To illuminate what analog photography once felt like, the exhibition Orography of the road explores how professionals make decisions behind the lens. The project centers on the renowned Galician photographer who lives in Barcelona and specializes in fashion and editorial portraits. He is celebrated as the only Spaniard to receive this award last year, a distinction likened to the Oscar of photography by many in the field.
The show is now on view at the Boca del Calvari Museum in Benidorm and will be open through April. It is organized under the Municipal Department of Historical and Cultural Heritage. The presentation is part of Europe’s leading analog photography festival and is curated by Imma Cortes from the Photographic Social Vision foundation.
What makes this photo installation truly distinctive is that it does not present final images from a handful of shots. Instead, the work presents the photographer’s process through nearly thirty contact sheets. These sheets, enlarged to 150 by 100 centimeters, reveal the actual positives and negatives the photographer considered, portraying real decision points and turning points in the edit. The aim is to invite viewers to understand how the editing happened in analog photography before the digital era arrived.
Ten years passed before the photographer fully transitioned to digital techniques. The exhibition includes contact sheets that are also featured in a forthcoming book, drawing from a personal archive of more than 10,000 negatives dating from 1994 to 2004.
According to the exhibition text, these small pieces serve as a crucial tool to determine with greater precision which moments are captured and which should be refined, guiding the viewer along the deliberate path the photographer follows until a final image is formed. Each shot is marked with a marker, revealing the careful choices made during the shoot.
I’m playing with the audience
This is a playful exercise that invites viewers to take sides and participate in the decision process. The council emphasizes that the audience is invited to compare their own choices with those of the photographer, highlighting the slower, meditative beauty of analog photography that has seen a renewed interest in recent years after decades of dominance by digital workflows.
In addition to the contact pages, Orography of the road presents large-format hanging negatives and displays original editing tools such as magnifiers, markers, and editing machines, offering a tangible sense of the manual craft involved in analog editing.
Beyond the creation and editing process, the public will find high-quality, visually striking scenes created by Manuel Outumuro, a figure described by regional leadership as a career marked by recognition. The show underscores his significant contributions to Spanish culture and society.
‘Collage’ art will fill the streets of Benidorm
Within the Boca del Calvari Museum, visitors can experience iconic shoots featuring actors and models including Javier Bardem and Rossy de Palma, as well as sessions with Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek, a Times Square moment with Guillermina Baeza’s designs, and ensembles by Amaya Arzuaga showcased in London’s Soho.
Writer
Manuel Outumuro, born in Ourense in 1949, moved to New York in the late 1970s. He began experimenting with photography at around age 40, later reshaping typography for photographic works, before returning to Barcelona in 1990. His career has become indispensable in contemporary visual culture, with a steady stream of acclaimed projects and collaborations.
Over the years he published seven books, with a recent collection focusing on portraiture. His work has been shown in major national and international institutions and museums, and his photographs are included in several public and private collections, including the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.