PHOTO CONFESSIONAL: Paúl Aragón Leytón
From the series museo del apodo
IF YOU WEREN’T A PHOTOGRAPHER, WHAT OTHER PROFESSION WOULD YOU PICK?
architect- barista.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST CRUCIAL DECISION YOU HAVE MADE IN YOUR CAREER’s DEVELOPMENT?
Separating my commercial work from my personal work. Freelancing has allowed me to be in many different places, with many different people.
HOW IMPORTANT IS RESEARCH IN YOUR WORK?
It is essential, for me the first image will always be the written one, the researched one, then the photographed one.
IS THERE A PHOTOGRAPHER/ARTIST WHO IS A CONSTANT REFERENCE FOR YOU?
Josef Koudelka, Eniac Martínez, Susan Meiselas, Alvarez Bravo, Sergio Larrain.
WHAT WOULD YOU NOT WANT TO PHOTOGRAPH?
The commonplace. The red blood. what is predictable. what floats.
WHAT EQUIPMENT DO YOU USE, AND WHAT IMPORTANCE DO YOU GIVE TO TECHNIQUE?
Technique is what allows us to move; it's essential; it's having good spelling and handwriting; it allows us to understand the craft and then understand each other.
In my commercial work, I use many formats with digital film cameras and still cameras as well. I rent equipment depending on the technical needs or requirements. For my personal projects, I have a Nikon f5 and a Mamiya rbproSD.
WHAT IS THE STARTING POINT OF YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
For my personal documentary projects, there's no doubt that the process always begins with words, with writing, research, and a great deal of respect for the subjects. I dedicate time to the narrative approach, to encountering vulnerability and understanding that the plot isn't always the most important thing.
I discover that there is beauty in the peripheries and on the fringes and that the gaze is a muscle that saves us from the gratuitous.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY WITH a #tag
#whatcannotbeseen #redblood #cinemaonpause
at what point did you feel you were a photographer, and what made you think that way?
I didn’t feel the magical moment like many others. My case lacks any kind of fiction — I liked to draw, I felt an attraction to the arts. I began my university studies in visual media in 1993, but I became a committed photographer in 2000.
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH REJECTION?
as it is, You profit from it.
HOW DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SUCH SUCCESS?
My greatest achievement is to continue making a living from images, from communication, from photography, from movement, from what I studied, I really like it.
HOW DO YOU APPROACH STRANGERS IN YOUR PROJECTS OR TO INCLUDE IN YOUR PROJECTS?
I try to be as honest as possible with them, I explain my interest in producing a story and the way I'm going to work, and I share it with them.
IS IT COMMON FOR YOU TO QUESTION YOURSELF OR YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY?
Of course, it is necessary to be mistaken, to move away from the commonplace, from red blood, from axioms, it is a good exercise for the eye.
how is to approach to the art world/ photo-book world?
I have a lot of respect for print; I believe in print more than pixels. It's a space that allows me to digest images differently, with greater sanity and silence.
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A NEW PHOTOGRAPHER WHO IS JUST STARTING OUT?
It will take determination. It's not an easy profession, it's not a career you learn during breaks; everything is constantly changing. You have to quickly understand that there are many photographic genres, and many degenerate ones. You have to engage your mind, furnish it. Don't be seduced by form or color; what you can't see is more important. Acknowledging that the photographic image has limitations. The recognition of two texts always exists: the written text and the photographed one. If you can make a living from photography, it's a profession. Not everyone who writes creates literature; the same is true with photography. You learn how to read photography.
You learn how to write photo. Photography is learning to shoot. We all see and feel differently; we will always have things to tell. Moving away from the record to reach the symbolic. Photography changes who we are. We are possibly in the most difficult time for contemplation, for silence, and for responsible learning. There is much goodness in photography.
ABOUT PAul aragon leyton
Costa Rican photographer.
29 years of experience in the commercial and documentary field.
I have training in audiovisual production, still photography and design.
I have photographed advertising campaigns for Latin America, and collaborated in different journalistic coverage for the region with international press agencies and international organizations.
For several years I have dedicated myself to teaching as a university professor, giving workshops on chronicle-language and audiovisual production.
His documentary work has permeated his commercial projects with an attachment to searching for stories, revealing details. This vision of spectator rather than protagonist has allowed him to approach characters as dissimilar as they are interesting, without his photographs being obvious but rather subtle, in terms of the use of stylistic resources and not at all pretentious.
The visual approach of his work does not privilege aesthetics over communication, visual research is key to the correct execution of his proposals.
portrait by roberto mata
