America Untitled, by Adrian Vila - dates and locations

July 10, 2018 in journal

America Untitled (2017-2018) was born from my love for the landscapes of the American West. An admiration that pushed me to the top of volcanos and remote deserts, to hike hundreds of miles, to walk on frozen lakes, and beyond my comfort zone in the middle of snowtorms.

No matter how difficult or challenging a situation was, I always had a camera with me. I took amazing photos and videos; I made countless mistakes and came back with terrible imagery; I ruined cameras due to sand, rain and ice.

All of this was part of a learning process: over time, I developed my own vision, stopped taking photographs and started making images.

It was the beginning of America Untitled. Months of traveling across 25 states and a lot of hard work were necessary to make a collection of 46 images, a strict selection from more than 250 rolls of medium format film.

America Untitled exhibition, dates and locations

More dates and locations to come soon.

August 3-17 America Untitled - Casa da Cultura, Quiroga, Spain.
November 15-30 America Untitled - Casa da Cultura, Monforte de Lemos, Spain.

Press

Ilford Photo The American West
Graine de Photographe «America untitled», Une série de paysages en noir et blanc de l’Amérique de l’ouest.

New projects

July 09, 2018 in journal

These last few days, and besides launching Image of the Month, I've been busy working on a couple of new projects.

I'm trying different techniques, and even though I don't know if these projects will materialize in new work, I've been having a lot of fun.

I'll be posting some images as a preview of what's to come. The one above is the first one and belongs to Project 1, still with no name.

American Road Trip Journal #26: Baby Bell Rock

July 08, 2018 in journal

New episode of the American Road Trip Journal.

Still in Sedona, Arizona, Luna and I go on a hike to Baby Bell Rock. It is an easy, short and beautiful hike to great views of the amazing rocks and colors of the area.

I try to shoot some photos with my Bronica SQ-Ai and Ilford HP5+, but once again, I struggle to get good compositions in black and white. Color is just too hard to get out of your mind when shooting here.

"Crosses", Spain, July 2018. Image created with AOWS B&W Red Filter preset. — "Crosses", Spain, July 2018. Image created with **AOWS B&W Red Filter** **preset**.

Download AOWS B&W Red Filter preset for free

July 08, 2018 in journal

This is the preset I usually apply to my snapshots from documenting my life and the places I go to, images that are meant to be for me and don't require much farther editing.

This preset transforms your RAW files into a gritty and contrasty black and white image. It uses the Red Filter profile from Lightroom to further increase that look.

Prime vs Zoom lenses for landscape photography

July 07, 2018 in journal

What's the meaning of life? Who am I? Could we be living in Matrix? These are really important questions, but they all pale compared to a more important and crucial one. What's better: prime or zoom lenses for landscape photography?

How I made "Gate": from capturing it on location to editing the image

July 04, 2018 in journal

"Gate" is one of my latest images, born just a few days ago.

I want to show you how I made it, from beginning to the end, explaining the whole process.

Download the PDF of my new Free eBook "Lightroom CC Workflow"

July 03, 2018 in journal

After uploading a video about my workflow in the new Lightroom CC, I thought it'd be more useful for many to have those steps written down and well organized.

That's why I wrote a new eBook that I offer for free: "Lightroom CC Workflow".

Lightroom CC Workflow

How to keep your photo library under control and safe

You shoot a lot of pictures every day, you have a few projects going on at any given time, you upload your images to multiple social networks, to your website, you sell stock photos, you print your photos... among many other things.

Making a big photo library efficient for several projects is hard. Keeping it clean, tidy and, most importantly, safe, can be overwhelming. But I believe it doesn’t have to be.

Over the years, I’ve developed and refined a workflow that I use every time I make new images.

The goal of this workflow is to have a small catalog, easy to manage and browse, and unload everything that we don’t use elsewhere (but still accessible).

I sent a copy of the book to the subscribers of my newsletter a few days ago. If you haven't joined us yet, please consider subscribing to stay up to date and get books and other educational material like this one for free.

The book is published under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND) license, so feel free to share with everyone you think might find it useful!

DOWNLOAD "LIGHTROOM CC WORKFLOW" FOR FREE

Landscape photography in Cedeira, Day 3

July 01, 2018 in journal

Last day of my trip to Cedeira!

As usual, the forecast completely missed it: I was expecting "mostly cloudy" and I got "rain and wind". Even though I got rained on, I still made some images (one of them was one of my favorites from the trip).

In these conditions, make sure you protect your gear appropiately. I've already ruined cameras in the past, and believe me, it isn't fun. Use a plastic bag to cover your camera, and if it's raining a lot, just don't shoot at all or use your phone (if it's weatherproof).

See the images from this trip and more from Galicia.

A couple days with a Fuji X100T

July 01, 2018 in journal

For the last two days I've been shooting with a Fuji X100T I borrowed from Rachel. I'd tried that camera a few times before but never for too long.

I have to say I've been having a lot of fun. It's not a camera for the kind of images I make for my main body of work, but for casual, handheld shooting, is almost perfect.

These are some of the shots I got.

Landscape photography in Cedeira, Day 2

June 29, 2018 in journal

My second day of landscape photography in Cedeira was an intense one. I found dense fog, which made impossible to photograph the big vistas. But I found something much better: intimate and mysterious compositions.

How to change and start doing all those things you've always wanted to do

June 29, 2018 in journal

Change is very, very hard. Breaking bad habits isn't, but the way we see ourselves and what others think about us is. That's why in order to change yourself you need to change everything around you.

I know it very well. I used to be lazy and not motivated to do any creative work, and that’s the image that people had (and still have, those who hadn’t seen me in a while) of me.

If I’ve changed, anyone can. This is how I did it.

Landscape Photography in Cedeira, Day 1

June 27, 2018 in journal

First day of my landscape photography trip to Cedeira and the Costa Artabra, in NW Galicia.

See photos from Galicia.

‪My New Lightroom CC (cloud) workflow

June 25, 2018 in journal

Make better images by being healthier

June 24, 2018 in journal

Last year, I achieved something I never thought I’d be able to do: I climbed a 3,000m+ volcano. And then I did even harder things. But the last few months have been hard on my body, and now I’m 25 pounds fatter and out of shape. This has affected many aspects of my life, including photography.

American Road Trip Journal #25: Devil's Bridge (Sedona) and Montezuma Castle

June 21, 2018 in journal

Episode 25 of the American Road Trip Journal.

Still in Arizona, I drive in the dark to Sedona, where I go on a very popular hike to Devil's Bridge. It was a nice, warm day at a beautiful location.

Afterwards, I visit a chapel in town and then Montezuma Castle National Monument, a cliff dwelling that is hundreds of years old.

Fog is photographer's best friend

June 19, 2018 in journal

I remember looking at my watch, still feeling drowsy from the very early call. 6:21am. It's at those times when I wonder what the hell I'm doing. It's early, way too early to be here.

I've been driving for half an hour, I believe. I parked on the side of the road, next to a sign that says "Vixía Herbeira". I'm trying to gather some energy, but it's hard after all the driving from the previous day and a short 4-hour sleep.

Shooting a Roman Festival: Arde Lucus

June 18, 2018 in journal

From time to time, I enjoy documenting life with my camera. Like this last weekend in Lugo, Spain, during Arde Lucus, a festival that celebrates the Roman and Castro heritage of the city.

These are some of the photos I took that day.