Gunman

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

Unforgettable Xuman. Some people spread positive energy and sure Xuman is one of those. His spirit and charm fills the atmosphere when he is around. He is a great Hip Hop musician in Senegal that has his own Tv show called Natty Dread TV, where he presents videoclips, documentary films and concerts related to the reggae culture.

When I met Xuman at Studio Sankara and told him about the photo-report I was doing, he accepted inmediately and cooperated with enthusiasm. I really enjoyed the shooting as he has a captivating personality: incredibly tall (2 meters) with a strong look and a friendly voice.

I liked the little pin of Africa that hangs from one of his long dreadlocks (rastas). He told me where to get one of those so I will buy one and will put it in my camera bag, next to my lion ;-)

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

crazy

Clothing © Sigil - Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde
model: Sira

A fashion weekend in Dakar is ready to start. This weekend the city of Dakar will enjoy a big fashion show and an article about Sira and my pictures will be published in one of the most popular magazines in Senegal. Sira is a fantastic model. So easy and pleasant to work with. She is very professional and natural at the same time. And incredibly beautiful. She has everything to succeed worldwide as a model, but just one thing stops her from her dream. She is big "indoors" but she needs to be known "outdoors". A big wall difficult to climb waits for her and many other africans at the border of her country. But we will find a way to climb it.

Clothing © Sigil - Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

model: Sira

"Crazy, absolutely crazy" was how somebody described some of the pictures I took of her. "We want you to do these pictures, as nobody in Senegal does the same as you do" they told me when everybody was ready for the second shooting many hours before we had scheduled it.

I was at Sigil when I met Jules. He is a cultural agent in charge of the Sorbokane Consultancy Agency specialised in live concerts and festivals and the conception of art projects. He also manages ' JUST 4 U ', a music club with a garden where you can listen to great live music every week. A "must" in the night life of Dakar. That morning in Sigil, while talking, he put this song, 'crazy'. Listen to it and maybe you can 'feel' a bit of my crazy love for these people.

Boomp3.com

Clothing © Sigil - Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde
model: Sira

"I remember when, I remember, I remember when I lost my mind
There was something so pleasant about that place.
Even your emotions have an echo
In so much space
...
...

But Maybe I'm crazy
Maybe you're crazy
Maybe we're crazy
Probably
Uh, uh"
(Gnarls Barkley)

un atre monde est possible

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

Didier AWADI, one of the most popular musicians in Africa is a pioneer of the african Hip Hop in Senegal. His unstoppable career started when he founded the band "Positive Black Soul" that soon obtained a great success and popularity. Some years later he edits his first solo album winning the Radio France Internationale world Music Award. But that was just the beginning. Since then, other solo albums followed and he is collecting with them award after award. The lyrics of his songs talk about the problems Africa faces every day, about illegal migration and human rights. Another world is possible....

He also owns Studio Sankara (music studio, television and film production company) where he produces the music of other well-known artists.

For Awadi, music is about love, unity and power. Hip-Hop changed his life and he is trying to use his music to bring change to others spreading the message of love, peace and unity.

I don't like rap music so much, I prefer pop music or rock and roll, but now that I know the world of these african musicians, I do feel solidary and sensitive to their cry of hope for a society based on values of freedom, justice and equality.

One day Awadi asked "where are all these dreams today?" and he answers trying to keep the fire burning...

true eyes

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

A child can always teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy with something, and to know how to demand with all his might what he desires. An adult most of the times is unhappy for no reason, get bored having many things and often keep silence instead of saying out loud what he desires...


"Only the children are flattening their noses against the windowpanes. Only the children know what they are looking for -said the little prince-. They waste their time over a rag doll and it becomes very important to them; and if anybody takes it away from them, they cry..."

a brick in the wall

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

Life is like a puzzle made of thousands of tiny pieces. Some are easy to 'fit' in the picture but some are really difficult and it takes us a while to realize where their right place is.

If we just take away one of the pieces and look at it separately, the image can be really ambiguous giving us the wrong interpretation. Like this one. This is just a piece that soon will be part of the whole thing, and the meaning will be quite different from the idea it gives now...

Time has come

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

Time has come to get back to some of my personal works. The project is alive again. Fresh air and new ideas are coming. More hands at work and one goal. And I'm ready to continue two unfinished series of photographs. One of them started in a street of Dakar where, at the beginning, these boys were silent witnesses that finally ended being part of it. Luckily I'll be shooting on this thing for the next two days, and that feels good : )

Keep walking.

in the great quiet of these distances

Photo © 2007 Ana Yturralde

...your solitude will be a hold and home for you even amid very unfamiliar conditions and from there you will find all your ways...

Today is a sunny and quiet day. And I finally will spend it alone in a 'stop to smell the roses' reading a book while feeling the sun on my face. Hmmm.

'As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.

But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years, so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way'

(Konstantinos Kavafis 'Ithaca')

up to the neck

Photo @ 2007 Ana Yturralde

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.

Most of the people in Africa live submerged "up to their necks" but they keep their strength in order to survive and not to drown. Then, when you are there, you realize that your "big problems" are not that big and that there is always a reason why we should keep on wishing, fighting and feeling.

