GFX100S x Juan Manuel Castro Prieto

Photography is a way of life and a way of understanding the world and ourselves

When I was a child there was a hole in the door of my room and, through it, an image of the street was projected on the wall opposite. I saw people passing by, but they were upside down. I didn’t know what the camera obscura was and for me it was something magical. Maybe that’s where I started to want to be a photographer.

My photography is twofold: on the one hand, I look outwards and use my camera to capture everything that gives me emotions and feelings. I try to capture memory, which is often evanescent. It is one of the fundamental qualities of photography and one of the great driving forces of my work. On the other hand, I look at myself to discover myself and get to know my dreams, my obsessions, and fears better.

My beginnings were with a small camera, photographing the people and places of my childhood in a small village: Cespedosa. Then I started one of the great projects of my life in my second country: Peru. I was looking for the traces of my childhood dreams when I used to read Tintin comics. There I worked for years with medium and large format cameras, with black and white and color film.

I am currently developing a more symbolic work. Starting from the spaces of my childhood already abandoned, almost in ruins, I create still lifes with those objects that, loaded with symbolism, speak to me of an intimate world that wants to represent naturally what is a mental elaboration: my fears of death and oblivion, the fascination for the light in the form of a ray that invades the darkness. Photographs that, with the shine of the gold that covers them, reveal the depths of my dreams with disturbing images.

When I photograph outwards, I need a camera that allows me the dynamism, flexibility and speed to capture what is happening in front of me. When I look at myself, I need a camera that has the highest image and color quality.

The FUJIFILM GFX100S camera allows me to have both in one camera. The camera’s resolution is impressive, and the pictures have great depth and richness of color. Its Image Stabilizer, light weight and ergonomics allow me to shoot in the most difficult lighting conditions and without the need for a tripod.

Photography has allowed me to enjoy life more intensely, to get to know people and the world better, and the journey continues.