Three years ago we wanted to make a small tribute to this fascinating companion which is photography, making a selection of only 10 photographers, something that was obviously unfair since the very beginning of the proposal, because it was obvious that there are many more. Even if we had to do that list again maybe some would change. Continuing to insist on lists would be but insist on a short-circuited vision in which every selection always seems unfair. So it's time to do recognition one by one.
"The seduction capacity of photography is what makes us want to visit a building, or even own it. It is true that nothing can change the experience of walking, feeling, walking between its walls, hiding in its cold shadows or Vibrate with its high lights, but photography, thanks to its ability to communicate, can stimulate us to visit it. Photography thus becomes an indispensable accomplice between the architect, the photographer and the viewer. "

In this intense way, Fernando Alda defines, in few words, how he sees the relationship between photography and architecture. Without any doubt this first article is the beginning with which we will be making a tour of the current photography, today, Fernando Alda.

A year ago we were in the cultural center Ficus, of Sevillas, giving both a lecture on Photography and Architecture. Fernando Alda shared some works with the modesty of who says not to be a great communicator, and yet his images are endowed with a powerful discursive capacity. With the passion of who knows that his images are impeccable technically and are full of great passion, was presented his work by different points in Latin America.

Fernando Alda showed his empathy with architecture and photographs he was showing us, hardly using words.
 
"My empathy with the architect will make me feel his passion in projecting and the ability of his intentions to carry out a dream. Understanding the context and deciphering the arguments that have mattered the author to fit the project, on one hand he allows me to establish the necessary dialogue with everything that surrounds and interacts with it and on the other hand he allows me to provide all the necessary information to see the results of the fusion between work and environment and thus to document the project in its right measure and scale searching for images full of sensitivity that go from concept to detail. "

Like many photographers built and formed in an analogical world, the digital hurricane of the first decade of the twenty-first century - and why not say it: coupled with the economic crisis - left him bewildered, stunned or knocked out by the overwhelming force with the arrival of new media. This first bewilderment, and having a brilliant trajectory behind him, made him see the need to reinvent himself instrumentally. It was not easy and he took a great risk leaving to make the americas to find himself again. He succeeded, and resurfaced with more force, he extended his field of action and now he constantly arise proposals there and here indistinctly.

Fernando Alda is one of those photographers that nobody can forget if we speak of brilliant Spanish photographers, where light, control of light is always masterful.
 
"My work as a photographer, specialized in architecture, tries to show what the architect expects of me, but once the work is done, from the photographer's intentional vision, my images will discover aspects of his work that he himself did not know, the most unexpected aspects of his own work. Accurate analysis of the aesthetic and human values ​​of the building and being able to translate them to the images, help to understand the author's effort, aspirations, needs and frustrations in carrying out the process The result is, therefore, the product of communication between the architect and the photographer: a team whose common goal is to build a better world.
 
All these efforts are synthesized in images, spread through the specialized media where my work is very present. This closes the creative circle.

I want to thank all those who trust me to document, interpret and represent their works and, at the same time, allow me to enjoy in the exercise of my passion: photography. "

I knew, because I knew his works, that Fernando was an excellent photographer, but after our meeting in Seville I can say that I left with the impression of having also discovered an honest and passionate photographer with his work. A brilliant photographer.

More information

Fernando Alda. Born in Aranjuez in 1958, he studied photography between 1979 and 1980 at the Centro de Enseñanzas de la Imagen in Madrid, moving to Seville, where he has based his operations since 1986. He has dedicated himself to photography professionally since 1981, and, in particular, to architectural and infrastructure photography since 1987, specializing in architectural and infrastructure photography. From 1987 to 1993, he carried out photographic monitoring of the works for the 1992 Seville Expo.

The photographic archive of his study, mostly digitized, with more than eight thousand reports made mostly in Spain but also in Italy, France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Chile, Turkey, Switzerland or Morocco ; serves as a standard consultation for a large number of publications around the world, allowing periodic presence in national and foreign books and magazines. Architecture, Interior Design and Architecture are an example of the many publications where their photographs appear monthly. He currently teaches and lectures as a guest at universities and congresses in Spain, Costa Rica and Panama. Since the eighties he has participated in different collective and individual exhibitions. 

