Aga dancing with fire in Valencia

Aga dancing with fire

One of the most interesting sessions I’ve done in a long time is this one with Aga dancing with fire in Valencia. The fascination that fire produces in us is difficult to deny, and I am no exception. I also like dancing, and taking photos at night. And also, Aga told me a little about her life and I decided that, of course, these photos had to be accompanied by her story.

Aga, firedancer by Archerphoto, professional photographer in Valencia

Actually, I found Aga dancing with fire in Valencia in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento doing her show. I stopped, asked her permission to take a couple of photos and left her my card in case she wanted to receive them. When she wrote to me we talked about doing some more of her and finally we agreed to do a session in which she also told me something about herself. She is Polish, from the north, specifically, born in Gdynia. She was a dance and swimming teacher before the pandemic and had studied various types of urban and Latin dance, among other things. And she wanted to learn, since her high school years, the whole thing related to poi. But it was not until the pandemic left her without a job -schools and swimming pools were closed- that Ella Aga changed her perspective, she learned the rudiments of what she now masters perfectly and began to live dedicated to dancing with fire.

The situation was tough for everyone. Aga began to live as a backpacker during those years, traveling around Poland and harvesting in France to get a small fund with which to travel around Europe. She has been at it for three months, with her travel companion Flora, who is a singer and guitarist. Together they have already passed through Berlin, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, Lyon, Barcelona, ​​Mallorca and Valencia (where they have made a stop), and they plan to go to Granada shortly.

Aga dancing with fire in València by Archerphoto, professional photographer

A different life

It is not a conventional matter at all: Aga lives moving between cities and does her show on the street. She does not have a fixed income and in general, it would seem that she is in a precarious situation. That’s when you think about it. If you see her dance with the fire, you don’t have that feeling. If you look at her movements or the sparkle in her eyes, you find life, passion. There is a part of that radiation that may have come from the fire, but I could feel that glow the first time I saw it. But honestly, I didn’t recognize that feeling until I did the photo shoot with her and she told me her point of view.

Aga dancing with fire in València by Archerphoto, professional photographer

Aga had had an interest in fire dancing since high school, but it wasn’t until about five years ago that, following the lights of some circus performers through the trees, she ended up talking to them and getting them to teach her the basics. From then on, she did a lot of training to get good results.

Aga dancing with fire in Valencia

Another issue that draws attention is that in her movements it seems easy to do what he does. Somehow, she flows while handling elements with fire, and it comes off naturally, there are almost no gestures, everything seems easy. Obviously it is not. But the magic of transmitting that fluidity hides many hours of training and practice.

Aga dancing with fire in València by Archerphoto, professional photographer

The fact is that the opportunity to take photos of Aga dancing with fire in Valencia has been a very interesting experience for me as a professional photographer , but also, knowing her history and a little about her interests has made me value her artistic abilities more.

Aga dancing with fire in Valencia. A pic by Archerphoto.

If you liked these photos and you need to hire me, you can send me an email to sergi@archerphoto.eu or you can also send a message via Whatsapp, Telegram or Signal to +34 644459753. Oh, and my Instagram is @Archerphoto . And Aga’s, @agu.poi.story .

CLEC Fashion Festival in Valencia, 2020

CLEC Fashion Festival Miquel Suay 5

The city of València gets again an important fashion show: CLEC Fashion Festival. Some years ago, Valencia Fashion Week, a public-financed event, was cancelled due to budget cuts. With economic problems all around the spend in fashion seemed superficial and completely useless. As a matter of fact, it was conceived as a platform to help Valencian designers to try and sell their collections, but as a matter of fact, they just could show them. Sales were really insignificant, so it was condemned when the government changed of sign.

But this new show is completely privately funded (even when the spectacular venue where was celebrated is public, the Hemisfèric, in City of Arts and Sciences) and that may grant their progress. However, it’s just two days and an important part of the shown pieces were alredy shown. But it’s affordable, it’s interesting, it includes gastronomy and may help to improve the commercial side of local creators. All of this, of course, if coronavirus crisis doesn’t get everything completely stopped.

CLEC Fashion Festival 2020 desfile Montesinos

February 21st and 22nd 2020 were the days for this CLEC Fashion Festival who had some consolidated designers like Francis Montesinos or Miquel Suay, and other like Visori or Isabel Sanchís, really great but less known yet.

