IV Santa Lucía de Tirajana Photography Biennial “Sports photography, discipline and creativity”, written by @loretosocorro
They say that she was lucky when she took the most admired photo in decades, but what no one says is that she watched every day like a hunter, calculating the rhythm of the wind, the dance of the sun, the brightness of the clouds and the temperature of Mother Earth. After months of flirting with the shutter and thanks to a steady pulse the click of her camera whispered to him that she was already bursting with beauty.
Another year and now there are four, from November 18 to 25, the Photography Biennial is held in Santa Lucía de Tirajana, a land on our island that offers intergenerational and intercultural proposals where the different groups in the area are involved. This autumn arrives like the cool that rocks our desire for shelter and Megui Hernández, curator of the Photography Biennial, surprises us again with a proposal that makes us more sporty people, even if it is not by sweating our shirts but through exhibitions in venues and in the street, among them the one of the former students of Nono Castro's photography workshop stands out. We will find workshops for adults - for example: like that of Natalia Izarra, to whom we have dedicated a report in Sal del Atlántico - and also with workshops for minors, without forgetting the XXX Photography Contest, included in the Biennial.
Among objectives, lenses and diaphragms we find two “treasure people” who will be recognized for their work during this IV Biennial “Sports Photography. Discipline and creativity”: Arcadio Suárez Ramírez and Laura Ortíz de Zárate Caballero.
Arcadio Suárez has been awarded several times, among the awards he has two Canary Awards and he is a man capable of photographing something as invisible as the wind; Then, with that powerful energy, he dedicates himself to sowing beauty on paper or digitally and has been doing so for more than forty years.
“I love the wind, if it weren't for that there would be no Windsurfing World Championship. “I was one of the architects of the annual championship.”
This sport was the protagonist of his first report for the newspaper Canary Islands 7, who hired him for the publication “A Pleno Sol”. Arcadio took the reporter to Pozo Izquierdo, where there was a Windsurfing regatta and spread the word.
“When the first photos were published, people were amazed, because it was something unknown”
An imposing camera hangs from his right shoulder. We asked him about his beginnings in photography and discovered interesting stories as who was the Canary Islands pole vault champion for two consecutive years. “I was an athlete. I did shepherd's vault and one day at school - when I was 14 years old - I picked up the pole and they signed me. I started training and I have two gold medals, I was published in La Provincia, which Canarias 7 did not yet exist”.
The child Arcadio teníto a friend named Ramón, in su Agüimes Christmas. One day, while they were playing soccer, Ramon He invited him to come to his house, so that he could see a photograph developed.. “I didn't know what that was, but since I'm curious I went and when I saw the photo come out... that was wonderful; I said to myself, “Bah, this is my thing!”
After that day Arcadio began to look for picture books with which to learn and study on Radio Ecca, because he worked in the south in hospitality.
“When I went to work and got off at Vecindario, every day, I would stare at a camera in the window of “Estudio Viera Déniz” that cost half of my salary from 82. My mother thought it was crazy, but I knew "That was for me, so I bought it and that's where my whole story began."
Suárez still has the camera. Remember that when he started at the newspaper everyone they used Canon, Nikon and him, with a Minolta, took good photos. Thanks to that Minolta and having a laboratory, he began as a collaborator in the southern zone for the newspaper Canarias 7.
“I am self-taught and it helped me in my training to work and share with friends like Pepe Guerra, Leo Marrero, Antonio Caballero (Chicho), Quesada.”
Years pass, but not for Arcadio, which is renewed and adapts to new times.
“If I have to choose, I would choose the SLR camera but the mobile phone, nowadays, is a tool that allows you to transfer the photos of a report through Wi-Fi to the newspaper, which can lose a little quality, yes, but still having the level to publish digitally. Digital does not kill analog. There are more and more people who want to take photos with a film camera and want to learn how to develop in black and white…”
According to this professional who sounds like a breeze, calm and serene “In the end we will all work, the important thing is to work harder and better… Good things are rewarded.”
The secret of Arcadio to excite with his photos it could be that he was born and retains very good eyesight “I am very observant, I look, choosing the smallest parts, easiest to see. “I like horizontals and verticals in the photos I take.”
The recognition of this Biennial makes him feel grateful to the City Hall of Santa Lucía de Tangry and also “With my family, my photography colleagues and the editors, who go together to obtain good reports.”
You will be able to see a sample of his work in the exhibition that will place during the Biennale. Suárez Ramírez reveals to us that he is rescuing photos and that, before retiring, he will do something to present us with a sample of images old and new, analogs and digital. We are looking forward to enjoying that gift.
The other gem that I have discovered thanks to the Biennial is called Laura Ortiz de Zárate Caballero. I am convinced that many things that she does today will at some point - not too distant - be a reference for others.
