Original subtitles

Hello friends, how are you?

How is the week going?

How are things going?

Here we are closing or buying some flights

for this year that we had everything a

little forgotten but it seems that the pandemic

seems to be going well so let's cross

our fingers and there we are with the

last deliveries and preparing everything for the workshop

that we have this Friday.

We have the AXE Workshop in Madrid after

a year of pandemic that everything was paralyzed

because this year we are back with everything

loaded.

But hey, in today's video I don't want

to talk to you about workshops or flights

or anything like that, but in the last

chapters I have already been talking or I

have been showing a few photos of the

last wedding that I photographed.

It was a wedding in Cancun, in Cancun,

in Tulum, damn it!

And well, I would like to share with

you the little story that is hidden behind

the wedding that I photographed because the truth

is that it is a good one, it

is a total adventure and I would like

to share it with you as if I

were telling a story to a little boy

that I am sure that some of you

will like it.

So let's start with the story and well,

before we start, I'm just going to accompany

my explanations or my stories with the images

that I was taking from the wedding so

that it is a little more pleasant, so

that you have a little better time.

So let's get started.

The story begins on a beach in Cancun

where Erika, Leo and I were lying down

so calmly, I making the life of the

typical tourist, ordering beers, chupitos, cubatas, food ...

I mean, the life of a resort in

which you are so calm there enjoying everything.

The story comes in which suddenly, well, I

see that on the phone I have received

a notification that is from WhatsApp, I enter

and it is a notification that was in

a WhatsApp group in which we are part

of several colleagues from all over the world

that we have been speakers and all these

stories.

In short, Fer Juaristi came to comment on

something like this that due to personal issues

could not photograph the wedding on Saturday, we

are talking that this was a Thursday.

Fer quickly asks for help to see if

a colleague can help him with the coverage

of the wedding.

The first thing I think about is raising

my hand and telling him, hey, here you

have me for whatever, he already tells me,

man, you are on vacation, I say, well,

if I can help you with something, well,

here you have me.

Just to point out, Fer Juaristi, those of

you who know me, you know that he

is one of the photographers that I admire

the most, that I respect the most.

It was the first WhatsApp that I attended,

it was a WhatsApp from Fer.

Fer, so to speak, opened me a bit

through the eyes of this whole world.

In addition, he was the only photographer who

also opened his doors to me when sharing

a wedding.

That is, when I started, I called several

colleagues to open their doors and none of

them opened them except one, which was Fer,

with which I have always had that affection,

that respect for his figure and I also

think that he is one of the most

influential photographers of the last decade, not as

a wedding photographer.

So I felt the responsibility and the need

that if a colleague, in addition to a

personal issue like the one that was, needed

help, then offer me.

Of course, honestly, I didn't think he would

count on me, because when I told Fer,

hey Fer, look, I'm available for whatever you

need.

And he already told me, well, I'll write

down your number, that is, your name, and

I'm going to give it to the couple,

both your name and that of four more

colleagues, and let them decide.

I say, perfect.

At that moment, I told Erika what I

had done.

Erika told me, let's see if they will

take you.

And I said, no, what is going, what

is going, what is going, well well well,

of course, remembering that we were on vacation.

In total, a few hours pass and Fer

tells me that yes, that they count on

me.

Erika almost kills me, literally, more than anything

because I hadn't told her before, that I

wanted to Fer, no, but hey, they are

my stupidities and the thing is that I

told him, well, you have to work on

it and you have to do it, right?

So that's where the adventure began, of course,

and at that moment I tell Fer, okay,

perfect, everything is fine, but I need help,

I want you to help me with, among

other things, because I only have one of

850 here, a 35 and a 45, I

need a second body because I do not

dare to go to cover a wedding without

a support body, also tell me that I

was going to go alone, Erika was not

going to accompany me, so I had to

go with two bodies, yes or yes, so

it started to move all the machinery and

in a few hours I received a 4s

and a 105 millimeters, I think that the

105 you already know why I do not

have it, which is why it started to

move everything so that I would receive cameras,

cards, extra batteries and a telephoto lens that

would help me a little to get out

of the way of all that, so said

and done, I already had all the material

and I already had all the information to

cover the wedding that I was going to

photograph in Tulum, it was from a couple

of Americans who were getting married, who already

had to have gotten married at the time

of the pandemic, but who were getting married

now, so said and done, both the wedding

planner and Fer Juaristi sent me all the

information so I got on my own horses

and on the day of the wedding I

just got in a taxi and from the

hotel that I was in to Cancun I

went to Tulum, of course, on the way

I thought, let's see how I photograph this,

because of course, I thought, I'm not going

to disguise myself as Fer Juaristi, much less

because I'm not going to do that well,

so we're going to go for all of

them, I'm going to bet on me, on

my photography and I'm going to die for

it, I'm not going to give the maximum

that I have inside, I'm going to try

not only to cover the paper of Fer,

but to do a good job for the

couple, after all, and if I have the

opportunity to take some risk, as it was,

I will take them.