I let here some classified galleries of the most interesting catwalks. They may be different than you expect, but there was no straight path: the runway was completely circular.

Francis Montesinos

[foogallery id=”1982″]

Miquel Suay

[foogallery id=”1988″]

Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada

[foogallery id=”1995″]

 

If you are interested in fashion, please, contact me with a mail to sergi@archerphoto.eu or Whatsapp to  +34 644459753 . Check my Instagram @archerphoto :)

4 reasons to visit Valencia

Umbracle, València, by Archerphoto

Spain has a lot of interesting cities, but perhaps you haven’t been yet to Valencia, a nice city with lots of interest based in culture, nature and food. With great weather. Take a look to some images. Here you have 4 reasons to visit Valencia.

4 reasons to visit Valencia, Palau de la Generalitat, by Archerphoto, professional photographer.

1. Food: You’ve read about paella. But you haven’t really tasted what it is. Lots of restaurants are claiming they know how to make it. When you arrive here you’ll discover it’s not what you thought, but much, much better. You’ll discover lots of other interesting foods, like horchata, fideuà or all i oli.

4 reasons to visit Valencia, paella de bogavante , by Archerphoto, pro photographer.

2. Architecture and culture. You’ve been watching some of the futuristic architecture of Valencia in some movies and TV, but we’ve got also impressive buildings like the Llotja de la Seda, best example of Gothic civil architecture and lots of Art Noveau, some Baroque, Rationalism, and some of the best gardens in Europe. And great museums.

4 reasons to visit Valencia, Saint Nicholas' Chapel, by Archerphoto, pro photographer.

3. Nightlife. The good weather invites people to go out. And you’re in a city with no slopes. You can take a walk any night, watch some places and have a drink wherever. Cool places and excellent restaurants. And there are also lot of affordable places if you’re not a gourmet.

Nightlife in València

4. People. We are fun, lovely and friendly. People will try to answer you if you speak English, French, Portuguese or Italian. If you speak other languages, well, they may try but, being honest, it’ll be better if you use some translation app in your mobile phone.

I hope you’ve liked this post with 4 reasons to visit Valencia. If you come here and need pics, please contact me. I can show you the place. Mail’s sergi@archerphoto.eu. If you want to follow me in Instagram, @archerphoto.

Of course, València is no paradise. Just a nice place to visit. Perhaps another day I will write a text abouit negative aspects of the city :)

City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, 4 reasons to visit Valencia

Walks of a photographer in Ruzafa, Valencia

Photographers in Valencia have an interesting city to attack. It’s not Chicago, it’s not Rome, it’s not Berlin, but it has a number of interesting places. Actually, enough. I usually walk very often by Ruzafa (Russafa in Valencian) and around the Ensanche. Although there are many people who do not distinguish them, they are quite different. Ruzafa was a not integrated village in the city until 1877, and that had its own structure of streets of Arab origin. Nowadays it’s adapted to urban planning, but it happened over the years. Its blocks are not regular and it is not conceived, like the Ensanche, as an expansion of the city on previously there were orchards. A photographer in Ruzafa can have a great time.

You can read this article in Spanish.

The expansions, copied from the planning that takes place in Chicago, arrive in Valencia through the Barcelona reference, but on a smaller scale. Goerlich, the municipal architect, will be responsible for the city’s expansion, which, once the walls were demolished, was totally unavoidable.

Walks of a photographer in Ruzafa, Valencia

A part of the Ensanche within Ruzafa

The checkerboard structure of the expansion, which had in the initial plans, with large interior spaces with gardens and a city really conceived to be enjoyed, was divided with a diagonal avenue. The internal spaces to each block are now blocked with the construction of buildings that break the original space and very often the aforementioned interior spaces are  parkings.  Permits were even granted to build more heights than originally thought. All in all, the Ensanche neighborhood (or Eixample) is one of the most interesting in architectural terms.

Ruzafa, on the other hand, is a more charismatic neighborhood and, after a few years in which it was experiencing a certain degradation, it was time for its gentrification. Now it suffers a certain saturation as a leisure area. Its value, which was already on the rise, is propelled because the biggest shortage that it had, which was the total absence of green areas, is compensated nowadays by the commissioning of the Central Park , a project that recovers contaminated lands occupied industrially by RENFE much longer than necessary. Good news, of course, for a photographer for Ruzafa.

