LA HUERTA
Location: Cascante (Navarre, Spain)
Date: 2024
Photographer: Jorge Almeida Vela
Date: 2024
Photographer: Jorge Almeida Vela
Accésit XX Photography Contest MIRAR LA ARQUITECTURA / XX Argazki Lehiaketa ARKITEKTURARI BEGIRA organized by the official Basque-Navarrese College of Architects of the Navarre delegation.
"I remember that my photography teacher told us that we didn't have to go out and look for a photograph because then we would never find it. That we should let photography find us. Obviously it did not mean that photography was an act of good fortune but that once concepts, techniques, culture and visual memory were acquired and internalized, we would leave that visual instinct free.
And that is exactly what happened with the photograph that I present to you. I was going with my van from Murchante to Cascante along a road I had never traveled. I looked, but I didn't look and the scene found me. What caught me was above all the palette of ochre colors and that contrasted and desaturated tone caused by the dust of the earth and the passage of time. That improvised architecture without an architect incredibly merged with the landscape.Technically I have looked for a very balanced frame where first the leaks from the tillage intend to take you to the shed to enjoy all its details (the colors of the shutter, its corrugated bars, the joists with the green edge of the ceiling, the door with the whole chromatic range of green, the sofa with a pattern already withered, etc,..). Below I have left the background still in focus to give it depth, but also so that we can go to another strong point of the photo that is behind such as that leafless tree, yes, but very present. And it's when you go through it in all its ramifications that you reach the final surprise at its highest point with a special guest posing proudly."
And that is exactly what happened with the photograph that I present to you. I was going with my van from Murchante to Cascante along a road I had never traveled. I looked, but I didn't look and the scene found me. What caught me was above all the palette of ochre colors and that contrasted and desaturated tone caused by the dust of the earth and the passage of time. That improvised architecture without an architect incredibly merged with the landscape.Technically I have looked for a very balanced frame where first the leaks from the tillage intend to take you to the shed to enjoy all its details (the colors of the shutter, its corrugated bars, the joists with the green edge of the ceiling, the door with the whole chromatic range of green, the sofa with a pattern already withered, etc,..). Below I have left the background still in focus to give it depth, but also so that we can go to another strong point of the photo that is behind such as that leafless tree, yes, but very present. And it's when you go through it in all its ramifications that you reach the final surprise at its highest point with a special guest posing proudly."
Judges’ Evaluation: “The photograph showcases an example of anonymous architecture in a rural setting. The judges appreciate the balance of masses between the shed and the tree, as well as the color palette contained within ochres and greens. Additionally, the photograph suggests the freezing of a moment, of a story that has just occurred and is slipping away from us.”
Jorge Almeida Vela ©