It was a wedding, as I have told

you, of a couple of Americans, it was

a small wedding, only 25 guests, something like

that, and the air of the wedding or

the mood was very relaxed, I mean, Fer

already told me that the couple was very

open-minded, that is, that everything I did,

they were going to say yes, the couple

liked my work, so come on, I had

no excuse to do a good job, because

all the papers met there, so in principle,

everything was fine, of course, in that respect,

fine, but in other respects, I had my

doubts, because I had not even met the

couple, I did not know anything about their

life, nor who they were, nor how they

were, nor how they were going to get

married, nor did I have many clues, of

course, it is not that it is violent

for me, but there was something that did

not let me breathe calmly, and it was

not something so absurd, perhaps, that moment when

you open the door and introduce yourself to

everyone, well, believe me, that gives me total

shame, I did not know how she was

going to react, well, I mean, both the

bride and the groom, the guests, I mean,

I was a little nervous, as in that

aspect, I mean, the moment of the first

presentation, but hey, that, as always, it was

a moment, the door opened, I said, hello,

how are you?

Everyone received me very well, man, Víctor, how

are you?

I don't know, I don't know how many,

and that's how the wedding started, we started,

or I started with the preparations, and there

was also a small problem, right?

Because I always work with Erika, I mean,

working two means, first, going calmer, and second,

concentrating, for example, in the getting ready, for

example, of the girl or the boy, I

mean, working alone started, I mean, that made

me start to think, of course, of course,

I have to photograph a little of the

bride, I have to photograph a little of

the groom, then I have to come back,

I mean, I mean, I had to duplicate

myself, and knowing that sometimes I would lose

images, I mean, that, that, I also thought,

fuck, I'm not going to concentrate on what

I want, because of course, you have to

be here for a while, you have to

come back another while, you have to come

back there, of course, that, when the wedding

ended, believe me, I said, ok, fine, but

I'm not going to have a wedding alone

again, I mean, no, because it's not that

I didn't do it well, no, because you

are already seeing the photos that are not

bad, but fuck, I didn't let myself not

completely concentrate and not get to enjoy it

as maybe, as maybe if we had been

two, no, because you say, fuck, I stick

with the boyfriend and that's it, or I

stick with the girlfriend and that's it, no,

but no, I had to go crazy, you

can imagine, luckily they changed in the same

hotel, it was a very, very beautiful hotel,

very, very close to the beach, so that

made everything easier, no, you didn't have to

take a taxi anymore, go here, go there,

but everything was there, with which it was

practically from one door to another and you

were already working, okay, so, well, I mean,

the preparations were coming out, I had my

more or less good moments and other moments

that I got nervous like a little boy

who starts with the first wedding, I suppose

that sometimes the pressure of working for a

photographer like Fer Juaristi makes you sometimes swallow

saliva, but I suppose that also what I

tried is to always forget that I was

working for someone, no, that is, I put

myself on the skin that that wedding was

mine and I did not work for a

photographer like the one I was working for,

because if not, it was to go crazy,

it was to say what I became today,

no, in Fer Juaristi, in who, who am

I today, with which that identity had to

be clear for me and how it was.

The preparations, I had good moments, I had

moments of basic mistakes as a beginner, but

I suppose that when the ceremony started, I

already forgot all those nonsense and I started

to go at full speed for my own

sake, no, to capture those little great moments,

to document everything in the best possible way

and there we went, and speaking of documenting,

almost all day, practically four photos, four, four

moments that I made them pose or that

I directed them a little, both the boyfriend

and the girlfriend, the rest of the wedding

was totally all documentary and it was how

I felt most comfortable, because do not forget

that I had not had a connection with

the couple and in quotes I did not

know how Fer had sold that wedding, if

I had sold that it was going to

be very documentary or it was not going

to be like that, so I did not

want to create a bad experience for the

couple and ultimately transfer it to my partner,

that was something that I did not want

to screw up either, so it was almost

all the time documentary.

