MORE ABOUT ME
I was born in Havana in 1977, and was fortunate to grow up in a house where, over generations, my family accumulated many valuable books, and amusing objects from their studies. On any random shelf, or inside any closet, you could find the unexpected: a telescope, microscopes, science books, chemicals, light filters, prisms, UV and IR lamps, photographic equipment, paintings, musical instruments, and boxes filled with electronic components..
As much as I enjoyed playing baseball with my grandpa, or chasing him with my improvised bow and arrow, I also spent countless hours experimenting with all those tools and devices that were available to me at home. My mother always tried to explain me things in a logical way, which I believe cultivated my patience, and fostered my curiosity and my passion for understanding how things work. At the age of eight, I was able to disassemble my bicycle to the bits, service it and rebuild it. Later during my teens, I also became an avid cyclist, and developed a taste for the outdoors.
Press fast-forward, and I find myself in 2005 with a master degree in Physics, pursuing my doctoral degree at the ETH Zurich. I started skiing, hiking, and discovered the sport of mountain-biking. The Alps became my playground. I got into assembling bicycles, and experimenting with different suspension systems.
I met many like-minded people that became my new friends. We regularly went touring, exploring, spending weekends in the mountains, which unexpectedly lit the fire of my passion for photography. We were out there in nature riding our bikes, under the magic light of the sunsets, when I realised that I wanted to have the means and knowledge to create photos capturing those moments.
After some research, I was considering a couple of tried and true cameras; the Nikon D850 and the Canon 5D; but I wanted something lighter to carry while mountain-biking. It was 2018, and Sony released the A7III; arguably, the camera that showed to the world the potential of mirror-less technology. It checked all the boxes, and so I bought my first ever full frame digital camera (and a couple of lenses).
As it happens with anything that I get passionate about, I went full beans. I started getting out often with the camera, reading about photography, watching tutorials, learning to process my images, updating equipment, travelling …
To date, I own a few more lenses, multiple tripods, filter sets, camera bags, photography-friendly sport backpacks, cameras for deep-sky astrophotography, and a couple of telescopes (one of which is an 11" optical beauty). Astrophotography became an important part of my craft. After all, it seems quite logic; it is a field of photography that overlaps significantly with experimental astronomy and astrophysics.
Eventually, I began to print my images, which gave a full new dimension to my photography, and made me look at photos in a different way.
I feel more than lucky that my partner supports me, and accompany me in all cycling and photography adventures. We plan our trips taking moon- and star-cycles into account, and she drives me at night to dark places. She must be also credited for any photo of me that may appear in this page and elsewhere.
I am a scientist and work independently on my photography during my spare time. I go out with my camera because I love it. I enjoy being in nature, and I have no pressure to deliver, other than my own ambition to become a better photographer.
I am always in the search of ``that’’ beautiful light, of special moments; and I prefer a simple subject in good light to a great subject with poor lighting. I like images that bring the observer in, giving a sense of depth and dynamics; and I hope I can transmit that in some of my photos.
Photography for me has become part of the interaction with nature. In a way, it increases my awareness, and it is often an extra motivation to go out.
I hope that you enjoy the photographs I chose to display here. Those might not be my best; but rather those that mean something to me. Perhaps you can relate to some, and find stories in them.