearless

Photographers, since for the next few weeks I'm

going to be taking from time to time

some photos that catch my attention or my

favorites, some of the images that are there,

that are always in the gallery of super,

super, super favorites that could be summarized in

very few, but hey that will be another

video and in today's video, as I had

said, I want to talk to you about

that trajectory, that trajectory that I have had

as a photographer, since as I said back

in 2012, in a super naive or innocent

way, I had started as a wedding photographer

first as an assistant, as everyone knows, back

in 2008, I was an assistant of Pedro

Etura and back in 2010-2011 I started

a little bit with my professional career, I

never thought that wedding photography would lead me

to do weddings outside of my city, or

think about weddings outside of my country, nor

did I think that, well, that wedding photography,

I mean the idea or what I had

thought about wedding photography, it was nothing more

than the typical photos of rings, bouquets, the

outing of the grooms with the confetti the

first dance, the pictures with the godparents at

the bride's house, I mean what I thought

that was wedding photography, so you see that

I was quite confused with what this business

meant or photography as such, so in a

super naive way, in an innocent way as

I told you, with a photographer from the

south of Spain, that possibly only a few

people get to know her, her name is

Susana Barbera, Susana Barbera comes to my life

in an email format, or an email format

on Facebook, in which she told me something

like little guy, I just saw your work,

you have an incredible work, why don't you

send to Firles Photographer, and I was like,

what the hell is this Firles Photographer thing?

So Susana helped me, she told me, look,

Firles is an international director who takes wedding

photography to a higher level, and you have

images that may fit into that, that was

the beginning, that was in 2012, Susana helped

me to send, or to select, sorry, the

first gallery, in the following galleries she helped

me and some other colleagues, but as I

told you, in 2012 I started, and until

now there have been 100 Firles, quite difficult

to get them I think, I think many

of you know how hard and complex, and

how complicated it can be to get a

Firles, so, well, I feel really happy after

all these years of getting 100.

Before I continue talking, I'm going to put

a short video of a couple of minutes

so you can see a little bit of

the whole trajectory, from the number one Firles

to the Firles 100, and I would like

you to take a look at it very

carefully so you can see a little bit

of that progression, and you will see that

there are peaks and valleys, peaks with a

lot of quality, and valleys, which are the

ones I'm going to talk about in this

video, ok?

So, let's get into the video, and we'll

be right back.

Ok, as I was saying, and as I

have told you a couple of times, I

started in a super naive way in which

I had some images that were selected and

sent.

Of course, the first thing I should say

is that my professional career has always been

linked with what the directorate has been, right?

And sometimes, we could even say that my

style or my way of working has been

a little bit super edited, or sometimes too

much linked to what the directorate was, for

example, and that has caused me problems, I

mean, security problems in myself as a photographer,

to know if the speech I had was

the speech for the directorate, or was it

the speech for me, or was it the

speech for the boyfriends, understand what I'm talking

about.

I mean, that has led me, or has

sometimes led me, to make big mistakes.

Notice that when I started back in 2012,

forgive me for repeating myself so much, the

photos, I mean, that I took at that

time were taken for my partners and for

me, because, as you know, I didn't know

about the existence of any kind of directorates.

Of course, look at these images that I'm

going to show you, because they're from 2012,

and it's been almost 10 years, and they're

still as fresh now as they were in

the past, I mean, they're timeless photos, and

today they could work perfectly, right?

I mean, for example, this first one is,

well, for me, I mean, it's still one

of those amazing photos, a brilliant photo, a

photo that I could, I mean, that I'd

like to have taken yesterday, right?

Because it would still work perfectly.

And you see how it combined, or it

started to photograph great moments like this, like

this, forgive me, in which it combined, I

mean, the obvious, I mean, moments, or off

moments, forgive me, or transition photos, this was

the first germ.

But, I mean, I can show you, for

example, this image, which is a real moment

in which the bride is entering, it's the

same as from 2012, or I can show

you this pose, okay?

In which this pose follows, or has, the

same patterns that I usually have today to

make a pose.

Playing with the hands, playing with the obviousness,

playing with an interesting light, dividing the frame

in two parts, I mean, that kind of

images, that now, well, or that kind of

concepts, forgive me, that I explain now, I

already did it then, but I did it

then in an unconscious way, I mean, it

took me a while to think about why

I was doing that, okay?

That was all more or less well, I

mean, there was, well, the young man's Victor,

taking his photos for me and for my

clients, okay?

And so much more for me than for

my clients, right?

I mean, the embryo of what I would

be in the future as a photographer had

just begun.

Of course, everything comes, or everything gets complicated

in 2013, after a year, 2012, in which

I had harvested some or other film, like

this one, or like this one, but, of

course, suddenly, the ego beat me.

The need to want to be up, or

to receive that respect, or to receive those

mentions, right?

I mean, to be mentioned.

I mean, it's normal, all photographers are born

with our ego and we have to know

how to control it.

There is a good ego and there is

a bad ego.

But, at that time, that bad ego began

to grow in me, and I mean the

need to photograph awards, you know what I

mean?

There, in 2013, things started to work, but

I started to think more about how to

get awards on the fastest way.

