Echoes of Light: Resonances in the Media

Photographer Diego Orlando, aptly nicknamed "The Lord of Light," develops a body of work born from "the tireless search for a light capable of illuminating a personal world full of shadows." His photographic calling emerges from a journey that is "complicated, introspective, passionate, and poetic," merging various disciplines of the Fine Arts to interpret his most intimate universe.

His artistic work rejects the cult of technical capability found in millions of megapixels. Instead, the "soft-focus effect" and "mannerism" that permeate his photographs represent "a form of protest against the current academic photographic purism." Since 2018, Orlando has been working on the series "Saints and Mantillas," offering "a contemporary vision of the lives of martyrs and virgins from Christian culture." This artistic creation reflects his personal nonconformity and a "permanent struggle between beings who, from anonymity, seek not to limit their way of being and loving, far from religious, sexual, racial, or ideological conventions." Through his photographs, the artist seeks "the light that emanates from a new generation fighting to be true to themselves."

"My photographic calling is born from the tireless search for 'the light' capable of illuminating a personal world full of shadows," states Diego Orlando in this profound artistic manifesto. The photographer defines his work as "a complicated, introspective, passionate, and poetic journey" that merges various disciplines of the Fine Arts to interpret his most intimate universe.

Orlando explicitly rejects the cult of technical sharpness: "My work is not born nor presented with the goal of reflecting the skill of execution I may be capable of, nor the sharpness that technology offers today, with millions of megapixels at our service." Instead, the "soft-focus effect" that bathes his photographs functions as "a form of protest against the current analog academic purism." His background in interior architecture and antiques brings him closer to the 19th-century pictorialist photography movement, to Caravaggio's "chiaroscuro," to the light of Venezuelan master Armando Reverón, and to cinematic references from Bertolucci and Visconti. He creates "exclusive photographs limited by their edition and size," works that are "precious or baroque with a profusion of details, full of hidden allegories and labyrinths concealed in their shadows, fabrics, and textures," incorporating "the most current digital and pictorial techniques" in the final editing and composition of the images.

Diego Orlando wins his fourth IPA award with Half lights, half shadows, a series that captures the ethnic diversity of San Sebastián during lockdown. Using a church converted into a studio with permission from the Bishopric, the photographer merges Spanish Baroque with anonymous faces and professional models to "reflect the silent plurality of our city."

In an era of "bananas taped to walls"—he quips about conceptual art—Orlando champions technical rigor as a "protest against empty art." Inspired by Caravaggio and José de Ribera, the series achieves international recognition as the artist announces his next project, Without Limits (2022): portraits of young people from Gipuzkoa who "give a face to sexual diversity without prejudice," solidifying his position as a relevant voice between classicism and visual innovation.

Photographer Diego Orlando, winner of the IPA 2020 Honorable Mention for Malleus Maleficarum and nominee for the Fine Art Photography Awards 2021, is now preparing for major international events. After exhibiting at the Los Angeles Museum of Photography and Millepiani Gallery (Rome), Orlando is set to show his work at the Florence Art Biennale (October 2021), the London Art Biennale (June-July 2021), and the innovative VR Exhibition in Manchester (June-July 2021).

His artistic work, characterized by the "soft-focus effect" and "mannerism," represents "a form of protest against the current academic photographic purism." Orlando creates "precious, baroque photographs, with a profusion of details, full of allegories and labyrinths hidden in their shadows, fabrics, and textures," which arise from "the tireless search for the light capable of illuminating a personal world full of shadows." His artistic creation reflects his personal nonconformity: "a permanent struggle between beings who, from anonymity, seek not to limit their way of being and loving among men and women, far from religious, sexual, racial, or ideological conventions." As the article's author concludes: "He is, without a doubt, Diego Orlando, a Lord of LIGHT!"

Diego Orlando receives the "Honorary Award" at the IPA 2020 for Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of the Witches), a series that represents "the power of angels and martyrs over sin, desire, attraction, and death." This work, developed over three years, confirms the photographer's position as an innovator protesting against current photographic conventions.

His work reflects a "great pictorial influence from the Baroque and the Spanish and Italian Golden Age," presenting "a vision of a new baroque" where he uses "photographic lighting techniques to create the chiaroscuro technique, in addition to a long and detailed process of scenography and editing." The "soft-focus effect" and "mannerism" that characterize his photographs function as "a form of protest against the current academic photographic purism," creating images that are "precious, baroque, with a profusion of details, full of allegories and labyrinths hidden in their shadows, fabrics, and textures." The series, consisting of 30 photographs taken in Catalonia and San Sebastián (seven of which received recognition in the United States), will soon be exhibited in La Provence (France) and Detroit. This work follows his award-winning series "Goya's Gaze," which received two first prizes at the IPA 2018, consolidating his career as a creator of a unique visual language that integrates tradition and contemporaneity.

