Feria de April
Feria de April
Víctor M. Pérez
July 3, 2018
© Víctor M. Pérez
“This image was taken in April 2015, at the Cathedral, the Maestranza bullring, in Seville, during the Feria de Abril. I consider it my first successful picture, and it still remains one of my favourites to date. It was less than a year after I had first taken to the streets with a professional photographer, and had discovered that I am a photographer. During the previous months – and many after that –, I tried to replicate all the typical street photography clichés, obviously without much success.
This was the first image in which everything was not only right, but was also different and mine. Everything in the image works, in both form – in terms of composition, colour and light – and content. It’s a very ordinary moment, but it opens up many questions about the before and after. The most important thing is that it is the one that opened the way for me to find my own vision. This image was constantly picked at portfolio reviews as different and unique, because of the whole surreality of the frame, the contradiction between the drama and the humour, the boldness of the colour that strengthens the emotional charge, and the underlying, deep and subliminal archetype on which it is built. And I have to thank some great mentors I have had, who pointed this out, and helped me identify the same uniqueness in other images, and, in doing so, find my own vision years after this image was taken.
Of course I didn’t think about any of this when I took the picture, nor for a long time afterwards either. I was enjoying a truly memorable day with my wife and our friends at the Feria de Abril, with flamenco ‘Sevillanas’, Manzanilla sherry wine, and Ibérico ham. Always with my camera, shooting all the time; and I have to thank everyone for their patience and generosity, especially my family. This image also triggered a long term project about events in Seville around Easter, which are so different and yet the same, which I have been shooting since 2015 – and with still a couple of years to go.”
Find out more about the photography of Víctor M. Pérez in LFI 05/2018.
This was the first image in which everything was not only right, but was also different and mine. Everything in the image works, in both form – in terms of composition, colour and light – and content. It’s a very ordinary moment, but it opens up many questions about the before and after. The most important thing is that it is the one that opened the way for me to find my own vision. This image was constantly picked at portfolio reviews as different and unique, because of the whole surreality of the frame, the contradiction between the drama and the humour, the boldness of the colour that strengthens the emotional charge, and the underlying, deep and subliminal archetype on which it is built. And I have to thank some great mentors I have had, who pointed this out, and helped me identify the same uniqueness in other images, and, in doing so, find my own vision years after this image was taken.
Of course I didn’t think about any of this when I took the picture, nor for a long time afterwards either. I was enjoying a truly memorable day with my wife and our friends at the Feria de Abril, with flamenco ‘Sevillanas’, Manzanilla sherry wine, and Ibérico ham. Always with my camera, shooting all the time; and I have to thank everyone for their patience and generosity, especially my family. This image also triggered a long term project about events in Seville around Easter, which are so different and yet the same, which I have been shooting since 2015 – and with still a couple of years to go.”
Find out more about the photography of Víctor M. Pérez in LFI 05/2018.
Text and image: © Victor M. Pérez
Víctor M. Pérez+-
Born in Madrid in 1972, Pérez holds an MBA and is a management consultant. As such he travels around the world all the time, always equipped with a Leica. Technically, Pérez is self-taught, but has attended many photography and picture editing workshops with master photographers all over the world. He is also greatly inspired by painting, architecture, design, and cinema. More
© Víctor M. Pérez