Translator: Iris López Gascón Reviewer: Sebastian Betti
Good afternoon.
Good afternoon, can you hear me?
Yes? Okay.
A bit more than a year ago, I took this picture.
And quickly started becoming a very popular post.
Some Facebook and Instagram pages started sharing it,
some people appropriated it for themselves and said they had taken it,
and a few days after this photo I joined a friend in a pub.
Then we started talking about photography and how much I like
taking pictures and sharing them on social media.
Then, he asked me if I had ever thought about
making a photo exhibition, which seemed like an incredible idea to me.
So, next day I went to House of Culture to see the situation,
to do this exhibition.
When I arrived,
they gave me a date, they give me one hour to exhibit.
I went home very happy and when I arrive,
doubts, insecurities, fears started showing up,
and maybe, what I was about to exhibit to the people,
wasn't so good.
Or maybe, one of the things that bothered me the most
was thinking at the moment that I didn't have the financial resources
to carry out this exhibition.
So, finally, I washed away these fears,
and the next day I went to look for sponsors.
In less than 15 days I collected the money
for the photos and its framing. In one month I had everything.
From this moment, a domino effect started developing,
because it looked like destiny was helping me to introduce myself
in several places.
One person, who works at the airport found out that I was going to exhibit
and he asked me if I wanted to take part in an anniversary event
that the company that manages the airport was going to hold.
So I accepted. He told me: "You know what?
Bring your pictures tomorrow and assemble them as you see fit."
And next day, I arrive and I stumble upon an amazing surprise:
Seven photos had been sold.
So, this makes me think that when you do things you are passionate about,
success will come by itself.
And I don't mean success as the money for selling the photos,
but about people willing to pay
for having something that you did with passion.
And they want to have them at home, or at office.
And after this,
there was a cultural event at my school,
and one of the school teachers
knew that I had an exhibition at the airport.
So he invited me to take part of this exhibition.
I accepted, and my photos were hanging at the reception's lobby,
where all the boys arrived from all different schools, at a nationwide level,
all of them watched the photos, it was amazing and very fulfilling.
As a result of this, I was invited to give a photography workshop.
How do you think I felt
when they invite me to give a photography workshop,
being my canvas a mobile phone?
These photos you see, which you have seen,
and the next ones you will see,
have been taken with a cell phone.
And while I tell you this, I like to think that imagination
makes us infinite, in the sense of not limiting yourself to what you have
but to do what you like doing, without the fear of what will people say
or how photographers are going to judge you.
And all this,
well, is amazing.
After this, I really like to think
that life is too short.
And I think that this sentence we have already seen at many places,
has also taught me not to stop doing what I do
because, actually, this amount of things that I have done,
have been really fulfilling for my life.
I also want to show you a picture that I think changed my life
because it was one of the things
that, when I saw it,
I really wanted to do as it says:
To make things happen.
And this is, in fact, really important to make things happen.
Because remember that nobody in this life is remembered for not doing something.
So, let me say goodbye with a question:
What would you do if you weren't afraid?
Thank you very much.
(Applause)