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 The Book's Release:
PATAGONIA
a voyage to the Southern Argentina through the panoramic photography
Comentaries and Critics
On Wednesday April 23rd 2003, in the Victoria Ocampo Room, during the 29th International Book Fair held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the presentation of Alberto Gandsas's book took place.
Following a presentation by Jaime Smart, from Editorioal GAC, Grupo Abierto Comunicaciones, the journalist Horacio de Dios said a few words.
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| Jaime Smart - Alberto Gandsas - Horacio de Dios |
Brief summary of the introduction delivered by Horacio de Dios:
"To go through this fair is to turn true the dream of a kid who is fond of books.
I am talking in first person because ever since a child I have never found a better source for learning, in time and space, than a hard copy edition. Citing Borges, once again, he imagined Paradise in the form of a library.
Because times change (and books too) the essential is visible in the light of time.
An example of the present situation is the remarkable amount of publications on Patagonia.
I do not recall a Fair in which so many works, bearing such quality, have been presented on this region. We are recovering texts which were only available in English or French and are now translated into Spanish. And classics, which had been sold out are now being printed again after many years of unavailability.
Also, there are plenty of very appealing new books.
With a special accent on those specialized in photographs, Patagonia being the photogenic theme. These books are ideal for traveling by means of our imagination while our eyes run through full color pages.
They look luxurious due to their being printed on glossy illustration paper and the care put into their publication, yet their price is most reasonable.
Patagonia is more than what our eyes can reach; therefore, we must turn around to take it all in. With our cameras we only capture a fragment of reality which we later complete with our memories. We need to add comments on every image, turning our pictures into a familiar audiovisual scene.
In this work by Alberto Gandsas, "A photographic trip to the Southern Argentina through the Panoramic Photography", published by GAC, Grupo Abierto de Comunicaciones, the word "panoramic" did not call my attention at first because it is usually used when referring to landscape.
I was not aware of the fact that panoramic photography is a discipline which implies the use of a special camera that takes in more than the human eye. Contrary to the norm, when the viewfinder of the camera takes in less than our peripherical vision and we try to focus on what we are most interested in."
"The amazing Cañadón de las Pinturas, the wind shaken solitude in La Oriental estancia, Perito Moreno National Park, Santa Cruz, cattle-drivers on their way in Neuquén, the horizontal outline of Carmen de Patagones, the La Trochita train, the blending of the choiques (native small ostrich) with the colors of the steppe, the La Leona river where Francisco Moreno had a bad experience, Mount Perito Moreno, and a lot more contained in 82 unique photographs can be perceived in a very distinct way. I felt I was in the middle of the deep South, right from the rustic farm gates, like balconies opening to vast skies, to the imposing lakes and mountains because, as in cinemascope, you are in the middle of the scene.
Gandsas was born in Argentina, which is also where he lives. He is a self made photographer, has made documentaries under the direction of Moglia Barth, and never stopped taking pictures. Five years ago, he found in panoramic photography the format in which enough space and air are encompassed in order to express himself without being limited to the boundaries the small format negative impose and which he found were too narrow for his purpose."
"The richness of all Argentine landscapes is priceless, no matter where the compass takes us, whether from North to South, from East to West. Yet Patagonian landscapes are rival to none."
And I am thinking about this book where, in addition to its geographical visual richness, we may appreciate the talent of an artist who has devoted the past ten years to traveling tirelessly through Patagonia.
Francisco Pascasio Moreno himself, our Expert, possibly the greatest Argentine civil hero, made progresses in this area, as in so many other, when using photographs to back up our standing regarding the dispute on boundaries.
I read it from Germán Sopeña:
"The arrival of photography gave Moreno an extraordinary additional argument for his explanations, he began to compile an archive of photographs unequaled elsewhere in the world.
By mid-1899, a great exhibition of his photographs, together with two remarkable conferences held at the Royal Geographical Society Headquarters, London, on May 29th and June 2nd, set an exceptional milestone for the secrets of Patagonia to become widely-known. Moreno then positions himself as the great worldwide Patagonian specialist. In his conferences in the RGS he is presented by Major Darwin, son of the famous naturalist, and is appointed member of the renowned English institution, as well as of the Science Academies of France and Italy. When in 1902 the British decision is finally issued and signed by King Edward VII, the chief of the British experts, Sir Thomas Holdich, acknowledges that all what Argentina has achieved is thanks to Moreno's work."
(Thanks again to Germán, who has taught us so much including after his passing, precisely when flying to Patagonia)
Knowledge is a true form of sovereignty, not exercised by speeches but by facts. In 1884, with his own collections of pieces and books, Moreno had already founded the La Plata Museum of Natural Sciences.
Later, in 1903, he turned Argentina into the third country in the continent to create national parks when he donated the best lands of the Nahuel Huapi area which had been granted to him in recognition to his extraordinary work as an expert. In United States, Yellowstone National Park had been created in 1872 and in Canada another national park had been created in 1895.
In all three cases, the preservation efforts towards those national parks sprang from pioneers who were dazzled by such incredible virgin lands. The same happens with photographs. They must be shot on the spot, there where the wind wears flags away, the cold intimidates the bravest and loneliness is the sole fellow traveler.
We can comfortably write on the computer in an air-conditioned room, but photographers must go out there and then come up with these wonders."
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PATAGONIA
la mirada serena
the peaceful look |
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| PATAGONIA, a voyage to the Southern Argentina through the panoramic photography |
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