Juan Espana Photography
Juan Espana who is originally from a town in Mexico called Chiconcuac, fell in love with photography when he was living in New York and sneaking into the backstage of fashion shows.
He would sneak snap shots until one day a make up artist who saw them asked him to buy a few and sold them to a magazine. He was studying painting at the time, but everything fell into place with photography after he experienced the incredible feeling of having his work published. A great photographer called John Sann hired him to work in his studio and taught him all the technical stuff and after that he went to work at Pier 59 studios in Chelsea where he was able to watch and learn from greats like Craig McDean, Meisel, Steven Klein, Patrick Demarchelier, etc....
He absorbed as much as he could from them until a point came when he felt ready to become independent and "star by my self". For him photography is a way of seeing the world from a different perspective, one where you explore details in light, facial expressions, etc. It is just a passion that is nothing more than incredible.
What inspires you?
Paintings, sculptures, nature, animals and in particular horses and dogs.
Favorite campaigns you have worked on?
A campaign I am very fond of is one we did for 4x4 cars, and the subject was to shoot them in nature with wild animals, Giraffes, Rhinos, Buffalo, and lets just say there was a lot of adrenaline on this one. At one point I was shooting 50 Buffalo out in the wild with only an animal expert next to me, and the rest of the crew assisting from inside protected cars. Shooting the rhino and being in front of him with nothing to protect me was also really amazing. What are you most looking forward to in 2009? I am working on a book on horses that is going to be really interesting as it will include a variety of styles. I am also looking forward to doing a road trip from Mexico to Alaska in my jeep and create a personal photo journal that is full of my adventures with a touch of "fashion".
Favorite place in the world?
The Patagonia Argentina is visually beautiful, and spaces in the open with nothing to block your view, just kilometers and kilometers of nothing
Favorite 3 websites?
www.doma-india.com.ar -because I love horses so much, this is a way to train them without any violence. I took the course which has helped me on photo shoots, being able to understand the horses behavior better.
http://www.montyroberts.com/
Other photographers you admire?
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Peter Beard
Zhanghuan
www.juanespana.com