We got to what the ceremony was, the

ceremony was a ceremony, I do not know

if to define it as Mayan or as

Aztec, the thing is that I met some

gentlemen there with feathers, with stories and well,

from a photographic point of view, I said,

damn it, because they are going to give

me some other pretty funny photo, so I

take care of documenting it, and also how

good it was that the 25 guests or

20 were 100% focused on following that

Mayan ceremony, with which a super interesting atmosphere

was created there.

As a joke, as a joke, as a

joke, in this ceremony after more than 10

years dedicating myself to wedding photography and having

covered, well, having photographed all kinds of Indian

weddings or Hindu, Jewish, Christian, civil, I mean,

no one has ever caught my attention, no

one has ever stopped the ceremony to say

that the photographer was not behaving well and

this wedding in Tulum happened.

Believe me, I did nothing strange, I just

stepped, I stepped with my feet on a

sacred carpet, that carpet was on the sand

of the beach.

The shaman, or the shaman, as they say,

who was the one who was officiating the

ceremony, imagine, you are shooting and suddenly you

are listening, I have to stop the ceremony

because the photographer is not keeping the respect

that he should, and I look up and

I say, wow, swallow me, everyone looking at

me, and I say, I'm sorry, and the

girl told me, you are stepping on a

sacred carpet, and at that moment I said

I'm sorry, but I thought, what do you

mean sacred carpet?

Yes, yes, it is a rite, well, it

is the same, I mean, I looked at

her with sparks and sparks, saying, but what

the hell are you telling me, you know?

But of course, I put myself in my

place, forgive me, no, no, no, it won't

happen again, I already took a couple of

steps back, the ceremony continued, and there the

whole story continued.

The ceremony was very short, we finished, some

mariachis arrived, that gave me strength again to

continue capturing more photos that would put me

in, or that would tell a story in

funny quotes, or that they would tell me

something else, an added value to what I

already had, right?

There was already a very, very curious mix,

a Mayan story, a story with mariachis, it

was a little bit of everything, but hey,

as a photographer, I love that they give

me such visual things, as if an alien

had come there, no, no, suddenly, well, I

was fucking, I mean, 100% involved, smiling,

enjoying the wedding, and as always capturing moments.

We got to the place of what the

banquet was, and I already realized that the

banquet was going to be in a place

quite, quite, with very little light, when I

say little, nothing.

But hey, I kept photographing, there were times

to take family photos, of course, I did

them as best I could.

At that moment, the planner approached me and

told me that if she took portrait photos,

I told her that of course, but where,

right?

And she told me, well, whatever the couple

says, right?

Well, let's talk to them and see what

they want to do.

Of course, at that moment, I told the

planner, we let ourselves be carried away by

the couple, we are not going to break

the rhythm, to create an experience more for

us by having portraits, and let's put ourselves

in the skin of the couple and see

what they want.

If they want portraits, that is, I mean,

a few poses, or do they want us

to continue documenting this?

We went to the couple and asked them

if they wanted photos on the beach.

When I heard on the beach, I thought,

damn, it's almost better than not, because I

didn't have my head ready at that moment

to take some photos on the beach.

In addition, the ceremony had already been on

the beach, so I thought it was to

repeat ourselves, so I told the couple, what

do you want?

Poses or not?

And the couple said, do you think you

have good photos so far?

And I say, obvious.

He says, well, no poses.

I say, I have thought about it, I

have gotten rid of the beach once again.

So we continued documenting all that and dinner

started.

At dinner I started to sweat a lot,

because even though I had a flash with

me, I had a one-on-one, but

I didn't even have a foot, not even

a point of support to leave it.

The light that was at the banquet, let's

say it was two tables lit with candles,

but with four or five candles, so the

light was totally bad, very, very bad, very

neutral, very flat and very scarce.

Of course, at that moment I thought, what

do I do?

Do I add a touch of flash or

do I not add it?

I thought, the aesthetics of the wedding allows,

it is not that it allows, it gives

rise to adding a flash.

No, I mean, it was a wedding in

quotation marks so open, so open-minded, so

out of the ordinary, in quotation marks, with

which I thought, adding an artificial light here

does not work.

Said and done, the ISO at 16,000

and start working.

Despite everything, that is, I was shooting at

16,000 ISO, the speed was at the

limit, I think it was a 40, 50th

at 2, 2.8 of diaphragm, that is,

I knew that if they moved fast, I

knew that they were going to blur or

move, with which, with breathing, maximum concentration and

saving the ass as we could, save all

the splashes and capture a couple of environmental

photos of what was the dinner, right?

After dinner, it was the party and I

also thought about adding a flash, but if

I hadn't done it until now, why now?

It didn't make any sense, it was out

of the question to add an artificial light

and more than a flash.

