Panic Switch
From time to time, Fernando travels to the south of Chile for work. This time he contacted me to take some photos in Valdivia.
We only had a couple of days to think about the place while Fernando got the dancers.
I thought of a place that is central and with a great variety of landscapes so as not to waste time in mobilizing ourselves.
The big day arrived, and we met on Isla Teja with Paula, Poleth and Feña near the famous Cau-Cau bridge. 10 in the morning, between 0 and 2 Celsius degrees (32ºF), a perfect morning to start the session. The idea was to use the beautiful landscape, and we toured the place until we found the perfect spots.
Now Fernando will tell you the story:
It’s so cold it hurts. The toes go numb and then the rest of the foot. It hurts a bit at first. Then a lot. And then it goes numb.
I’m in Valdivia, Chile. It’s a big city in the colder zone of my country (south). It’s the middle of winter, and I’m early in the morning knee-deep in the water, taking pictures of a ballerina much colder than me. Eduardo Asenjo, my photobuddy is with me. He lives here and chose this amazing location. As we talked over the phone a week ago, we decided to use water as our setting. See, Valdivia is a traditionally river city. So if we are to take photos, it’s water or nothing. Even freezing water will do.
My name is Fernando Ramírez. I’m an X photographer, and I have been taking photos of dancers since 2015. I try to use natural light and sometimes a little bit of flash. And I’m freezing. Today I’m using my X-T3 + XF56mm F1.2 and XF16mm F1.4 WR. My favorite setup since I went to Fuji back in 2015.
I’m thinking if I would do this for another photography brand. My hands are getting colder, and Poleth Espinoza, the dancer, is moving around a lot. It’s hard to react to her movement in this cold. She is also in the water, playing, improvising, and dancing. She knows her art.
It’s Paula Guzmán’s turn. She picks another spot, and I know that she is right. Photographer friends: always listen to the dancer. 90% of the time they are right.
She starts moving, and I follow with the zone AF. Bright sunlight, the X-T3 doesn’t even break a sweat. As she kicks the water, I get some nice droplets frozen in midair. I love this. We switch locations. We went to the forest. Valdivia is densely populated by forest and swamp areas around the city.
I ask her to jump. I go 16mm. I know it’s going to work better against the sun. We finished the shot in the pool.
Feels good to be back in Valdivia. Shooting with such talented people as Eduardo, Poleth and Paula. My feet hurt a bit, but it’s nothing compared to the warm feeling of having good photos to share.
I hope to come back. In summer, preferably.
My name is Eduardo Asenjo, and this year I fulfilled my dream, Fujifilm named me X-Photographer and what better way to start a session than with another X-Photographer like Fernando Ramirez.
I took all my equipment, including for the first time a flash and my two cameras. I was very nervous, Fernando had everything ready, and in my head, I still couldn’t imagine the photography I wanted to achieve. I only had in mind the song Panic Switch by Silversun Pickups. Minutes passed, and Fernando gets into the pool, and I still don’t have a photograph.
It was very cold if I looked for another place near the shady trees to achieve a long exposure with flash in hand. I had two options, use my new X-T4 with the XF16-80mm F4 or my beloved X100V. Since I’m still not used to shooting with the X-T4, I went straight to my backpack for the X100V, a camera that I know by heart. I tried shooting some branches and was able to set up the camera in record time.
RIGHT: Fuji X100V . f/11 . 0.5″ . ISO 160
When they finished the session in the pool, there were only 15 minutes left for Feña to leave, so I called Poleth and asked her to pose for me, since I didn’t have much time, I decided to do portraits, and I loved the result.
As you can see, the interesting thing about this kind of meeting is to observe the contrast between two X-Photographers with completely different styles with the same dancers, the same place and the same sensors.
As always, it was a pleasure to be able to share with a photographer as incredibly as Fernando and two excellent dancers Poleth and Paula.
Eduardo Asenjo Matus (@eduardo.asenjo.matus): Fujifilm X100V + Godox V1
Fernando Ramirez (@project_0g): Fujifilm X-T3 + XF56mm F1.2 and XF16mm F1.4 WR
www.instagram.com/eduardo.asenjo.matus/
www.eduardoasenjomatus.com/
www.instagram.com/project_0g/
fernandoramirezfoto.cl/web/
www.instagram.com/polethth/
www.instagram.com/placidascrisalidas/
Eduardo Asenjo Matus, was born in Valdivia Chile on October 5, 1990. Street photographer, former student of Architecture and Graphic Design, Fujifilm-X Chile and Tripodes.cl ambassador. The Photography love began in 2008, then I studied photography independently. At the beginning of 2017 I started my first project ‘The Sound of Silence’ black and white street photography, the idea was to show the world how I listen to the city. I have hearing problems and I wanted to show that in my work. To listen to someone I need to eliminate all the noise of other people and concentrate in one voice, representing the noise with blur and movement in the image. I share this project in social networks and is exposed in different countries such as Ecuador, Spain, India, Chile and magazines such as Black & white minimalism magazine, Eye photo magazine and Black magazine, DNG Photo Magazine, Soul of streets and Streets Magazine.
