PORTRAIT
Pablo Almansa is a Madrid photographer born in Murcia, a town located in the southeast of Spain. At 15, he realizes that he wants to dedicate his life to the art of photography. He started in photography in private schools in Madrid, such as Efti or Ces. Then he became an assistant for three years. But it is above all his own research and his own learning of the material that will really shape him, as he himself insists on pointing out. At 20, he took his first female nude photograph. His photography, he wants it simple and refined, trying to highlight the details he introduces into his photos, the play of light, and what he himself calls “the magnetism of photography. »
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
- Your beauty cannon?
The canon of beauty is a question that the director of Oréal would answer perfectly, he would split a sales pitch, up and down to be able to sell a cream. This concept is ideal for anyone who wants to sell anything. This is not my case, I have never thought in depth about this subject, I do not know what my beauty criteria are. When I see a girl who seems incredible to me, the next day I meet another totally different one and I go dumb. I consider that feminine beauty is so changeable that it is impossible for me to define these criteria. By being completely sincere, I am more of a photograph type than an expressive type. Ive only been photographing female nudes for 20 years, and what do you see in my photos? Me, I see curves, faces of beautiful women but without any particular prototype. I dont know what the aesthetic criteria are and when someone tries to persuade me of these criteria, immediately, before he has time to finish, I show him a picture of a girl who will break her speech. The concept beauty criterion was certainly invented by a publicist, not very brilliant, to which some people paid attention. For my part, it does not interest me, it is synonymous with superficiality, infantilism and it is harmful.
- Do you consider yourself as a voyeur?
Yeah, and I don;t think theres anything bad about it. Many voyeurs would like to know how to look like some photographers do. Today the difference between a photographer and a person who is not is clear. Many people can buy a camera for 1000 € and can declare themselves “photographer” but impostors are easily spotted. The difference lies in the fact, and I insist on this, of knowing how to look. Fortunately, cameras are getting cheaper and cheaper I could even say that they are as cheap as a pencil and it is in this sense that, for me, a painter does not become painter by brandishing a pencil or a brush, nor that a photographer becomes a photographer by possessing a camera. The battle is over, we all have a camera; now let them show me their photos and I will tell them if they interest me or not.
- Why this preference for black & white?
My nude photographs have a specific purpose: to be exhibited by art collectors. My experience has shown me that if these photos are made for editing, color may take over. However, if these photos are for an individual, the black and white ages with more dignity. However, sometimes I take pictures of artistic nudes in color but I have more difficulty.
- Find the continuation of Pablo Almansa in Normal Magazine n°3-
