Step Into the Fascinating Geometric Scenes of Photographer Clemente Vergara
Step Into the Fascinating Geometric Scenes of Photographer Clemente Vergara
Photographer Clemente Vergara talks passions and how it all began
Name:
Clemente Vergara
Photography:
Clemente Vergara
Words:
Caroline Meeusen
Clemente Vergara is a Spanish photographer based in Barcelona. Combining his passions, he is specialized in travel and architecture photography. It was not that long ago that he picked up a camera for the first time, but he has developed an exceptionally strong eye and individual visual language since. With layers of light, shadow, colors, and shapes, he draws the viewer into his fascinating images that transport you into the world portrayed. Having always loved architecture, geometry has a main role in his works. Besides his career in photography, Clemente also works as an environmental engineer. He tries to combine the two jobs in the best way he can and voices his creativity and view in his photos. Clemente talks passions, inspirations, and how it all began.
VISUAL PLEASURE Magazine: When were you first drawn to or interested in photography?
Clemente Vergara: My interest for photography is very recent actually, I used a camera for the first time four or five years ago. I have always loved architecture (in fact I was about to study architecture) and geometry, and before using a camera, I usually took photographs with my phone, of places, buildings, patterns, or corners that I would find visually pleasant. It was my father who pushed me to take photos with a camera. As he loves photography, he was kind of upset when he would see me taking photos with my phone. So, he finally made me try, giving me his old analog Nikon F70. I started shooting with that camera during my holidays. My first developed roll already awakened in me the passion for photography.
After two or three years of doing only 35mm film photos, I started shooting also with a digital camera, and I’m also very happy with the result. Analog photography feels more thrilling and romantic and I think I will never quit, but digital is more versatile and allows me to do more professional jobs that otherwise would be very difficult to cover with my analog camera.
What did you study and how did you become a professional photographer?
My background is not related to photography, I studied environmental engineering, and I still work as a project manager in a large international company for waste and water management, in the sustainable development department. So now I have two jobs. More and more people keep on telling me that I should dedicate 100 percent to photography, but for the moment I just do sporadic jobs for brands or magazines that are interested in my personal view of architecture or the things I see when I travel. I try not to stress out with advertising works but sometimes I do it. On the other hand, as a sustainable development project manager, I find my role particularly important and rewarding in a time challenged by climate change and other social and environmental challenges, so it’s hard for me to quit that job and focus 100 percent on photography. Anyway, I’m currently figuring out how I can mix all of my passions together: photography, architecture, sustainability, and traveling, and I’m coming up with some ideas…
Do you remember the first photograph you ever took?
Not exactly the first photo, but I do remember well the first building I shot with that analog camera I inherited from my dad. It was a housing complex by one of my favorite architects: Ricardo Bofill. The place is called Barrio Gaudí, and I came back there to shoot, just for the pleasure of being there. That place and architect mean a lot to me. It's somehow the reason why I started taking this more seriously.
Why the choice for mainly architectural photography? What draws you to this and did you ever consider photographing another genre?
As I said in a previous question, I was about to study architecture. I remember enjoying geometry and technical drawing lessons so much at high school. Anyway, I think the passion, or what connects me and pushes me to take photographs, doesn’t come from architecture in itself but from something deeper and primary and from where everything else is born, and that concept is geometry. I focus a lot on lines, shapes, the play of light and shadows, voids, etc. I think in this way because I am more interested in the visual and sensorial part of architecture and not so much on the technical or historical side. About photographing other genres, I’ve [been] doing a lot of travel photography during my last two trips (Ladakh in India, and Casamance in Senegal) and I’m pretty happy with the result. As there were barely no inspiring buildings, I had to focus on culture, people, and landscapes.
What do you try to capture in your images? What do you want your work to convey?
That’s a hard question… I don’t usually consciously reflect about what I’m seeking to capture, I just do it instinctively. Photography is my way to communicate my inner visual world and perspective of the space and the built environment. I try to capture what I think is harmonic and beautiful from my own understanding and feeling, and I like when people can connect with that and feel something. Geometry is everywhere, in nature, inside us, in our cells, in architecture… everything in the world is created following geometric patterns. If geometry is inside us, I firmly believe that we all connect and feel harmony or attachment whenever we look at an image where geometry and shape are shown in a specific way. Somehow our emotions arise when we look at shapes and colors, those emotions might be different for every person, but combining those shapes, colors, or other factors in the right way, can awake feelings and emotions in people. I guess that could be a purpose of my photography, firstly, finding my personal satisfaction through visualization and capturing a harmonic composition, and then to succeeding in awakening people’s eye when they look at that composition.
What makes you take a photo of something? Do you plan which buildings/projects you are going to photograph?
For my architecture trips, I have to admit that I plan a lot in advance the places and buildings I want to visit. I can’t stand when I visit a city and once I’m back to my hometown, I realize that I’ve missed a building that I like! So, I try to research a lot before traveling, and I have thousands of spots located in my personal maps. Having said this, what I enjoy the most is discovering places I didn’t expect to find and that’s why I leave a lot of spare time when I travel so I can walk and let destiny show me what I’m supposed to see. Of course, I enjoy shooting architecture from great architects, but I prefer shooting anonymous architecture, modest buildings, or geometric details that are likely to be unnoticed by people.
Which project/architecture/subject would you still like to photograph?
I have a never-ending list of places and architecture I would like to photograph…but the first thing that comes to my mind is Niemeyer architecture, that’s why I’ve been meaning to go to the city of Brasilia for a long time. I’m also pretty obsessed by Ricardo Legorreta and Lusi Barragán’s works in Mexico…maybe that’s one of my next destinations.
Scrolling through your Instagram, I get the feeling that you prefer geometrical shapes and mostly bright colors, is that correct and why so?
About the geometrical shapes, of course, I prefer them, they make me feel at ease, calm, and harmonic. I can’t stand modernist architecture and excessively ornamented places, they stress me. It’s just a feeling I get, I can’t explain why. I also consider minimalism very important in photography, keeping things simple at the minimum expression is something I have always related to beauty, and not just in visual arts. Even though it’s not a necessary condition. As for colors, even if what I publish is usually very bright, I can also enjoy softer or pastel tones or dark. But yes, the right amount of bright colors make me happy, even though I wouldn’t live in an interior with many bright colors!
What or who inspires you in life?
I would say a connection with nature would be my main source for feeling inspired and the work of those people who work in sustainability and protecting the environment. If we speak about inspiration related to my photographic work, I would first say geometry and color, and then I would name three architects: Ricardo Bofill, Luis Barragán, and Richard England.
