Shodan opening speech

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AylbRNc0qc0?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

This is the transcript of my opening speech of Shodan:

I decided to do something that is very far from my comfort zone. Because my photography is not about printing stuff on surfaces. My photography is about taking moments into a digital form, and that’s it, apparently.

I started to take pictures as a kid. I was introduced to it by my father and at home we had ten or maybe twenty thousand pictures on slides, that were projected on wall during Christmas time, killing by boredom instantaneously the entire family.

At that time I was using his gear and I got the knowledge on how to use his camera. But my photography didn’t start there. It started five years ago, when I bought my first digital camera.

I tried to figure about what happened during those twenty years. From when I started until I started again. The difference between analogue and digital photography is only about the support. You don’t get poisoned but the chemicals during the development process and at the same time you’re not showing a picture that is going to be forgotten inside a drawer.

From the very beginning, five years ago, I decided to use a very open license for my work. I distribute everything using the Creative Commons License.

Basically you can take any of my picture from my online collection and you can use it yourself. Just mentioning the fact that I’m the author, you’re allowed to do whatever you want. You can print it, you can sell it, you can remix it. Traditionally it’s something that a photographer would never allow. A traditional photographer would never allow people to remix his work.

But this is our world, the world of remixes. We take something and we want to make it better and I don’t wont my work to have an end. I don’t want any of my picture that you see there to be the final product. You can take a picture with your phone and redistribute yourself. You can post on twitter, you can publish it on your blog or you can just keep it for yourself if you like it.

Inside the room (of the exhibition) you are allowed to take pictures. Usually it’s not allowed to do so, during an exhibition. But I want you to enjoy my work and redistribute it. I want my work not to be the end but the beginning of a process.

The name Shodan comes from there. It’s the first level as a black belt in traditional japanese martial arts. It dos not mean that you are a black belt and your job is over, it means that you are ready to start the real exploration of the art.

This is how I feel about photography. I always carry a camera with me and I feel now, with my first exhibition, that I’m entering the world of photography. Don’t take this as the work of an experienced photographer, but as the work of a beginner.

I spent two months in that room, I cut my fingers fixing the lights and unboxing the pictures. I lived that room very much. Because of that I wanted that room to be part of the exhibition. You will find keys next to every picture and you can use those keys to open the boxes and know more about the pictures.

Now it’s your turn to enjoy the room and the exhibition.