Beyond technique, and even the image itself, lies a fundamental intuition for this photographer: knowing how to wait for the person to forget the camera and for the light to be just right. For decades, this professional has been doing precisely that in Oñati: observing, listening, and shooting at the moment everything aligns.
His career began, like many stories, almost by chance. Photography was not his first calling. In the late 80s, he started with video, but soon realized it wasn't exactly what he was looking for. His passion wasn't movement, but rather the stillness that invites one to pause and reflect. He sought images with content, ones that suggested something and led to contemplation. Thus, art gained prominence with each click, first as an experiment, then as his own language, always in analog. He found it difficult to switch to digital, as the film roll held a unique value: error and mystery, a way of learning.
“"24 photos would come out and 20 were bad, but that's how you learned."
The learning process also had a physical, almost ritualistic component: early mornings, cold, and silence. He recalls when he started photographing sunrises. Those initial attempts to capture impossible lights and colors were a true revelation. It was then he thought: “this is my calling.” So, at four in the morning, he would set off towards Belar or any nearby corner of Oñati, camera in hand, with the intention of fixing that unrepeatable moment in an image.
Over time, photography ceased to be just a hobby. Although his daily life remained linked to industry, the camera became a necessity, an escape route. For years, he wouldn't leave home without it, always wanting to be prepared should the right moment arise. At home, his family also understood, often accompanying him. The studio came later, almost as a natural evolution. Initially, everything happened in his own home, but he eventually decided to take the leap. He has been in his current location for over a decade, on the ground floor of number 7 on Olakua street, serving as both a creative laboratory and a meeting point.
Throughout these years, one of the most recognizable features of his work has been the Chester, the sofa he transformed into a stage for photographing local residents. The idea originated from a practical need: he required a reference point. That piece of furniture provided a recognizable, almost theatrical anchor, yet without artifice. Between 2,500 and 3,000 people have passed through it to date, a number as impressive as the diversity of faces and life stories it gathers. Not all are from Oñati, but they are individuals connected to the town.
His gaze, however, has never remained inward. It has always been outward, on the street, in that constant coming and going where people reveal themselves without a script. What he values most is the connection with people. He prefers scenes that emerge unannounced over posed portraits, when naturalness prevails. This same approach is now his personal brand. He makes the outdoors his space, guided by intuition. He looks, detects, chooses. Sometimes the approach is direct, almost spontaneous; other times, it requires a few minutes of conversation that break the distance and open the frame. Countless people have passed before his lens: individually, with family, among friends, and the elderly, to whom he dedicates special attention. Many of these can be seen on his Instagram profile, which has become a living album of his journey on the asphalt, while others remain outside this digital showcase, in a more intimate, equally valuable archive, where his photographic memory is also built.
This particular hallmark coexists with his professional activity: communions, studio photos, weddings, various commissions. But behind all of this lies an origin that dates back a long time, to the photographer's childhood visits to an Oñati photographer, and to those snapshots he took home almost like small treasures. Perhaps that's where it all began. Since then, his relationship with photography has retained its original meaning: a way to connect with people, to pause in the everyday, and to find something worth preserving in each person.
