Classic.
That's the one word that I hope best describes my work.
Whether it's a classic theme, or a classic look, or a classic approach, capturing the timelessness of the moment, the essence, the beauty, the fleeting look, the "decisive moment" of a given scene is how I've always approached the craft.
I've been taking pictures ever since I could push the shutter button on a camera. There's a picture in my parents' basement of me leafing through a Yashica manual when I was 8. Back then I had no idea that this art, this craft, this tool would be such a large part of my life. My parents bought me my first "serious" camera during my senior year of high school, and what a sacrifice that was in those days, considering my folks thought this would be but a "passing hobby". It wasn't, and it still isn't. I'm glad they took a risk in my interest because it's allowed me to share with others a small sliver of my vision of our place in this world.
I began this site to share my work with friends and family, but since writing several gear reviews and refining my photography, I now share it with the world. Photography is such a vast and wondrous sphere that to know everything about it would be a form of contentful madness!
I love to travel, as should be apparent from my work. While travel
photography is something I really enjoy, I much prefer taking pictures
of bees and children.
Why those two? Because both of them bring me back (and I hope you as
well) to the awe and wonder we once owned, that amazement of catching a
glimpse of resplendent majesty in the simplest of things, a smile, a
twinkling eye, a flying bee covered in pollen, a purple sky with flying
birds to close the day.
I've always believed that a great picture should always tell a story,
either about a place, a person, an event, an idea, or an object. A
story is what connects people, regardless of culture. It is what allows
people from different walks of life to realize that no matter how big or
small, not matter how high or low, we all share a common destiny, a
common thread in the past, and a common ground to learn from each other.
Children and bees are my story. Why you ask? To which I ask: Why aren't they yours?
To me, both subjects demonstrate God's little extravagances, those beautiful, wild, untamed things that few adults remember they once owned--the amazement, the awe, the wonder, the surprise of discovering the world around them.
I know, I know, bees don't talk, and they don't have any expressions to speak of. But it's not so much the bees themselves, but capturing them in environments, in scenes, and at angles that few have ever seen that brings people back to that awe, that wonder, that surprise, and that amazement they once had as children.
Most people think I'm nuts getting my hands so close to those hard-working Antophilas (bees). I think they're right. So why would I risk life and limb to capture these near automatons? It's fun and challenging to take pictures of them, and they usually calm down once they know you're not a threat, which often leads to some great photos of the little fellows, photos that make me smile when people stare in awe, in wonder, in amazement, as though they're discovering something in the world for the first time. It's a great feeling.
Children, on the other hand, readily bring us back to
those things we lose as adults, because in them we see as we once were
and as we once saw. We see the world anew and begin to understand our role in protecting them and the world and the future they are to inherit.
I hope you enjoy my pictures and my reviews.
Sincerely,
J.S. Velasquez
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