The last individual performed were:
-Dreaming. Soñando arquitectura. 2005 Sala Cal. Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz).
-Tu alma es el mundo entero. 2009. Sala del Colegio de Arquitectos de Cádiz.
-Del Monumento a la Ciudad, de la Ciudad al Mar. 2011. Centro Cultural Isabel de Farnesio. Aranjuez (Madrid)
-La Poética del Esqueleto. 2012. Galería El Fotómata. Sevilla
-La Poética del Esqueleto. 2013. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá
-La Memoria de lo imaginado. 2016. Centro de Iniciativas Culturales de la Universidad de Sevilla (CICUS).
-La Memoria de lo imaginado. 2016. Parque de las Ciencias. Granada.
-La Memoria de lo imaginado. 2017. Centro Andaluz de la Fotografía (CAF). Almería.
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José Juan Barba (1964). Architect from the Madrid School of Architecture (ETSAM) in 1991. He received his PhD in Architecture from ETSAM in 2004, graduating summa Cum laude with the doctoral thesis "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi." In 1991, he received a Special Mention in the Spanish National Graduation Awards. Until 1997, he worked as an advisor to several NGOs. In 1992, he founded his architectural practice in Madrid (www.josejuanbarba.com). 

He is an architectural critic and, since 1998, Editor-in-Chief of the internationally acclaimed bilingual architecture journal METALOCUS (Spanish/English), recipient of several national and international awards.

Barba is an Associate Professor at the University of Alcalá and a member of several research groups. He has been invited to participate in numerous international forums on architecture and urbanism, including the II Forum of Mexican World Heritage Cities, Urban Development, History and Modernity, organized by the Pan-American Committee for Urban Development and Historical Heritage; the World Urban Development Forum (FMDU), held in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico; and the International Conference on Architecture and Urbanism from the Perspective of Women Architects. He has also been invited as lecturer and guest critic at numerous national and international institutions, including the National Building Museum, Roma Tre University, Politecnico di Milano, University of Genoa, Université Pierre Mendès France Grenoble, the Madrid and Barcelona Schools of Architecture, National Autonomous University of Mexico, the Faculty of Architecture in Montevideo, the Schools of Architecture of Medellín and Ecuador, Universidad Iberoamericana, IE University, as well as the Schools of Architecture of Zaragoza, Valladolid, Málaga, Granada, Seville, and A Coruña, among others.

He has extensive professional experience in architecture, urbanism, landscape intervention, and territorial regeneration. His work has received numerous awards, including First Prize in the “Gran Vía Posible” competition for Delirious Gran Vía, Madrid; recognition for the Rivers Interpretation Centre in Zamora, awarded and exhibited at the World Architecture Festival 2008; and recognition for the Santa Bárbara Park project in Toledo. He was also awarded the Erich Degner Prize for Architecture (1995), promoted by the BBVA Foundation. His project for a Day Centre for the Elderly was included in Volume 3 of the Madrid Architecture Guide published by the Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in 2007. His work has been widely published in national and international books and journals.

He served as Maître de Conférences at the Institut d’Urbanisme de Grenoble, Université Pierre Mendès France Grenoble, during the 2013–14 academic year, following his appointment through a European open competition. His work has been published internationally. He regularly serves on academic and professional juries, including the editorial competition jury for the journal Quaderns (2011), the selection committee for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards (2007–present), and the jury panels for EUROPAN 13 (2015–16) and TRANSFER, Zurich (2019). He was also invited to participate in the Biennale di Venezia 2016 as part of the exhibition Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione.

He has authored several books, including "The Dark Line. michele&miquel, dA Vision Design" (2024), "CONGRESO ANYWAY. La ciudad de las ciudades" (2020), "#Positions" (2016), and "Inventions: New York vs. Rem Koolhaas, Bernard Tschumi, Piranesi" (2015). He has also contributed to publications such as "Espacio público Gran Vía. La Ciudad del Turismo" (2020), "Spaces of Exception / Spazi d’Eccezione" (2016), "La manzana de la discordia" (2015), and "Contemporary Japanese Architecture: New Territories" (2015), as well as chapters in numerous books, including "Women Architects: A Professional Challenge" (2009), "21st Century Architectures" (2007), "Ruta de la Plata, New Conquerors of Space" (2019), and "The City of Tourism" (2020).

Selected awards include:

•    “SANTIAGO AMÓN” AWARD, award for the promotion of architecture, COAM Madrid, 2000.
•    “PANAYIOTI MIXELI AWARD,” SADAS-PEA, award for the promotion of architecture, Athens, 2005.
•    “PIERRE VAGO” ICAC. International Committee of Art Critics Award, London, 2005.
•    FAD Award 07, Ephemeral Interventions, First Prize, M.C. Escher Exhibition, Arquin-FAD, Barcelona, 2007.
•    World Architecture Festival, Center for Research and Interpretation of the Rivers, Tera, Esla, and Órbigo, Finalist, Barcelona, 2008.
•    Gran Vía Posible, First Prize, Delirious Gran Vía, Madrid, 2010.
•    Reform of the Río Segura Surroundings, Award, Murcia, 2010.

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Published on: October 4, 2017
Cite:
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
"FERNANDO ALDA. Architecture Photographer" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/fernando-alda-architecture-photographer> ISSN 1139-6415
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