Also, in 2013, I was named top ten

in Firre's Photographers, just like in 2014.

But, look, I'm going to show you some

of the good images from the 2013-2014

period, images that I love, and there are

other images that, I'm going to mention them

to you, that were taken on purpose to

get an award, and that, of course, I'm

no one to tell you not to do

this, but it would be a bit hypocritical

of me to forbid you to do something,

so each one is free, but I'm just

telling you my story so you can see

when in my career I've hit a concrete

wall and I've hurt myself, right?

That's why, right?

So, for example, I would like to show

you some of those images that I'm not

100% proud of today, even though they

were awarded.

We could talk, for example, about this one,

in which, well, as you can see, to

this day I don't quite see clearly, right?

To get to prepare this, even though it

was on the same day of a wedding,

but it didn't quite convince me.

Or, for example, this one of the puppy.

This one of the puppy, gentlemen, well, no,

no, no, it's not my style, right?

It's not that it's not my style, for

example, it's just that I don't want to

project an image or an aesthetic like this

one.

As well as, well, this one of the

night photography.

Well, it's not my style.

It's clear, it was captured in the same

way on the day of a wedding.

It was the last photo we took before

we left.

We asked the couple to stand in the

little hermitage, we took the night photography, and

that's it.

But is that my style or what was

the style?

Why was that image taken?

I mean, that's what I want to get

to, you know?

I mean, I felt like I was too

attached or too much needed for that recognition

that today, of course, seen with perspective, after

almost ten years, everything changes, right?

I mean, it's normal, right?

There are things that are not so good

or that have not been so good, but

there was also a Victor in which he

was brilliant, like this image, right?

I think that today it is still one

of my favorite images and I think it

will be for a while, like this one

at the exit.

This image at the exit is still one

of my favorites and this image of the

rice is still as brutal as ever, right?

And in fact, throughout this time, I have

tried or captured some more.

Whenever I have photographed weddings in my area,

this usually happens.

In my area they plant rice, in my

area there is plenty of rice, with which

tons of rice are thrown, right?

So it would be quite clear.

In 2013 I was Top Ten, in 2014

I was Top Ten in Fearless.

What did I want in 2015?

To be Top Ten.

That was the biggest disaster in a long

time.

In 2015, if someone knows me, you would

have heard me many times that it was

the worst year of my career, right?

Because I had a lot of problems with

myself, I just wanted that.

At that time, I had started to photograph

weddings with other colleagues outside of Spain.

I had done weddings, and suddenly from photographing

weddings to photographing local ones, that cut my

head off.

I needed a higher level, not only in

my photography, but I was in need of

awards and at the same time in need

of big weddings.

I mean, it was a disaster.

In fact, one of the reasons that everything

started to work was Erika.

Because Erika was the one who said, look,

we have come this far, right?

I mean, I didn't accompany Erika yet, but

I remember that every Saturday I would come

home and Erika would tell me, late at

night, how did it go?

And I would say, pfff, shit.

I mean, every Saturday it would start to

be something shitty, something like, what a disaster,

what a disaster, what a disaster.

Until she told me, it's over.

I mean, facing 2016, one, you're going to

forget about the fucking contests.

Two, you're only going to hire weddings that

you like, and it's over.

And if we don't hire weddings, then nothing

happens.

In 2016 we will turn it around again.

Curiously, from 2015 to 2016, when I already

forgot about the contests, when I finally started

to think about myself as a photographer, what

I wanted, what elements I needed, what were

the patterns.

I mean, what I've been telling you in

the last year on Patreon, was what I

started to think.

That simple.

I mean, I said, it's over.

I mean, I erased no new account, I

mean, period.

We continue with another story.

The clients who accept it, correct.

Those who do not accept it, nothing happens.

We will continue with our own life forward

as a photographer.

And period.

In 2016, it was one of the best

years.

And look at what images started to arrive.

Images like the ones I'm showing you now,

of the girl arriving in the car, this

of the boys hugging, the portrait of the

little castle.

Another one I would like to show you

is this one, in which, as you can

see, I mean, here it picks up, it's

something I love.

And also, the photograph, this one I was

showing you, is the same, but totally different

from this one.

And notice that, being another story, it is

completely similar to this one.

I mean, here Victor arrives again.

I mean, the freshness seems to reappear and

all that comes because I saw all that,

the contests, the weddings I didn't want to

photograph.

I mean, something else started to emerge, and

that helped me.

I don't want to seem very egocentric, but

I started to create a new path and

get the photos I took with my patterns

to be awarded.

I don't know, instead of working for the

awards, the awards started to work for me.

And many colleagues started to follow the patterns

that I...

It's not that I created them, I didn't

create anything new, but at least in what

the wedding photography refers to.

I don't want to seem very egocentric, forgive

me, okay?

But, I mean, I made the omelette turn

around.

Instead of working for the awards, the awards

started to reach me because it seemed that

the rules I had created were the right

ones.

So I was lucky, or...

I should say I was smart, right?

I'm a bit smart.

No, but that's it.

I made the omelette turn around, and in

the end, it turned out great, right?

And in 2016, as I told you, I

was named the photographer of the year, so

that was great.