Maybe a LED, which is softer, less intrusive,

but adding a flash, like not.

At 16,000 ISO, at 100 of speed,

at the party there were some little flashes

of light above, some little bulbs, so it

allowed me to go up to 100, 150

and pray that they would not dance with

a lot of energy, as it was, and

that's it, right?

I think I had to cover a party

of around 3 hours, in the rider, or

in the timing, sorry, as it seemed to

me, that, I mean, all the timing, and

I remember that I was talking about it

with Erika, so that I don't forget anything,

I say, okay, tomorrow I have to cover

this, the other, the other, and I tell

her, Erika, I have 3 hours of party,

25 guests, and Erika started laughing at me,

because she is the partygoer who would always

stay at the party for 2 or 3

hours, and I am the one who stays

for an hour, right?

Because for me, the party is important, but

it is not the most important thing, I

mean, if you haven't done a good job

don't expect that by covering 3 hours of

party, or 4, or whatever you have, you

are going to sublimate everything you haven't done,

I mean, the party is an addition, but,

I mean, the wedding is already, it's all

sold out by now, right?

I mean, well, it's my philosophy, Erika has

a totally contrary idea, and that causes many

of the weddings, we get angry, and we

end up arguing about why we don't stay

longer, and I, why do we have to

stay longer?

Well, in total, I mean, she laughs at

me, she says, tomorrow you're going to fuck

3 hours, 3 hours of party, but it's

not that you're covering a wedding of 200

guests, 3 hours for 200 guests, you have

time to concentrate in a group, in another

group, in another group, but in that wedding

there were 25, what was I going to

do in 3 hours?

Well, I was there for 3 hours, of

course, I had to cover the file of

a, well, of a colleague who had hired

that wedding, with those characteristics, so that's how

I got used to it, and that's how

it was, 3 hours of party, and then,

well, the wedding was over, the wedding was

over, and there came a big nightmare, right?

Because, honestly, this has nothing to do with

the wedding, the wedding experience was wonderful, I

had a great time, it makes me happy,

and I feel very proud to have been

able to enter a wedding of a colleague

that I admire so much, and who has

helped me so much, right?

With which, it was a bit like, I

mean, how to give back everything, well, not

everything, but a part of what he had

given me so much, or has given me

in all these years, right?

With which I feel happy, but, as I

was saying, right?

The wedding ends, the taxi waits for me,

and I realize that Tulum, I mean, well,

I had already seen it, right?

I mean, when I arrived, I mean, I

had a perspective of Tulum, who had told

me that it was like something very hipster,

something very, very modern, very casual, very people

and such, but, I don't know, when I

arrived, my perception was not the best, right?

I saw that and said, well, what they

say is jungle, because of course, I mean,

Tulum is a small road, well, it is

a path, a muddy path, and everything full

of grass, which some say is jungle.

I'm going to try to be funny, okay?

And well, and the hotels are there, and

the party areas are all distributed there, but

of course, I saw it a bit dirty,

everything, and a bit with quite, not very

tidy people, a bit, a strange roll, come

on, I wouldn't go on vacation there, and

the story is that, when all that was

over, imagine that at 12 o'clock they

closed many streetcars, on a road, or on

a road without asphalt, in which two cars

just do not fit, okay?

Imagine, I mean, getting to the hotel from

the place where I was was 120 kilometers,

a story like that, I think it cost

me three and a half hours.

After 12 hours working, busted, I mean, busted,

sweaty, tired, I couldn't take it anymore, three

and a half hours, I almost blew up

Tulum, if I get to have fire there,

I set everything on fire, I shit my

pants, I say, but what the fuck is

this, right?

But hey, that was an anecdote that has

nothing to do with the wedding, but with

what I experienced later, okay?

So I don't want to take all this

out of context, or talk badly about the

wedding, nothing, right?

Just that, I mean, I wanted to share

what the little wedding was, well, the wedding,

right?

The first wedding of the year, which I

did not expect, which arose in two days,

which arose due to a personal problem of

a great friend, of a good photographer, or

of a great photographer, to whom I covered

the file.

The thing is that I would do it

again, with my eyes closed, and I got

into his skin, right?

And I would like, who knows, if I

ever have problems, to hang up the phone

and that there are several friends who are

willing to help me, right?

And without looking at anything else.

So that was all, that was the wedding

that I covered in Mexico, and well, I

hope that the photos that I have shown

you, or that you have seen, well, so

far, you have liked it, that was the

job that I did, and well, I am

very happy with it.

So nothing else, friends, that was all, be

good, be happy, and keep hiring weddings.

Cabrones!