“As a female photographer I want to help and motivate people…” The ego and Laura do not get along, which is why she feels that her time at the Biennial will help many girls and women know that the work she does is possible. “In fact, now I have for the first time a girl in the Wadi Rum desert (Jordan) covering my position. “We are underrepresented and it is important that we are visible.”
Laura is a wonder woman, adventurous - like her father was - and with a charisma and humor that not even the most charming angels have. This is her story of going back and forth with the camera: She went from being a diving instructor to studying photography for four years in Barcelona, with the idea of integrating this art with diving and excursions, when I returned, to the island “but five days before I came, my father's helicopter crashed and he died and that meant years of being emotionally unwell, so I put photography on hold, after several attempts in different media such as fashion, press,…”
In 2015 the door to sports photography was opened by his partner, who had a sports photography company. “In less than a week and with a camera in hand, he went from race to race taking photos.” Laura she found love with Jonay and, at the same time, se he came back to in lovear dand photography. “It was work, at a crazy pace, and very intense. In one year I recovered the filming of all the time I had been stopped.”
Little agoor proposed regulate that enormous amount of work what was his life “I have focused a lot on the company, because I had to take charge of it.” Oanother obstacle that he bravely faced, after Jonay's death in an accident. Now with renewed air he has created Suave Crew. “We offer photography service to the runner, but with a horizontal work mentality, with autonomous teams and equitable distribution.”
This collector of rays of light and shadow is passionate about reporting. “Because it involves observing, learning and judging, to be able to transmit a message and evaluate how you are going to transmit it and what you want it to reach the other person.”
If there is a secret to achieving that ideal moment... it is no longer a mystery because Laura told uswhite: “It is a mixture of my instinct at the moment of shooting, which entails a lot of work on self-knowledge, self-acceptance and knowing why something is catching your attention. Then you have to take it to the type of event and choose what I have to convey, for example: in a desert marathon it would be the hardness of the event, the improvement and the beauty.”
Now you just need to know if it is necessary to be an athlete to keep up with the pace. “No, but work toughens you. Without being an athlete, I have seen myself running after someone, when I no longer had the strength. I have climbed mountains that in my life I thought I would be able to and with twenty kilos of photographic material on my back, suffering from cramps, to capture that beauty that is only up there.” She speaks fun and passionate about her profession “You realize that you are experiencing the same thing as athletes, you are fighting against your head to achieve a goal and surpass yourself. “You have to have a constant desire to improve and the ability to face the inconveniences and problems that arise.”
Ortiz de Zárate tells us that his perspective, from outside the sports world, adds something extra to his work “And the essence catches your attention very quickly, what people in the sports world have normalized. I am not fascinated by the first person who crosses the finish line in a 100 km race because he finishes in 10 hours, but rather the one who enters the finish line in 34 hours, because he has been running for twice as long or more and suffering. It is a more feminine and emotional vision, less competitive: to look at that popular runner who makes the event stand on end and manage to bring out emotions such as resilience.”
Laura lasts for many days of listen to it tell adventures “Adventures are great pranks seen with humor and creativity.”
Among his works he has an unpublished event, not yet published, and which he carried out at the UTM (Ultra Trail of Mhave Blanc) “What I did was an act of rebellion and protest against the agony of the public for taking a photo of the three famous people who were running, as if all the others did not exist.” He explains to us that this very special race has become fanatically popular and “It looks more like a concert where people are looking for his autograph, his photo, and it doesn't matter if there are photographers working in front or if they have children behind. All the photos I took were moving in front of my camera and the runners were lost in them, as if they were a speck of dust.”
The public that Laura observes and is also part of the events is not always like this: “The other side of the coin is, for example, races like Zegama. The public is the main part and protagonist. There is a climb called Sancti Spiritu and it is very hard, in that vertical climb where it is almost decided who wins, a wave of people pour out shouting, applauding and cheering for hours - even in the rain - for all the runners. “People who run say that this support is like they are taking you on their heels and they don't even realize the effort they make.”
The IV Biennial will have an audience accustomed to valuing the art of photography and, as in career vertically, they will support with their presence, one more year. “The selection of my images for the exhibition has been a lot of emotion in sporting events, is a series of running portraits. They present a loaded aesthetic, but beautiful, strong and very powerful.”
Before saying goodbye, we wish you good luck with the challenge you share with us. “Next year I want to document a race from the inside, run it and photograph it. It may be in the Cappadocia desert in Turkey and it's four days self-sufficient. This career full of very strong moments, lived like this and carried on an artistic level, it seems to me that it must be brutal”
For Laura, every event, like every trip, has an adventure that she transforms from amazement to beauty. We say goodbye to a woman of action and she feels grateful to be able to share her vision and her messages thanks to her being one of the winners of the IV Photography Biennial.