When we have a problem we just see how big is for us, how painful and how miserable we feel, but here you discover different realities much worse than ours and their courage just teach us how much our actitude can do. It does not matter how deep the well is. Believe me, there is always a pulley, a bucket and a rope to get back on one's feet :-)

wounds

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

My camera is burning and my body is aching, my arms, my legs... After two days of shooting with nonstop from dawn to dusk, I came back looking like if I was in a war, dirty clothes, muddy boots and an aching body but with the satisfaction of doing by myself what a year ago was just a dream. This assignment was really difficult but so much fun! Now it is time for the lioness to lick her wounds and start the next step of this work, processing!!!

- she almost had me for lunch!
- it's not her fault, Baroness. She's a lion.

a beautiful moment on time

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

At the "after work" under a full beautiful moon: Laughing and talking, just having a nice and relaxed time. Just like now, so close, so warm :-)

There is not a big moon today, but it looks like a big smile and.... there are lots of stars!

the rhythms of life

Photo © 2007 Ana Yturralde

This is a peculiar place: an artificial island made out of tiny sea shells. Her twin town lies on the mainland and linked by a bridge, you arrive to this small village constructed on shells over shells over shells over shells....

Whoever knows me a little, knows that I love shells. You always can find shells in my pockets, in my camera's bag, on my desk... So, finding this place was like finding a big pirate's treasure (shhhh now I have with me a small treasure chest full of these african shells). Walking around hearing the shells crunching underfoot made me forget about the rest of the world. This village has no motorised transport, people just walk through a labyrinth of small and narrow streets. It is like time can't cross that bridge, and being here listening the sound of the shells under my feet, I just forgot that I was sick, with no water and under a hot and strong sun. Life in pure slow motion. And that is another treasure hard to find.

beautiful extras

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

These are some of the sweet girls that helped me in a couple of photo sessions (a personal project -still working on it- and a fashion shooting). But there were a lot more, boys and girls that participated in 'the action'. A little gang of children that really enjoyed the games I proposed for the shootings. Everything went as expected and they got inmediatly into character. Easily the camera became part of the play... and also me :-)

a shoebox of photographs

Clothing © Sigil - Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde
model: Seynabou

Finished, edited and delivered. And the same old feeling again: nostalgia.

Moments are little treasures for me. I like to feel sensations, I love to close my eyes and relish feelings. I do enjoy moments.... And that is one of the reasons why I love photography. It gives you the power to catch moments, to "steal" fragments of time, pieces of moments, stories, feelings...

I live moments to the fullest and my heart always keeps warm the sensations lived, so I still can enjoy it when the moment is gone. Sometimes, when looking at the photographs, the moment "come to life" in my heart bringing that nostalgia feeling along with a smile.

I really enjoyed this shooting, working surrounded by games, laughs and so much joy. It is finished, but alive in my heart ...like a shoebox of photographs with sepiatone loving...

reason or heart

Clothing © Sigil - Photo @ 2008 Ana Yturralde
model: Seynabou

I am finishing this work, processing and editing. And definitely the worst part is editing because it is then when the battle starts between reason... and heart. I know I have a very peculiar "taste" as I always look for emotions that move the inside. I look for a 'slap on the face', something that goes directly to your senses... and it is in b&w where I usually find it. Now I have to face the conflict between pictures for sale or pictures for love.... So I'm doing both. The commercial ones as I need to earn a living, but also the personal ones.

Not long ago somebody told me to go with the love, to always show the work that better represents my style and always defend it through rain and snow, through thunder and lightning or whatever comes along as it just feels better to live your life as close to exactly what you want to do and what you are capable of doing.

Later I have to do a difficult editing. I think I will do it with my heart... and we'll see!

Clothing © Sigil - Photo @ 2008 Ana Yturralde
model: Seynabou

Sigil wear collection designed by Cheikha

tell me why

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

There is a world where words are not needed. And you can see it through the eyes of some people. I do like to look into the eyes and discover who lives behind them. I've seen oceans and endless universes. I've seen feelings and I've seen questions.

If you listen carefully to the eyes of the african people, they'll tell you about a whole big world, profound, strong and alive. They just need some answers and some understanding...

But they can also read into your eyes. That's the first step for a true communication direct to the heart. As eyes don't lie.

relax

Photo © 2008 Ana Yturralde

I'm sure that many times a picture reflects our state of mind, our mood at the time. And definitely I was here in a relaxed mood. That easy going concept of life that I already associate with a bright sun and a warm african air. Hard to get used to it when you come from "crazy-busy Europe" but so pleasant, vital and wholesome for heart and mind. Taste it... and you'll love it!

"if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water..."

Some days ago, FBI saw this picture and said that I was the greatest photographer he ever met because it was not only him in the picture... It was also the mood. And that meant a lot to me : ) Jere jef !

today was the day

Photo © 2007 Ana Yturralde

And it is a sunny, warm and gorgeous day.

Today was the day.... that could not be.

Don't look so sad... save it for a rainy day