The beauty

If I could only have stopped Your hand, oh Lord. If I could have only stopped Your hand, God, and put the label “DO NOT PAINT” on each one of us. You have overestimated us. We've got passports and flags, we the stupid people. We see flags and skin, but we see no heart behind the eyes. We think we know, but we have no idea.

Sometimes I wish that everybody could just for a moment see the world with the eyes of the deprived. The colours, the light, the hearts. If you want to be a photographer you have to see first. We have the responsibility, you know. We can suggest things to the audience. We can lead them think this way or that way. We can fool them and they will be happy. You can tell a story and leave the interpretation to the audience, or you can show them your interpretation. Take a look at this tree, pictured on the left. I could have taken the picture of this tree against the stone wall that was on the opposite side, and it would lose all its glory. It's like a soldier with amputated limbs who is still full of desire to live on, it is even transmitting its will to live to the ivy. The clouds above represent the dreams, the goals. On the left you can see two more trunks that seem to have given up the fight for life. The fight for the survival. Dead tree, some might say. But at this specific moment I was there, the light was perfect and the composition was great. There was a story with a beautiful idea.

What always excites me is when I see the heart behind the idea. When I see somebody can see. When I realise someone can see deeper than skin, deeper than age, deeper than race. If you can see the beauty behind the dead tree, wrinkled skin, smile of the homeless person, if you can see people in every city and every nation, then the world is your home, your playground and your office. Take a photo of the beauty, but not the beauty as defined by the media, not the beauty that sells, not the beauty that has the expiry date.

What is beautiful to you might be of no relevance to the others. Make it seen, in the best light, with the best background. Make them see what you see. Be colour blind, age blind, flag blind, religion blind, look through and beyond.

The park people

“I have never seen one as big as that”, I thought to myself as Barry started rolling another joint for himself. The deafening noise was a sweet music to Barry’s ears. To me it was just another expensive car flashing by, showing off. Barry understood the language of the engines, the valves, the transmission. His eyes and his head were glued to the powerful red vehicle that kept on sliding under the stormy sky. The orange sand was swirling around us while the wind was picking up, and the palm trees were shaking their branches making the sound that I am sure some medical expert somewhere in the world would describe as therapeutic, but I'm sure Barry would disagree. Lazy afternoon in the park for me, another very long day for Barry. Being a homeless in Moraira was such an irony. Being homeless in the land of empty and beautiful properties, those white and beige walls, pristine swimming pools, dirty swimming pools, beautiful plants and trees giving shade to nobody. It was a poetic justice when Barry moved into one of them, starting his squatting years.

We go to the park and we smoke and drink. We go to the bar and watch Only fools and horses on the mobile. The park is in Moraira, and Moraira is in Spain. As strange as it may seem Barry belongs here, he is one of the landmarks for many of us.

“If I had a lot of money, I would build a community centre for the kids. I look around the park, groups of youngsters sitting around, it’s gonna be so hard for them. The society makes no effort, while the parents let the society and the street educate their young ones. The street and the park give lessons every day, all day. You can not be late and there is no homework. Everyone can teach but few will learn. The society doesn't try, there is so much potential, these kids are so sharp, razor sharp. There are potential scientists here, potential researchers, potential artists that will change the world, people who will get out of the park and help make this world a better place. Or just people who will get other kids out of the park. To start the migration. Maybe the most important migration in the history of the human kind.