Interview by Editor Michel Romaggi  in collaboration with the author Antonio Soriano LLamazares 
Published the 4th of February 2021

In this artwork, the fuzzy characters moving away from each other and diluting in space, fully illustrate the title chosen by the author Antonio Soriano Llamazares  -  'Adieu' or 'the farewell'.
This image full of softness appears to us as if it was a painting, like most of Antonio’s photographs.  They all transmit feelings of nostalgia and melancholy.
Let's talk to Antonio and ask him how he achieved this touching and very artistic results.

'The farewell'

You often transform your photos so that they look like paintings. Why, Antonio?
Many friends of mine tell me that my photos look like paintings, but I don’t do it intentionally. The processing I apply leads naturally to the pictorial result. I transform reality in each of my pictures into the scene suggested to me. My photography training is certainly scarce. I don’t even know many of the Photography Masters and my tendencies are a bit “unorthodox”. However, this issue is compensated by the visit, study, and enjoyment of the best art galleries and painting museums in the world ( I am an impenitent traveller).  I have extracted all my photographic knowledge from painting. Therefore, my tendency to pictorialism arises spontaneously and naturally.

'Portuguese fishing village'

'Palafitte'

To realise “Farewell”, you photographed mannequins? How did you get this idea? 
What was your intention?
While walking to the most beautiful palaces in Potsdam, someone opened the door of a place storing objects which were collected from a shop that had closed down. These mannequins were piled up in disarray, dimly lit by window light. I asked the person who opened the door for permission to go in and take a photo. He agreed while showing his surprise and incomprehension about why I was interested in something like that.  At that moment, I already had in mind the effect shown in 'Farewell'. Later on, while processing it, I came up with the idea: “a farewell of two lovers after a disagreement”. The aim of duplicating the mannequins was to express their intention to leave the past behind.

Most of your pictures are colour photos. Why did you choose monochrome for this one?
The scene itself suggested the reversion into black and white. The mannequins were white and the rest of the messy objects on the background were dull and deadly coloured due to the lack of light. So I went for black and white with slight toning. Anyway, this colour gives a touch of dramatic quality, just as I wished.

What were your camera setting and what hardware did you use?
I was not able to  take all the steps I wanted.  Without my tripod or something to hold the camera and the rush to avoid to disturb the owner of the place, I decided to choose a good depth of field to focus on the two leading leading mannequins.   So, the diaphragm opening was my priority, which resulted in a speed of 1/50 and ISO800. The lens used here is the famous CANON 24-70 L 2.8 with a focal length of 54.

Which photo software or application did you use to have this effect?
The treatment process is similar in all my photos.

I take all my pictures in RAW format and go to Photoshop.

I duplicate the layer to blur the background until all disturbing details disappear with exception of the previously selected figures.

Than I apply the Motion Blur filter, combining horizontal motion blur – in this case the faces -  and vertical motion blur – in this case the shoulders - very gently using a layer mask and painting brush tool to recover the parts to highlight.

I duplicate the last layer to enlarge the image and to decrease the intensity by using 'edition – transform – scale to enlarge the image and fuse the low opacity tool to reduce the intensity by blending with previous layer.

I save the image and merge it with a new photo of a texture (a rough Wall) using “File”- “Scripts” – “Load Files into Stack”.

With layer mask and the painting Brush tool,  I recover the parts of the mannequins which are the most significant, giving each area its own opacity.  

Finally, to finish the whole processing, I add gradient till I obtain the desired toning.

To end this short interview, can you tell us how your passion for photography fits into your life, Antonio?
I am a 75 years old retired teacher, and I take photos, like anyone else, to have family or travel memories. I always liked artistic photography but I had never tried to do it.
It wasn’t until 8 years ago that I decided to buy an acceptable device (Canon 5D Mark II and lenses 16-35 L 2.8; 24-70 L 2.8 and 70-300 4-5.6 IS II USM) little by little!  
After that first step, I had to learn how to use it appropriately and how to take photos of a certain quality. A friend of mine (Juanjo Bolaños) taught me how to use Camera Raw and Photoshop for what I was interested in.  

Concerning the artistic aspect, I am almost self-taught. I learned how to fish and now I catch fish by myself where I want, how I want, and those that I like.

'Dancing in the street'

'East Side Gallery

All the techniques, all the investigations I have made, and all my creative processes mean nothing without emotion. In other words, I photograph what excites me and every treatment process that I do is to communicate that emotion.  If the receiver catches it, success is assured.

My recent discovered passion for photography fills many moments in my life.
I still can't believe I was the one taking the photos published on 1x and the photos who are contest winners.
In these hard pandemic times, photography has successfully maintained my emotional balance. 
To me, photography is a honest way to transform reality and to make it more understandable.

We must flee from gimmicky approaches that are caricatures of beauty. To summarize, I can realize that through photography, I just let myself be carried away by emotions.