SPECIES INTRODUCTION The ALBUFERA Natural Park , in Valencia (Spain) is formed by an extension of 21.000 hectares of sweet water and rice fields. The landscape offers a spectacle of changing light and endless plains. PROJECT Once I discovered such an amazing landscape I decided to build a “catalog of species” of the natural park. Not animal species, but human ones. In the final images one can observe wonderful examples of each group. All of them have something in common: They are inhabitants of this land, of this microclimate formed by water. Each group relates with this land in a particular way: protecting it, passing by, feeding out of it, exploit it or simply giving to it their unearthly beauty as a present. The species represented in this catalog are: The rice field workers, the unemployed men who spend their time fishing, the beauty queen, the fisherwomen, the old ladies, the firemen, the Guards, the waiters, the grandmas housewives, the bikers, the heavy metal local group, the boat man, a young boy from the village… They appear floating on the water. The landscape acts as magic background. They belong to it and it belongs to them. ANTROPOLIGÍA FANTÁSTICA I am interested in photography as a tool for social analysis, to portrait the world and its inhabitants. The project SPECIES is a sociological study in which reality and fantasy get mixed. I photograph real people, persons from the rural Spain that generously and surpresively accept to participate in such a surrealist creative adventure that I propose to them. The final result are images which style is marked between social document, fantasy dream and social experiment. For me, the final images (perfectly illuminated and composed) are as important as the process (the making of). What interests me more from this project is “the photography as a vent”: The fact of convincing people who is not normally in contact with art/creative world, to “ float ” on the water and pose for me. To my surprise, they accept with naturality and show great disposition. They crate together with me this surreal experiment. I think many times they don’t even realize who weird is what we are actually doing. PS: There are no Photoshop effects. People really float on the water thanks to some plastic boxes that I place under their feet. Despite the perfection of the final images there is a big work trying to leave the boxes at the exact level of the water in a muddy soil. This people are real inhabitants of the “microclimate”, they are not actors. They have been convinced to pose for the photo.
