Cover of The Florida Engineer by Inigo Amescua

He created the first laptop, el Gavilan, I was able to photograph him in Jacksonville for the Florida Engineer and the great professor Blocks in Gainesville. You can take a look at the whole issue with my photos of both gentlemen here: The Florida Engineer

In few days I am going to present my project-in-lieu-of-thesis to the graduate school of the University of Florida in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Mass Communication. My committee is formed by John Freeman (who is also the chair), Mindy McAdams and Ted Spiker. The project has three parts: a photography book, a written part (both of them will be part of the University of Florida’s library) and a multimedia project. You can take a look at it just by clicking here or in the photo.

These are a couple of pages of the 6 page article that I wrote for the Spanish magazine Pasajes Diseño about the fantastic firm Doshi Levien.

First page

This is my new portfolio.

Thanks for checking.

In my first 4th of July I did see the fireworks, and the parade, and the American flags hanging everywhere, and the baseball field, and the horses, the Deere tractors from the forties, the Rocket 88, the Falcons and even the Rolls Royce, the carriages, the candies, the T-shirts, the sun glasses, the make up, the red, white and blue, the cowboy boots, the war veterans that fought in Korea, the plastic chairs, the children shouting, the stores closed, the politician on campaign, the smiling faces, the catfish, the beans, the old ladies selling chocolate brownies, the pinwheels, the girls with red hearts tattooed in their faces, the huge bull, the sweat drops falling from my back, the mosquito repellent…

Click here.

The Spanish magazine Pasajes Diseño asked me to write a piece about the American industrial designer Paul Loebach. The magazine is available now.

Ryan Matteson, Muzzleofbees.com

I went to see Tom Waits to Jacksonville, Florida and I wrote a review for the Spanish indie webzine Muzikalia. You can read it clicking here:

“Tras los pantanos atestados de cocodrilos; los porches de madera; los supercentros para adultos (dos películas de Jameson por 40 dólares); los cientos de iglesias (“The man his knees is the tallest”); la tormenta de las 4pm; los carteles de hamburguesas ultra gruesas; las casas de empeño; los puestos de fruta a los lados de la carretera…

Tras esto está Jacksonville, casi como si llegaras del desierto. Tom Waits está en algún lado de esta ciudad también.“

Well, some songs I am listening to a lot today, any suggestions?:

Tom Waits – Alice

Elvis -  The Memphis 1969 Anthology – Without Love

The Virgins – Rich Girls

The Kooks – Do you wanna?

The Last Shadow Puppets – Standing next to me

Primal Scream – Some Velvet Morning

Duffy – Mercy

Jonathan Richman – Roadrunner

The Little Rabbits – Yeah

Babyshambles – There she goes

I was invited to write a little text about photography for the International Newsletter of the University of Florida. You can read it in its own context (with photo) here. You can read it also here:

I guess I could say that, to me, the USA are the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, the Capitol. But I would be lying. Never like postcards. To me the USA are blue skyscrapers, never ending roads, California beaches at sunset. Is On the Road, Post Office, A Confederacy of Dunces, Tropic of Capricorn, Manhattan Transfer. Stax Records, Sun Records, Atlantic Records. Highway 61 Revisited, Folsom Prison Blues, Chelsea Hotel. And also the photographs that Robert Frank (a European, like me by the way, that was able to look at the beauty and desperation present at the heart of this country) in his book called The Americans in 1958. I just find, like him, the USA very interesting visually. Something that is pretty obvious to say of the biggest image-maker in History. From Cecil B. De Mille to Quentin Tarantino. From Lauren Bacall to Scarlett Johansson. I had seen the USA way before I put a feet in its soil. However, few times I have feel more excitement that when I walk through New York’s night for the first time. Thoughts of a big city boy going to another city even bigger. New York. The best hall. Nice views. You could even stay here forever. A Big Apple’s taxi driver warned me one night, “Don’t even think about staying in this town for more that fifteen days. I won’t let you go. It will eat you.” Gosh. In Gainesville I just see those enormous trees growing and falling over me, the dreamy mighty semi tropical rain, the old Cadillacs from time to time. New scenery for my eyes and for my brain. A feeling similar to be inside a David Lynch movie. The best thing for any kind artist, not only for a photographer, is to get out. Get lost. Be immersed in a whole new life, reinterpret your standards. “A lot of time, you just have to go down many roads to get where you are going. The important thing is to keep moving.” Dylan said. Lets move, then.

It is happening in every American city. The traditionally afro-american neighbourhood of Lincolnville in San Agustin is just an example… but a very intereting one for the depth and power of the roots of their community. Curtis Franklin and me went there to try to tell the story thanks to our host Donte J. Ford, who was born and raised there. This is the result. Enjoy… an think.