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Selection of September 2021: Life & Death by David Frutos Egea

Life & Death by David Frutos Egea

"As far as this image is concerned, it can be said that it is the result of a very specific context, not the image itself, but rather the conditions. Where I have lived all my life, in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula, it is very difficult for fog to appear. You have to wait for the coldest months and keep your fingers crossed for a strong anticyclone to settle over the area. On top of all this, it needs to have rained a few days before so that the area has plenty of stored water.

Luck was on my side that day and the desired conditions were met. The purpose of the visit to this location (Camarillas reservoir, in the province of Albacete), is to be able to photograph various trees on the banks of the area, but on this occasion the most gratifying surprise was to find this motif to photograph.

As far as the technical aspects and difficulties encountered in taking this photograph, there is little to comment except to say that you need to be well wrapped up and wear a wading suit or neoprene suit to get into the water and be able to withstand the cold of up to -5ºC as it usually gets there so cold in the early hours of the morning.

Talking about the post processing of this image, I only had to convert it to black and white (I use Nik Silver Efex), and adjust some curves of the contrasts to enhance the blacks and the lights.

Perhaps the most important thing about this photograph is the message I intend to communicate. There is clearly an oxymoron, a duality in the same scene that encompasses life and death, the whole cycle. It's not what I see, it's what I feel when I take one or the other photograph. Reinforcing the message with an atmosphere that was brought by the fog and transports the photo to the world of romanticism is another key point. The softness of the diffused light rounds off this work."  

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