Interview with Josep Reverendo

Josep has always been attracted to the plastic arts. He likes painting, cinema, comics, photography… When he was a teenager, he used to paint in oils, but he gave it up due to lack of time. Then he became interested in photography, first analog, then digital.

Consciously or not, when we take pictures we are influenced by our visual culture. The aesthetic roots of Josep’s photos come from painters (Velázquez, Goya, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Van Gogh, Hopper), filmmakers (Hitchcock, Ford, Minnelli), cartoonists (Hergé, Jacobs, Raymond) and photographers (Cartier – Bresson, Català Roca, Forcano, Maier, Haas, Brassaï, Leiter)

Josep is not a professional photographer. Photography is not his job, it’s his passion. He likes to go for a walk, swimming, watch soccer and basket, jazz, cinema…

As Elie Cohen Gewerc says: “Free time is a part of life that remains after fulfilling everything and everyone. Time without obligations or expectations. It is the second opportunity for my inner and true being to flourish. There are people with talents and aspirations who do not express themselves because they have to work. Free time offers them the opportunity to do so.”

Barcelona is his city and his project is the street photography.

After a few years in analog photography, in 2010 Josep switched to digital photography with a Nikon D90; then he started his Barcelona urban photography project. In 2022 he replaced the camera with a new Nikon Z5.

– How and when did you become interested in photography?

I have always been attracted to the plastic arts. I like painting, cinema, comics, photography… When I was a teenager, I used to paint in oils, but I gave it up due to lack of time. Then I became interested in photography; I got my first SLR camera as a child and started to take photos mostly on landscapes. Later on I used the camera to photograph my friends. After a few years in analog photography, in 2010 I switched to digital photography with a Nikon D90. Then I started my Barcelona urban photography project. In 2022 I replaced the camera with a new Nikon Z5.

– Is there any artist/photographer who inspired your art?

A lot. Not just photographers. But to name a few, I adore the works of Elliott Erwitt, Diane Arbus, Ernst Haas, Cartier Bresson, Brassaï, Helen Levitt, Català – Roca, Eugeni Forcano, Harry Gruyaert, Saul Leiter, Martin Parr, Garry Winogrand, Alex Webb…

You learn a lot just by looking at their work.

– Why do you work in black and white rather than colour?

“The reality is in color, but black and white is more realistic.” – Alberto Moravia

If a black and white picture tells you a story without any distracting elements, then it is a good picture.

The images in black and white, lacking color, offer the advantage of not distracting the viewer, making the captured figures take center stage and importance. The photos captured in black and white convey a greater charge of emotions and feelings.

The black and white, the classic compositions, the sense of humor, the characters and the architecture of the historic neighborhood give these images a timeless feel, despite all photos were taken in 2010-2024.

– How much preparation do you put into taking a photograph/series of photographs?

To take my photos I need people, lots of people; the downtown is the ideal setting.

In street photography, the best quality of an image is immediacy, as if the skin that protects the viewer from the scene, is being taken away.

Perhaps the core motivation behind street photography is to capture the energy entrapped in or released at any given fleeting moment. Despite the planning of where I want to go, my street photographs are usually more spontaneous and unplanned than well prepared, 95 % of the times it’s spontaneous, it’s impossible to stage the moments in the streets.

“The decisive moment”, or the second when all of the compositional elements of a scene come into harmony; a second before or a second later the scene would no longer be the same. I love the beauty of some special moments that do not exist any more, I try to stop them and show that they were not that simple as it may look like watching them flying by in reality.

90 % of my photos are no crop. I don’t like to crop my photos, unless it is essential. I try to frame and compose very fast in the shoot moment.

In street photography the best post processing is the one that is not perceived, as in makeup.

I use DxO PhotoLab 5 and I only use conversion to grayscale, white balance, saturation, levels, contrast, dodge & burn and unsharp mask. In the scenes with artificial light it is important to achieve an accurate white balance to preserve the naturalness of the colors.

– Where is your photography going? What projects would you like to accomplish?

Barcelona is my city and my project is the street photography. I don’t have any goal to achieve with my photography, except my own pleasure and a psychological interest.

In my images the human anecdote is the protagonist, but the city and its streets also play a prominent role. Architecture is the decoration that provides an easily recognizable location.

I always attempt to capture the personality of people; I am interested in the street as a stage of life, as a human expression and as a living and changing spectacle. Details help the image to speak and I love to tell stories about life.

This project is a different look at Barcelona. “Different look” because is a personal and original glance, away from clichés; the subjects and its approach are very different from the typical images from Barcelona. And “at Barcelona” because many different locations and ambiances create a whole vision of the daily life in the city.

Website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wizard7oz