journal
I'm on the road again, with a new destination in sight. A 3-month road trip to a place I'd been wanting to photograph for a long time. This is the story of how I got there, my hopes for this trip, and also my doubts. I hope you come along for the ride!
I thought I knew this place quite well, especially since I walk here almost every single day. And yet, I found something that surprised me a lot, and taught me an important lesson about photography.
Southern Europe has had a terrible summer so far. Thankfully, here in Galicia things have been very mild. Better than usual weather for photography meant I was spending less time doing what I usually do in the summertime (catching up on work, old projects...) and more out doing what I love: discovering the world through my camera.
It's all about location, location, location!
Ansel Adams said it a long time ago: "A good photograph is knowing where to stand". Of course, there are many other things to making a good photograph, but where to place our camera is arguable one of the most important ones.
In this video, I talk about this as I share a very good example of this.
Photography is all about timing: being at the right place at the right time. But that's not enough. We need to be ready, we need to be prepared. There's nothing worse than investing vast amounts of time and money to put ourselves in front of magical conditions if we are going to waste it because we don't know where that function is in our camera, if we press the wrong button, or we hesitate about which dial does what.
When we are in the field, it's all about the what (what are we capturing?) and the why. The how is important, but it's something that needs to be trained when the stakes are low. So when things finally come together, the camera disappears and all that remains is the composition in front of us.
Note: this video is one of the first I've uploaded to my second channel, aows.jpg. Subscribe if you want to see more like this one. I tell you everything about this new channel and what that means here.
After years of ruminating about this, I've finally made the decision of opening a second YouTube channel, aows.jpg.
A while ago, my 8-year-old nephew had a very simple request for my next video: "make it one of the fun ones, please". He meant, go somewhere, do stuff, and take photos.
I was never convinced about mixing movies from the field with talking-head videos. Yes, both of them are about photography, but the format couldn't be more different. Most importantly, the audience is very different as well.
I'm going to give this a try and see how it works out. I might go back to one roof for all my videos, but for now, you can subscribe to my main channel for movies from the field, to my second channel for opinion and talking-head videos, or to both if you want it all!
I go back to one of my favorite places in Northern Spain: the Picos de Europa National Park. And as usual, it did not disappoint.
Now you can find me on Threads too. Not entirely sure how I'll be using it just yet (if at all), but I'm intrigued enough to give it a try. Don't forget to say hi so I can follow you back!
I had the pleasure to talk to Josh Bright about my work, and the result is this interview: Adrian Vila’s Enchanting Black and White World
Summer is here and I miss rain and moody weather. So when I saw some chance of rain 100+ miles away, I jumped in my car and drove for 4 hours. I'm so glad I did, as I got beautiful conditions for photography.
Day trip to the neighbor province of Leon, where I photograph everything I find: from castles to waterfalls, from power plants to old trees.
It took me a while to get there, but I finally have a lineup of prime lenses I love bringing with me on my daily walks. Most of the time, I'll bring my super zoom lens, but these fast primes let me switch things up every once in a while.
Cormac McCarthy died yesterday at the age of 89. According to Wikipedia, McCarthy is "widely regarded as one of the greatest modern American writers".
What I didn't know about him is that after 26 years of writing, none of McCarthy's novels "had sold more than 5,000 hardcover copies". He was labelled the "best unknown novelist in America".
He spent half of his long writing career as a mostly unknown writer. Success did eventually come to McCarthy, though, and only then his early work was appreciated the way it deserved.
The arts, and that includes photography, are not a meritocracy: good work, even outstanding work, is not a guarantee of success.
Another lesson we can take from his example and many similar others is that success is a lagging indicator. The same goes for failure, by the way.
We do not become what we are today overnight; it's only after weeks, months, years, decades, of hard work (or the lack of) that we achieve results (or not). It took McCarthy 26 years of dedication, of not giving up, to get significant recognition.
At the same time, in order to survive for that long, we should not make that kind of success our end goal. Would you be able to yearn for public recognition for a quarter of a century and still find the strength to keep going? I know I would not, I would've given up.
It's only when we find joy in what we do, and when we set our own definition of success, what that looks like for us, that we have a chance to succeed. And even if that never comes, at least we have poured our souls into our work and shared it with whoever was there to listen to us.
Another foggy day, a different approach. This time, I take my bike to cover my ground while still having the flexibility to stop anywhere to make an image.
Wildfires are hell. Not only because of the destruction they bring to the wildlife and humans living around it, but also because of the effect of the smoke they produce that can reach lands thousands of miles away.
I've experienced this a few times while living in Portland. Once, we left a window cracked during a smoky day, and came back a few hours later to an apartment covered in ash.
And yet, the apocalyptic and eerie scenes the smoke creates can make for incredible photographs. We've all seen images from New York City this week, affected by the smoke from wildfires happening in Canada. So horrible, yet so incredibly beautiful.
Similarly to fog, the smoke hides whatever is far away from you, while revealing in great detail the objects closer to you. It does have a distinct feel, though: it pollutes the whole landscape. Plus, these conditions happen at times when fog does not usually happen: there's nothing more dramatic than the Sun coming through a thick layer of smoke.
These two images are examples of some work I did in very smoky conditions. The first one was made in the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, back in 2017, when wildfires in Alberta covered the whole PNW with smoke. The second image was made last year in Riaño, Spain, during a day with very strong calima (sand that is blown away from the Sahara desert, not from wildfires but the exact same effect).
Be cautious if you decide to adventure in these conditions, though: the danger to one's health can't be understated. Wear a good mask, and don't spend too much time outdoors anyway.
I watched with interest the recent presentation of Apple's AR/VR headset, Vision Pro. I was hoping for a use case that wasn't playing games, watching TV, or pretending to be a legless avatar.
While Vision Pro seems to be a device geared towards consumption for the most part, I can see huge potential on the productive side of things as well.
I was very happy to see that the headset can work as a portable, private, and pretty big monitor to a Macbook. As someone who doesn't have a permanent home, much less an office, this can be a big deal for me. Especially when I'm on the road.
During photography road trips, I spend most nights in my car, where space is... well, very limited. I still haven't found a way to work on my computer for long periods of time that is comfortable and doesn't break my back.
An AR/VR headset could solve this problem. I can't wait for the day I can have a 27" virtual monitor (or two, or three) to work on Lightroom and Final Cut Pro in the back of my small SUV.
I'm still a bit skeptical (is the resolution of the headset going to be enough for this use case?), even more considering the price point of this thing, but I'm excited for a future where I could work from anywhere as comfortably as I would in a proper office.
Photographers may or may not make a living by photography, but they are alive by it ~ Robert Adams
The spring is a very challenging time for me. Foggy, rainy and cold days are mostly gone, as hot and sunny weather takes over. But even worse than that are my allergies.
Going out to take some photos becomes an exercise in overcoming the discomfort, pushing through the misery at times.
Thankfully, I started taking an allergy pill that seems to be working. It's not perfect, but it makes being out bearable. So I've been taking more pictures lately and the change in my mood has been nothing short of amazing.
I went from feeling a bit sluggish, tired, to feeling more alive and optimistic. And I didn't have to go anywhere to feel that way! Just walking the very same roads, streets and paths I walk everyday. That's the power of the camera.
Just another reminder (in case I needed one!) that this is what photography... daily photography, does to us.
It'd been a pretty hot and dry spring, but finally, finally, we got a beautiful foggy day. I made some images, got a lot of footage, and have a lot to say.
Second part of my trip to the "Death Coast", in NW Galicia.
Come with me as a I go on a photography trip along the beautiful Death Coast, in NW Galicia.
