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THE STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR WITH SPAIN

My name is Pierre Partiot, born in France in 1980, and deeply loved Spanish language when I was at school. I was seduced by its musicality and my imagination kept playing for years with my desire to travel to an Hispanic country. I finally made my first trip alone to Northern Spain in 2001. Carrying a backpack and a surfboard, I went get a summer job in Cantabria and fell in love with its astonishing landscapes when he was 20. 

Photography had entered my life only a couple of years before, when I discovered my grandfather’s Kodachrome slides of the United States in the 1930’s, where he spent thirty years. That’s with his old Ricoh Singlex TLS that I made my very first pictures in Cantabria.

Unfortunately, after the summer season I had to go back to France and start studying. But Spain had let an indelible mark on me: in 2002 I studied one year in Sevilla and travelled two months in Chile and Peru in summer 2003. Taking pictures was already synonymous with special occasions for me. I didn’t have much idea about technique at that time though. I was already looking for nice subjects and composing his pictures, but simply trusting the integrated light meter.

After I graduated in France, as a passionate surfer, I decided to move to Australia. Despite having a great lifestyle there, I was missing terribly the hispanic culture and language. Two important things happened simultaneously to me in 2008 which would bring me back to Europe. First I had a serious surf accident that could have ended with my desires of freedom – I broke the C7 vertebra spinal process receiving a longboard on the neck. And I discovered Ken Duncan’s amazing panoramic prints in his Sydney gallery. That’s when I fell in love with that format and planned to go back to Spain to start celebrating my love for its infinite landscapes.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t before 2012, after spending one year in New Zealand, that I actually started getting into photography and learning by myself exclusively. I bought a Fuji GX 617, with its 90 mm wide angle lens, and after six months, I was already making pictures in Cantabria as good as some of the best photographers’ he admired. All gallery pictures were shot on film with that camera. With a desire of adventure, that same year I started a photographic exploration of Spain that took me through lush green forests, rocky mountains, snowy summits to desertical plains and canyons. My aim has been to show Spain’s unexpected and diverse beauty through impacting pictures ever since. Learn more about the technique and the story behind my shots by reading my blog.

I am now based between Cantabria and Asturias, where I work as a professional Medium Mountain Guide, happily keep surfing and exploring new places around the country.

Q. How did you learn photography ?

A. I am a completely self-taught photographer. I have never attended to any photography courses or training. 

Q. Why do you shoot panoramics ?

A. Panoramics are the closest to the human viewing angle and for me the best way to render the glory of each location I choose. It is certainly the most difficult format to master, so each shot is the result of a lot of research and preparation and a real challenge. Only with this format can I really express myself.

Q. Which camera do you use ?

A. I take all my pictures with the medium format panoramic camera FUJI GX 617, and mainly use film rolls of Fuji Provia 100 F and Velvia 50. Each one gives me only four shots. Their extremely fine grain record plenty of details on a slide as long as 17 cm and enables me to make the sharpest images possible. I personally scan all my images on the Hasselblad Flextight X 5 virtual drum scanner.

Q. What’s your approach to landscape photography ?

A. My philosophy is looking for quality rather than quantity. For me landscape photography boils down to visualizing what you want first. Then exploring, being at the right place at the right time, know what to do according to your first intuition and let yourself be guided by the shaping light. I use composition as an essential ingredient, along with intense colours and proper subject matter, to build impacting images.

Q. Are you influenced by other photographers ?

A. My grandfather’s Kodachrome slides, testimony of his life in the United States in the 1930’s, had a huge impact on me when I was 15. I decided to choose the panoramic format in 2008, when I viewed Ken Duncan’s impressive prints in his Sydney’s gallery for the first time. I have been influenced by American photographers Ansel Adams and Galen Rowell, British artist Charlie Waite and admire the Scottish photographer’s work Ian Cameron.

Q. Are your images available for buying ?

A. All my images are available to licensing for private and commercial use (adverstising, editorial and websites).  My pictures can be easily be printed till 3 meters long with outstanding quality and can be used for exhibitions too. I am available for commissioned work as well. For any enquiry, please email me here. 

Q. Which camera do you use for commissioned work ?

A. For professional assignments I obviously use the latest digital equipment. As I want to deliver the best results for my clients, I am actually using the very advanced camera SONY A7 RII with a variety of Zeiss prime lenses and can satisfy to a broad range of work, from big advertising campaigns to architectural books.