Nickname “famous” is not chosen by chance. In his country, Juan David pays for peak in their field. His photographs fill the articles of various Ecuadorian and foreign media. “I had the opportunity to photograph Pope Francis or Turkish President ErdoganHe explained in an exclusive interview for Blesk. “My daily job is to take pictures of street situations. It was not just about everyday life, but especially about protests and riotsbecause they were the order of the day in Ecuador. ”Many of them are freezing.

The living beauty of the world

Not only these films, which were used by the Agency of French Press or Agencia prenso independente (Ecuadorian mass media agency), won general attention. Renowned National Geographic, for example, used the photographs in which it is captured destructive, yet still fascinating to the human eye, the power of nature. These were, for example, the volcanic eruptions of Tungurahua volcano.

“It simply came to our notice then lucky man because one does not see these phenomena every day. I managed to capture them, when waking up the volcano after a century of sleep, so that at least with the help of photos it reminds people almost always, “I think. “When the volcano wakes up, it is full of dust and ashes everywhere. People have to wear veils and respirators like they do today. Everything is gray. It’s literally about tons of dust which will cover absolutely everything in the area. “

Helplessness and help

He could record the lens in 2016 as well devastating consequences of the earthquake. He moved in devastated places, where it was still life a week or a week ago. “I took a picture remains of a shopping center, in which at the time of the collapse of the building were about 200 people. because they died of them, they managed to help, despite the threat of the collapse of other parts of the building, “he recalls. “People had nowhere to go, they lost everything. All they had left was the life and clothes they were wearing. ”

Juan David Cevallos also photographed the consequences of the devastating earthquake.

Author: Juan David Cevallos

Beyond new horizons

Yet it surprises Juan David decided to leave what had fed him so far and what he was quite sure of, something new and as yet unknown. “I didn’t want to live in a bubble of what I already know perfectly“Does not hesitate to answer why he decided to travel from Ecuador to Prague, where he has been studying at FAMU for the fourth year. “I want to learn other ways of thinking about photography. There should be some work behind the photographer, some signature. This is not easy to achieve in journalistic photography. “

And it continues. “She should be a photographer accurate and aware in what he wants to take pictures, what he wants to achieve. But there isn’t much time to think about journalistic photography, you have to be fast. They only need a second, often a fraction, to take the shot they want. But at FAMU they told me that I have 6 months to create my own project“” He is an enthusiastic South American. “I’m learning to think again about photography. Just different than I’ve been used to. “

Atypical Prague

his gradual progress in thinking was exhibition Until It Disappears in Tibet Open House in Školská Street. It consisted of three parts – of self-portraits, which were created by a combination of photography and painting, from 3D partswhen nelectronically, he printed portrait photographs on pieces of concrete. The rest consists of unusual black-and-white views in which the Czech capital would perhaps be recognized only by a true connoisseurwho knows her upside down. Given Juan David’s attempts, he explains, it’s not complicated.

The pictures were taken by the so-called. multi-hole camerawhen – simply put – in front of the lens puts on the box, pierced in several places with a pin. This allows the camera to take a single picture from multiple perspectives, which gives it a pure surreal touch. The slide is thanks to that layered, as if fuzzy it looks chaotic. “It’s basically beautiful it represents a hectic and chaotic time in which we live“Juan is pleased with David, who, to no avail, was confused by the viewer.

“People have no idea what they see confusion whether he sees one or more photographs, whether it is a photograph at all, whether it is a modified reality. Observers may be tempted to do that the artist is lying by the photothat he subsequently modified it in the graphics program, and in all cases he will be wrong, “he states. “If someone is lying and lying, it is camera, although he did the same job as any other, he was adapted to, because he shot the resulting image exactly like that. “

It is nothing innovative, but it is in today’s photography little seen. Juan David his pictures he bought Vyšehrad, for example, in the center of Prague or housing estates Háje – where he currently lives. In addition, he made them special by having them summon black and white. “It simply came to our notice then closer to the negatives. For me personally, it also means some connection to the history of photography, because the first photographs were also black and white. At the same time, it also encourages people to believe that what they see is adjusted. That it is not real, because the real world is not black and white, “he adds.

Would you know Prague in this photo?

Author: David Winter

Camera role

“Until it disappears, there is an exhibition about my personal experience with the subversion process against the camera and her practices, which try to control my creative process beyond the limits of the camera program and its traditional use, “said Juan David about the exhibition. “On the other hand I try to question the ontological meaning of photography, as well as the concept of its objectivity and representation of reality. “

Juan has been thinking about the function of the camera in Prague lately. “It’s something I’m intrinsically connected to. He creates something for someone else, he has great power in the creative process, because he decides what is and what is not a good photo. But it does not decide who is and who is not a good photographer, ”Says Juan. “The camera is mostly a program, nowadays more and more perfect, which we have lets you create a photo. We will either master and humanize it, or follow it perfectly and create treadmill-like photos that are constantly repeated, often meaningless, on social networks. ”

Comparison of two worlds

How does Juan David actually live in Prague? He himself comes from a big city – specifically from the Ecuadorian capital Quito, which is diametrically opposed. “The most fundamental difference between Ecuador and the Czech Republic is that I feel here really safe so I’m satisfied, “he nods. “I can walk down the street with my phone to my ear or a camera around my neck, even at night without fear of anything happening to me. In Ecuador, when you go out like this, you run the risk of being attacked and robbed,He shrugs.

“Even the staff at the restaurant warns them to watch their bags and wallets, to keep them under the chairs of their guests, or to keep them constantly so that they don’t accidentally get hurt,” he explains. “You have far more respect for who is who is entitled to what. I can walk around the camera completely freely and I haven’t wanted to be robbed. I love this in your country, that sense of security. I’m happy here. “

Exhibition of the acclaimed Ecuadorian photographer Until It Disappears in Tibet Open House. David Winter

This is how Juan David Cevallos photographed the eruption of the Ecuadorian volcano Tungurahua.

Author: Juan David Cevallos