Champs Elysées, Sunday, 14h
Juan Manuel Castro Prieto had spent three days at the Fnac studio, but he was still in great shape.
“It’s an interesting experience,” says the photographer. “We see a lot of people, sometimes they’re alone. I like it when people are receptive and involved. It results in lovely images. Attention is the most difficult thing to manage, because you have to control everything.”
“The tradition of the portrait and the family photo goes back so far. But today it’s almost disappeared. We take more and more photos with all kinds of devices and phones, but quality suffers. That’s a shame for posterity. People used to go have their pictures taken, and those images were passed down through generations. Today that’s being lost.
That’s why I’ve chosen a vintage background, to remind people of that era. But the difference is that my photographs are in color. Today we have technology that lets us shoot in color, so we might as well use it!”
A little girl and her mother arrive and take their place on the set. Patiently, Juan Manuel starts shooting. Playful and conscious of her role, the little girl starts having fun. The connection with the photographer is established.
Other strollers start to arrive. It’s going to be a long day.
Juan Manuel Castro Prieto was born in Madrid in 1958. A member of the Agence VU’, he lives in Madrid.
Juliette Deschodt
