“It’s one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like; it’s another thing to make a portrait of who they are.” – Paul Caponigro
What can you say about a Photographer whose information is hard to find on Internet but his pictures are published all over the world?
Jordi Pizarro, a Photographer and Photo Journalist, is someone whose name one must have heard but not much. Are you wondering why? It’s because he is difficult to find but his pictures are not, and it’s his work that speaks for him and makes him stand apart from the crowd.
As the quote above says, Jordi Pizarro believes in making a picture a portrait of what a person actually is. Apart from people his other areas of interest in photography include, religion, culture and festivals of the world. And his exhibition in New Delhi, ‘The Believers’, is a depiction of just that; different cultures around the world.
He started this project, ‘The Believers’, four years ago in 2010. He was travelling in Cuba and that’s when the idea of believers struck him. He went ahead combining his travels along with his pictures to capture different villages, cultures, pilgrimages and beliefs of people. Eventually, ‘The Believers,’ came to be; the different beliefs around world. “There is a difference between each and every culture, religion, and pilgrimage and so on, and all that is because of people’s beliefs in different things.”
Jordi Pizarro always wanted to be a Photo Journalist. Clicking pictures has been his passion ever since. “Yes, I always wanted to be a Photo Journalist. I started at the age of twenty to work in magazines in Spain by doing daily news and for the last three years, I have been working with ‘Contrasto’, an Italian International agency.
The project is still not finished, it’s still a baby and the work is on. I have shot in Malaysia and now want to go to Haiti and other parts of Pakistan. At the same time, I am also working for the magazines to earn money.
I like taking pictures, so I like my job. It is my passion. I don’t care about what people think about my work, I take pictures for understanding the world and because it’s my passion. This project is for me and not to prove out something or somebody. Projects like these give exposure and understanding of different cultures and festivals of world.”
He also described how his experience has been in India, “It is crazy, with over a hundred million people and so many religions and pilgrimages. It’s a nice experience altogether. ‘Kumbh mela’ was all together a different ball game. The culture that I saw was really something I have never seen before” says Pizarro.
From his point of view a picture is something that shows reality and something that cannot be planned, “I take a picture when I think it’s a beautiful moment or if I feel the frame is visually static. I try to make reportage by clicking thirty pictures at least in every country of every culture. I don’t plan my pictures at all. I just like to capture moments the way they are otherwise it does not look original. As far as expressions are concerned, one can’t say anything about it because it’s different strokes for different folks.”
Jordi feels that this is the best time of his career. He already has more than five exhibitions in different countries like New York, Germany, Croatia, Spain and Paris scheduled to be presented this year. He is happy, but he believes that it’s about working all your life, else people forget you. He feels he should also concentrate more on editorial and commercial projects.
After exhibition in Cervantes, New Delhi, Jordi Pizarro’s plate is full with other such exhibitions, “My next exhibition will be in PHOTON festival in Valencia City, Spain, in Festival of Photo Journalism after which I will be travelling to Germany for another exhibition. Also, Cervantes is finding more places in India for my exhibitions in Kolkatta, Mumbai, Chennai, etc.”
“I am a story teller, who weaves stories through his pictures and photography. I don’t want to be an artist, but just a story teller.”
Concludes Jordi.
For further reference visit www.jordipizarro.com
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