Ruzafa lives with a certain schizophrenia its evolution. On the one hand new shops and leisure establishments are installed, while trying to resist some traditional shops. In the middle of everything, some other companies pass. A constant flow.

commercial transition in Ruzafa

 

Leisure areas and Ruzafa

The problem of leisure areas is common in Valencia: the good weather and the habits of the people make them often stay on the street, next to the entertainment venues, during the night, generating a quantity of noise and discomfort that has changed by different areas of the city, which are being classified as Acoustically Saturated Areas.

In any case, the administrative division of the City Council contributes to the confusion between Ruzafa and Ensanche. The district is named Ensanche, but includes Ruzafa, Pla del Remei and Gran Vía. Ruzafa, in turn, includes a part of the Ensanche (of what would be the checkerboard structure) but not the other. The historical reason is that, in 1811, the town of Ruzafa included those territories. When the urbanization operation was carried out, it was more practical to attend to criteria of efficiency than not to think about who each land belonged to.

I’m Sergi Albir, I’m a professional photographer. If you want to contact me for photo sessions you can send me a Whatsapp to +34 644459753 or an email to sergi@archerphoto.eu

Some more images taken by this photographer in Ruzafa.

Sornells Street, by Archerphoto, photographer in Ruzafa, Valencia, Spain

 

Ruzafa Market, by Archerphoto, photographer in Ruzafa, Valencia

 

A bike, by Archerphoto, photographer in Ruzafa

Another post about Valencia.

Recent portfolios: 2017

portfolio for models Archerphoto professional photographer Valencia Spain

It’s being a quite productive season. If I was doing a lot of videos during the winter, now the portfolios for models, sessions and photos are being a more important part of the work. And they are, without doubt, good fun and in general, very interesting. It is true that in many cases there are topics such as makeup, hairdressing and subsequent editing are a more laborious job than a report of an event, but it is worth it.

Of the sessions, all of them in Spain and most of them in Valencia, some have been boudoir photography, other conventional books and some other professional session. There are also some things that just do not fit here, because they are more private in scope, and there are also other photos that belong to ongoing projects that are not finished and I prefer not to show yet. In some cases work was for a model, in one for a dancer and in another for a person who did not dedicate himself professionally to the image, but in every case we make the maximum effort to obtain the best result.

As I often find, my option for many of the photos final result looks better to me in old black and white. I still can not explain easily why.

books, sesiones y fotos en Valencia, Barcelona, Tarragona, Teruel, Zaragoza y Pamplona
Carolina, mayo de 2017.

In any case, in addition to videos, portfolios, sessions and photos, and all my work as a portrait photographer, the topic of SEO positioning is taking me an important time. I’ll probably have some invited contributions in the coming months.

You can contact me at sergi@archerphoto.eu or on +34 644459753. I don’t always have dates available, so contact me as soon as possible. I don’t just shoot portfolios for models but also business, real estate and corporate photography. In Valencia, in other places in Spain, Europe or wherever.

portfolio photo professional photographer Valencia Spain
I leave here an additional gallery and links about portfolios, model work and portraits that may prove useful. I hope you’ll like them.

What’s the use of a model’s portfolio?

Do I need professional pictures to work as a model?

 

Clicks of Playmobil

When I was a kid I had a good group of clicks of Playmobil (actually, from Famobil , which was how they were marketed in Spain). As usually happens with the toys, we forget and lose them. They disappear and some people become nostalgic and idealize them. It’s not my case, I still like them, but I know they’re just plastic dolls. There is another group of people who, far from living in the past, turns them into their current hobby and gets to organise huge exhibitions. In Valencia, in Nuevo Centro concretely, is mounted one of these, with several times. I was particularly struck by the setting up of a village in the American West.

Clicks Playmobil in Valencia Spain - Archerphoto, professional photographer.

Of course, if you come with the camera you may have some fun. As this was a playful matter I decided to process the photos with an especially old look, as if they had been shot with a plate machine, which was the technology of that time. I am not trying to make artwork, especially since I was not the one who worked out the scenarios, but it seemed fun.

Playmobil Valencia Spain business photographer

I took more pictures, but they did not stick with the treatment, so I might use them for something else. But for now, I leave this here. I hope you like it.

Playmobil Clicks, by Sergi Albir, Archerphoto, professional photographer in Deadwood.

If you need photos, even if they are not for clicks, you can contact me at sergi@archerphoto.eu or on +34 644459753. Photo sessions for individuals, business photography, product photo or premises. And of course, portfolio photography for models .