Not only the photographer of the year in

2016, but I was lucky in 2018 and

2019.

And it's not good to say it, but

2017 didn't come by pure chance.

I mean, my friend Isabel Hattin took it

from me, but deservedly, and I had a

really innovative and super fresh photojournalistic job, and

this, right?

Of course, you see that I've already mentioned

a few names, both Isabel Hattin, I could

name Pedre Tura, I could name Susana Barberá,

I could name Fran Butunet, Andrea Corsi, Fabio

Mirula...

Infinity, right?

Of course, what does that mean?

Community.

What did Fearless do for me?

To find a huge community, right?

I mean, a community of photographers who are

there, right?

And many of you ask me for help

with the election of the Fearless rounds, even

if you don't say it later, bastards.

But that has helped me.

What has helped me?

What else?

To stick to it, to fall to it,

and to get up again.

Fearless has helped me with that, right?

And that's great, right?

To see a little bit of your mistakes,

what you've screwed up, and how, ultimately, to

become a better photographer.

And we shouldn't forget it.

I'm from a city called Zaragoza, although many

think I'm in Barcelona.

That's pure marketing, okay?

What has that helped me with, I mean?

To attract clients.

I was doing a kind of local weddings,

back in 2012, 13, 14, 15, and what

Fearless allowed me to do was to open

borders.

I mean, for other couples to come to

me in a way that I didn't know

how.

I mean, I had called a lot of

doors and I hadn't received any feedback.

Thanks to Fearless, I did the first international

wedding, and I remember that wedding, along with

others, helped me to find a new path,

from a client to a new style.

And ultimately, I think it has made me

a better photographer.

After having hit me with a good slap.

You also have to have something clear, and

it's something that Pedro de Tura has told

me many times.

Pedro de Tura, for you to understand, is

one of my best friends.

Pedro de Tura started with me in Fearless

Photographers.

The first round, I won five, and Pedro

de Tura was one of my best friends

and a direct competitor in my city.

Pedro de Tura was so jealous that I

had won five that he told me, in

the next round, I'll win seven.

And in the next round, I'll win seven.

Him.

I mean, he's Pedro de Tura.

In addition to being a great person, he's

an incredible photographer.

But what I wanted to get to, what

did Pedro de Tura tell me?

Because Pedro no longer participates in Fearless, neither

in Fearless nor in any kind of directories.

He told me, I'm tired, Víctor, that it

seems that Fearless has the last word when

it comes to the style in wedding photography.

It seems that if the photography is not

Fearless, it is not wedding photography.

And that's not true.

And I told him, you're absolutely right.

And he said, besides, I don't want to

be trying, not trying, but that my photography

is based on awards.

I mean, it doesn't work for me.

I want to have my own style.

And if my style works for my clients,

I'm not going to complicate my life with

awards because that drowns me out and doesn't

allow me to develop the type of photography

that I want to develop.

Because ultimately, I'm always thinking that if that's

Fearless or not Fearless.

And ultimately, that's not good for us photographers.

Do you understand me?

So, I'd just like to go over, to

finish some other images from the last stage.

I'm going to go a little slow because

I know that Carolina Guthick always writes to

me saying, Victor, you pass your photos very

quickly and we need more than two seconds

to see them.

So, this is for Carolina and also for

you.

So, let's start with one of these last

images, so that you can see it.

Let's go first with this one.

The one of the guys, right?

This is one of the last images, without

a doubt, right?

And notice that, I mean, we could talk

about the photo of the guys, this one

that you're seeing, but we could talk about

this one of the hands.

And notice that this one of the hands

would fit perfectly with these patterns that I

have, right?

Of moments, of looking at small, big things,

like in this case, the hands, or how

this photograph could be, for example, or how

this photograph could be, for example, also of

the hands.

Notice that they are perfectly understood with the

ones I had been showing you, for example,

like this one from the beginning, right?

Or images as crazy as this one, or

well, right?

As I was showing you, the last of

all, which I think is really powerful.

It was one of the last weddings I

did in Mallorca, of those weddings that you

leave there to death and happy and content

until the damn COVID arrived, right?

So, that's what I wanted to talk about

in this video.

I don't know if I have expressed myself

correctly, if I leave things in the inkwell.

I'm sure I can, but that's what I

wanted to talk about a little, right?

How Fearless has affected my career and how

it has helped me, right?

I mean, I think it has been a

little yin-yang, right?

I mean, a little good and evil in

me, but it wouldn't be understood...

I mean, Fearless or my style have always

been, I think, there.

And as I say in the video, right?

I hope this year it works, I mean,

I hope this year there are weddings, I

hope it's cool, I hope there's a desire

for war and send me some pictures again.

And who knows, right?

If we receive some mention, award or whatever.

If it arrives, perfect.

If it doesn't arrive, nothing happens.

But what always has to arrive are new

couples, new contracts and if we can take

very, very good pictures, better.

Even if there are no awards, do you

understand me?

So, that's all, friends.

If you have any questions, any questions, you

can ask me here and I promise to

answer all the questions, okay?

So, that's all, friends.

Have a good week.

Let's close weddings!