When Pablo Gallegos left his home country of Mexico to study aerospace engineering at University of Southampton in England, he brought his love of photography with him. “My father was still shooting film until I was 16,” he remarked. “He was always passionate about photography, taking multiple films on a family trip. We would eagerly await the photos to come back and then my mom would put them in a family album.”
Seeing his father using film even in the digital age helped make Gallegos very conscious of the shots he was taking. “There is a certain art to it and an understanding how to take a good shot,” said Gallegos, who admits his entire family eventually persuaded his father into going digital. “He was waiting for the sake of waiting. Now, not a week goes by that we don’t talk about the newest camera, though we are just following the industry rather than buying cameras.”
Travel
Gallegos’ photographic journey has taken him a lot of places, including Peru, Iceland, and Patagonia in South America. “My family has always hiked a lot and I have always really been drawn to nature. Going to different places helps me expose myself to things I haven’t done in photography as I am still trying to tailor my style,” he explained.
He concedes that when he went to Peru, he was still new to photography as a serious hobby. “I had just acquired my first DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex camera), which opened up new possibilities in my photography,” he stated.
Iceland was a turning point in that he shot RAW (raw image format) for the first time. “I really enjoyed it. There is so little and yet so much. There is nothing but landscape for hours, yet that simplicity makes it so beautiful,” he described. “There are so many unique landscapes that made appreciate that aspect of photography. Shooting RAW gave me a glimpse of what digital photography brings.”
His time in Patagonia brought another treasure trove of photos. “The landscape and the mountains were unbelievable. Being so into nature, I want my camera to recreate the moment that I am seeing with my own eyes,” Gallegos commented. “I am not a fan of altering pictures to look unnatural. Oversaturated skies and grass may look appealing, but they do not exist. I understand it is another type of photography, but it’s just not my style.”
England
A self-professed petrol head, Gallegos purposefully came to Southampton to further his interest in cars. “As long as I have memory, I have been obsessed with cars. I was very determined to be a car designer, but didn’t want to focus solely on design. I liked the engineering part and thought maybe I would come through design through a master’s degree,” he communicated.
Although he remains passionate about cars, he has changed direction on where he wants that to lead. “I have enjoyed my degree and modules, but I don’t see myself pursuing a career in engineering, though perhaps working with an engineering company,” he expressed. “As I have gained a better understanding of who I am, I am more of a people person. I still have an interest in those engineering and aerodynamic concepts such as Bernoulli’s principle (which states that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in static pressure or a decrease in the fluid’s potential energy) and combustion engine cycles. I am not the person to optimize a bolt on an airplane wing.”
Without a lot of landscape to photograph in Southampton, Gallegos started taking photos of friends instead, doing so primarily in black and white. He harkens back to something written by esteemed photographer, author, filmmaker, and marine biologist Paul Nicklen, who said, “Color can be a powerful tool, but its absence allows the viewer to engage with the composition in a more intimate and less distracting manner. I find there is a clean, simple elegance that only a black and white palette can achieve.”
“By adjusting the aperture (which controls the amount of light reaching the image sensor) and shooting in black and white, I can really focus on who that friend is and what they represent,” Gallegos explained. “Color can be a great asset to bring our certain aspects with people, but with black and white photos, the focus is more on the subject and/or detail. There is no color to serve as a distracting agent.”
Photographing Strangers
Living close to London and finding himself going there often to see friends who have already graduated university, Gallegos started photographing strangers. “I try to push myself out of things I am used to doing with my photography. One day, I just grabbed my camera and went for a two-to-three hour walk, taking photos of strangers,” he reported. “It could be something about someone’s face, a t-shirt they were wearing, or even a sandwich they were eating that I liked. Sometimes there was no particular reason for taking someone’s photo.”
Of course, it is not as simple as just taking photos of whoever you want to. “A lot of people I ask say no, others say yes and don’t’ say anything else,” he disclosed. “Then others say yes and start a whole conversation.”
Perhaps his most memorable exchange came when he visited New York City last summer. “There was a man playing blues on his guitar. I asked him if I could take pictures of him and he agreed. I took several pics while he was wearing a cap,” Gallegos recounted. “The cap was covering his face so I asked if he could take it off. Those shots are now featured on my Instagram. He introduced himself to me as Charles and asked if I would mind sending him the shots I took.”
A few weeks later, Gallegos sent him the photos. “Charles was the first person to thank me and say he appreciated my work. He told me he never really liked photos of himself, but that I was able to capture everything he represents,” he related. “I wanted to buy his music, but instead he gave me a link to his album free of charge. One simple, ‘Can I take a picture of you’ turned into a memorable exchange of words and story.”
Going Forward
He plans to stay in England after graduation. “I have created friendships and a life here. I have been here five years and it would be a waste if I didn’t allow it to carry on to another level, whether I live in London or Bristol,” disclosed Gallegos, whose first time in England was with his bags for university. “One of the main reasons I came here to study was to be able to stay here afterwards. I was attracted by the strong education available in engineering and part of me was simply attracted to European culture and opportunities.”
It is readily apparent when speaking with Gallegos that he has picked up the English accent. “People have told me that I say some things very locally. I learned American English in Mexico and had been listening to that all my life before I came here,” he explained. “After living here for four years, British English is the only thing I speak, albeit with a noticeably mixed accent.”
Gallegos is excited about a project he has been carrying on for the past two years, taking friends’ photos and portraits in black and white. “We meet a lot of people in life, from school to work to activities. A lot of people have a strong influence and are part of the book of your life, whether they are a sentence, a paragraph, or a chapter,” he described. “I have taken photos of a lot of people the last couple years, and haven’t even gotten to my brother and sister yet. I took photos of 30 different people this summer, people I wasn’t sure if I would ever see again.”
He is planning to use the photos to create a book of life and friends. “This is the first project I have ever started and one that I hope to always continue. It is a small acknowledgement to all these people for being a part of my life,” Gallegos expressed. “I think that acknowledgment is important. Even if a person is only a sentence in your life story, there would be a black space without that sentence.”
A recent event showed his willingness to try new things. “A friend of mine is a DJ and wanted something with green textures for his album cover, something people could see, but not see at the same time,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what to do. Then I was washing the dishes and when the bubbles formed, I grabbed my macro lens and took photos. Naturally, they were not green so I had to adjust the photos completely out of white balance with added tint to make the black and white bubbles turn green. It is not something I do every day, but you can learn from every experience.”
Only 23, Gallegos is far from set in his photographic ways. “I am still trying to find myself and write down ideas so that I have my own signature in photography. Having my dad around has helped push me,” he stated. “I still need to develop my style and stand out by bringing something different into play. I know that I will never leave photography, whether I pursue a career in it or in something completely different. I am driven by it and can do a whole shoot about something as simple as tree trunks.”