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Interview • 032 PH

Txema Salvans, Perfect Days

Barcelona, Spain

Please introduce yourself: What is your name, where are you from, what do you do?

My name is Txema Salvans. Like all photographers, I try to find a personal voice, and probably because I studied science at university—I studied biology—I feel comfortable speaking about things that I can understand. That’s why I take photos about my own culture, people and landscapes.

I have to have a physical connection with the landscapes and an emotional connection with the people. So for the last twenty years I have focused on a big project, taking photos all along the Spanish Mediterranean Coast. And more precisely on how people spend their free time. Being part of this reality helps me to be more critical and to go deeper into Spanish culture.

What is your relationship with photography? How did you get into it and what keeps you interested or motivated?

As a photographer I try to take good photos, whatever that means, but as an author I try to find universal concepts. As all photographers know the «big » in photography is: how am I going to photograph what I want to photograph? It doesn’t matter how great your idea is if you don´t have access to it. So, we always need a strategy. As always in my case, there is an emotional context behind my work.

Tell me about your project Perfect Day: What was your intention and how did you come up with the Idea?

Perfect Day is about a Mediterranean photography trip, with my back to the sea. Never will you see the reason why these people are there, I mean by the sea. It is the summation of my two previous projects The Waiting Game and My Kingdom.

You will find the same subjects of My Kingdom and the tempo and light of The Waiting Game. And even though I’m still working on conceptual aspects I have the intuition that this is a work about happiness. It’s a collection of people looking for happiness.

Thank you, Txema!

Editorial Notes:

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Photography: Txema Salvans (2018)
Location: Barcelona, Spain

Links: Website, Instagram