You know what is difficult to admit openly? Well, that someone has a weakness for the beautiful, for the pretty. Those things that are precious and almost impossible to ignore. And in an era, the one we live in today, where everything is disposable, we are practically forced to adopt an alternative lifestyle. Forgive me if I speak in the third person. What I mean is that my obvious admiration/weakness for the really attractive is something I consider a priority. And that is where the controversy arises. Can we find pleasure in something that is not beautiful to our senses?
And it is this question that keeps me awake tonight. Over the years I have become a little less complicated and petty than I once knew how to be.... For that reason, it is less challenging for me to admit certain things to myself. I'll give you a brief example of what I'm referring to: backlighting. It's an effect we see everywhere. From paintings of all ages, to the gymnasium halls of any city. Whether intentionally or by chance, the eternal ‘battle’ between a projected light source and its immediate shadow is something that always captures my detailed attention.
Me personally, I use it a lot in my photographs. I like the result of seeing it in a clear, beautiful and perfect reflection in a spontaneous photo, in a moment where I had no intention of looking for or finding anything. The shoulders. Both feminine and masculine, they are another powerful weakness. I simply love them, and I can't quite put my finger on why. And wait a minute, before you get shocked, you won't let me lie to you when I tell you that we all, without exception, love to be influenced by the beautiful. From a sunset to having the most planned and demanding ruins to maintain a gorgeous body.
I think that the real, and most important, confusion arises precisely because I don't know since when we have tried to standardise the beautiful. And that is where I do think it is wrong. But using our senses, all of them, to be able to perceive what inspires a smile or ‘forces’ us to close our eyes and shake ourselves on a bed or sofa, is just as valid as anything else we experiment with. Denying our condition of being perpetual beauty seekers does not limit our quality as individuals. And yes, I know. Nowadays, groups, tribes in social networks that ‘promise’ this or that abound, but if you look closely, you will find two fundamental things: everyone is looking for the acceptable, the powerful, the ideal; come on, the beautiful, but few accept it.
This basic and irrepressible human need that we all feel and yearn for on a daily basis cannot be confused with feeding the fashion or cosmetics industry. This, of course, also represents a very specific and almost invariable type of beauty, but it is by no means hegemonic or absolute. In other words, it is useless to continue ‘fighting’ to deny nostalgia for nature. It is perfectly acceptable and human to have a responsible lifestyle and at the same time seek to need and even ask for that beauty which marks our tastes and pleasures... Sometimes, it is the beautiful that is truly hopeful, don't you think?
All photographs and content used in this post are my own. Therefore, they have been used under my permission and are my property.
