FUJILOVE INTERVIEW Ovidio Gonzalez S

‘LA POPULAR’: A

Street

PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

Ovidio Gonzalez Soler

The seventh street of Bogota is the most important place in the Colombian capital, not only because it is the commercial and cultural epicentre of the city, but also because the most important historical events of the country have been developed in that place. For three years, I walked this street accompanied by the Fujifilm X100F, reflecting on life in this place and on how this place is the reflection of Colombian popular culture, of which I myself am a part.

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 30

‘La Popular’ is the most popular street in Bogota, in which the screams of the murder victims in 1948 (El Bogotazo) still haunt, and in which many more murders only generate nausea in Colombians who still do not lose their memory.

X100F at f/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 200

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The city, seen as an organic being, maintains a constant throb in motion. This rhythmic movement is typical of life in society, its codes of movement and communication, its forms of exchange, its nuances and behaviours. In this context, Bogotá’s Carrera Septima,

a street full of displacement, social struggle and tragic stories such as the strong events of the ‘Bogotazo’ in 1948, in which it was practically totally destroyed, plays an important role in understanding life itself and the Colombian culture.

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 31

The characters that inhabit, travel and work there live as if stuck in time. It is a place that is out of place, where everyday life takes on an artistic sense, a place that smells bad but one that I enjoy travelling through, an unsafe place but a place where everyone goes shopping. It is a third-world Times Square that speaks of Colombian popular culture, of which I myself am a part.

Vendors here, vendors there, to sell to the lady, the gentleman. What shoe are you looking for? X100F at f/2, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 32

La Popular seems like a magical place, and its characters seem as if they are out of a story, but it is the living reality of Colombian society, of the exotic and very peculiar popular culture of ‘Bogotana’.

X100F at f/9, 1/500 sec, ISO 200

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 33

The Virgin Maria, heroine of this country and this city, as strong as Wonder Woman and present in the faith of the average Colombian, a super heroine of the Colombian popular culture present on Popular Seventh Street.

X100F at f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO 500

The project ‘La Popular’, is approached from everyday life in the streets of the seventh race of the city and is a portrait of Bogota life. It is a walk through a series of moments that surely have been very close to each one, but that are framed by a special atmosphere generated by a single moment of light, a

magical revelation that only its own infrastructure could provide, a decisive moment that seems to create imaginary moments charged with much reality. The camera, as a dark box, collects these moments to translate them into a single portrait: a journey through a never-seen seventh race in Bogotá.

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 34

“Hello? I can’t hear it. Hello? I can’t hear it.” The noise of hungry vendors makes it impossible to speak on the phone; my character ignores the fact that he is old and his ears do not work at all well.

X100F at f/2, 1/1600 sec, ISO 200

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 35

A cowboy trapped in time, or one more unemployed from this city looking to find some money? X100F at f/2, 1/2000 sec, ISO 200

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 36

ABOUT THE TECHNIQUE

This project was born three years ago for a specific and very intuitive reason: to get out of my comfort zone. My photographic projects revolve around specific documentary themes, are approached from everyday life and point directly towards intimacy – I seek to reach the depths of my characters in order to get to the bottom of the stories.

The hustle and bustle of the day, stress, a cigarette or two, better yet: three, long faces, despair…I see this as I walk the streets, the anguish over insecurity takes hold of me, and I get lost among the people and their dark feelings.

X100F at f/6.4, 1/4000 sec, ISO 500

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 37

The doctor who wakes up early in his office and the salaried policeman who catches thieves on Popular Seventh Street merge between the crowd of walkers and the noise of endless conversations and screams of hungry vendors.

X100F at f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO 800

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 38

Office workers, ministers, camouflaged among equally elegant elders but with hunger in their bodies. X100F at f/8, 1/800 sec, ISO 200

The seventh street of Bogota was a place that I travelled through daily, so I began to take pictures with my phone, venturing into the world of street photography. I was still not sure what story I wanted to tell or what direction the project would take, but it was after the first year that everything began to take shape and the work began to be much more conscious and with a clear intention.

So, I started to venture out with the

X100F. I felt so comfortable and safe with the small size of this camera and the great quality of the sensor. I did not need more than the 23mm lens of X100F to shape the story. That is how I fell in love with the seventh street. I researched a lot about its history and reviewed many visual references, and it was after two years of hard work that I managed to consolidate a solid photographic series that talks about the popular culture in the most popular

street of the Columbian capital.

None of this would have taken shape without discipline and persistence. Of course, a discreet camera helps in unsafe places and makes you go unnoticed. These things all add up when carrying out photographic projects.

With this particular project, I had finally left my comfort zone, or rather, broadened my photographic spectrum a little bit.

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 39

Gray hair and worn suits, torn by time, gnawed by moths, odorous from the dust and the passage of time on the street, blend in with expensive suits and portfolios of important people here on Popular Seventh Street.

X100F at f/2, 1/2000 sec, ISO 320

OVIDIO GONZALEZ SOLER www.ovidiogonzalezs.pb.photography

FUJILOVE INSPIRATION | 40

Scott

FUJILOVE INTERVIEW

Carney

In the first of this month’s interviews, Stephanie Baxter is chatting to Scott Carney, a wedding photographer, a self-professed dog lover and board game aficionado based in County Durham, who lives with his partner, Sarah, and their two children. Scott shoots in a creative and relaxed style to capture the moments that make each wedding unique.

FUJILOVE INTERVIEW | 41