"If there are those who think that Photography should capture the instant, I believe it must capture the atmosphere, the ambiance, the sensation surrounding that instant," asserts Diego Orlando Machimbarrena while exhibiting at the Center for Digital Arts in Los Angeles. The winner of the Latin edition of the IPA awards in the Fine Art category redefines his approach as "techno-pictorialist," merging his love for classical masters like Goya, Zuloaga, Ingres, and Caravaggio with the possibilities of modern technology.

Orlando critiques contemporary technical obsession: "Today, any photographic device can give you a quality that borders on or exceeds 56 billion pixels. The question some of us ask is what more can we add to that supreme quality. Supreme, but so tremendous, it's flat, very flat." Like the pioneers of photography who "turned back to painting," he turns to "technology, the high-tech of the present and the future," which enables him "to manipulate backgrounds, subvert spaces, reproduce the past." His connection to San Sebastián is complex and poetic: "It is I, martyred and glorified by this city that I love, hate, and always remember. From which I escape and to which I return, only to leave again and always long for it," a relationship reflected in self-portraits where he appears "with the city in the background, ghostly, amidst bluish mists" and his "head split over a crown of thorns." As he continues his series on Goya and prepares a new one titled "Tears of Penance," his work is being exhibited in Los Angeles and soon in Hong Kong.

Basque photographer Diego Orlando, awarded at the 2018 International Photography Awards as "Professional Photographer of the Year" in the Books and Fine Art categories for his series "Goya's Gaze," reveals in this interview how Girona transformed his artistic life. After leaving Venezuela and settling in Catalonia, he found the ideal environment in this city to recreate the universe of the Aragonese painter.

Orlando explains his choice of Girona to recreate Goya: "I believe the light of Girona fits better than that of Aragon for what I wanted to do." The faces of the local people—"people with a very austere, very harsh appearance"—and the availability of the "fabulous" collection of period dresses from Neus Borrell in Torroella de Fluvià, allowed him to evoke Goya's atmospheres. The photographer draws a parallel between his own exile and the painter's: "It's very hard when you live in a country and have no choice but to leave... I find a certain parallel with this dark world of Goya." At 50, he decided to reinvent himself as a photographer, something he considers "very complicated" but made possible by Girona, whose "closed" atmosphere and "complicated" climate helped him to focus. He challenges the European perception of age: "I traveled to New York and saw people over 70 succeeding in all sorts of things. Whereas in Europe, it seems that at 50 we are finished. And no. It is now that we can contribute the most."

"If your gaze can enter the hell of my images, without succumbing to their venom, then enter my world and you will understand the light hidden in the depths of my shadows," confesses Diego Orlando Machimbarrena after winning the prestigious International Photography Award (IPA) in the fine arts category for his series Goya's Gaze. After decades of anonymity, this San Sebastián-born photographer based in Girona bursts onto the international scene with a project inspired by the dark symbolism of 19th-century Spain.

The award-winning series, created entirely in the Girona region over three years, consists of ten photographs where the woman is "the main protagonist, at once invisible and present, evoking her subjugation to the norms and strict religion of the era, causing a deep and subtle sadness." In his creative process, Orlando reveals that "80% is the instant and 20% is digital retouching," seeking to provide "an envelope of mystery and magic" that makes "a new dreamlike reality emanate." The photographer draws a parallel between the "turbulent and revolutionary times" that Goya depicted and the current situation: "They remind me of what we are experiencing today, both in my beloved Venezuela and here in Girona. An era in which, despite the loss of freedoms, creativity flows." With this recognition, Orlando, who decided to reinvent himself artistically after the age of fifty, proves that it is never too late to start new creative paths.

San Sebastián native Diego Orlando Machimbarrena has been honored as "one of the best photographers of the year" at the International Photography Awards (IPA) in the Books and Fine Art categories for his series "Goya's Gaze." This recognition gives him the opportunity to compete for the coveted Lucie statuette as "International Photographer of the Year" or "Discovery of the Year" at the gala to be held on October 28 at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York.

The award-winning series, composed of ten photographs, "is inspired by the beauty of the scenes of Spanish painters and writers, primarily the master Francisco de Goya y Lucientes," and captures "the 'Black Spain' of the 19th century where the woman, its main protagonist, interprets her submission to the strict religion of the time." Orlando's work was selected by a distinguished jury chaired by Susan Baraz, founding member and president of Focus on AIDS (FOA), "the largest international foundation for Fine Art photography." This recognition places the photographer, who after a career in real estate and years in Venezuela where "the warm rays of the Caribbean sun and the frenzy of Caracas" prompted him to resume his artistic path, among the elite of international photography.