Photo Stories: Sunny Andalusia by Juan Rodriguez

Juan Rodriguez is a management controller and photographer based in Paris, France. His involvement with photography started when he was very young — around 3 years old! "I was taking family pictures with a good sense of framing. I enjoyed it and continued until I was 10 years old." Then he stopped, citing studies and lack of inspiration as probable reasons. It was in his mid-20s when he picked up the camera again, and he has not stopped since.

Juan describes his photography style as poetic, dreamy, contemplative, and documentary. He says his sense of observation helps him a lot to find ideas and conceive compositions. To be specific, he likes to shoot empty areas or abandoned places, old roads, desert zones, and seashore zones. "Those are very good places to explore for its architecture and to find absurd situations. They're also perfect for taking the time to do interesting framing. Aside from that, I have also taken pictures with musicians for their record sleeves or for promotional material."

Last year, some of Juan's photos were displayed in a jewelry workshop/store in Paris. And currently, he is part of an exhibit hosted by Corridor Elephant, a photography and art magazine. The photos were taken with a Diana F+ camera.

The pictures are kind of a retrospective of nearly ten years of pictures shot in Andalusia (a sunny region in the south of Spain) during many holidays. As it is a big region of the country, it has a huge variety of landscapes and a very important range of atmosphere. Tourists are very attracted by Andalusia in reason of its folklore, its monuments, its beaches and its history. I just want to show what local people and tourists don't focus too much on, in lesser-known zones away from all the agitation.

When asked why he chose the Diana F+ to capture the photos, he said:

The Diana is perfect for sunny situations. I love the ethereal pictures it produces. And also all the amazing artistic incidents that can appear. It is lightweight and many different lenses can be adapted on it. It is also suitable to use with cross-processed film.

Juan Rodriguez compiles his photos in his Tumblr page. To see more of Juan's works in the exhibition, visit the Corridor Elephant. The exhibit is ongoing until 10th of March 2020.

2020-03-03