I’ve photographed many locations that now not exist.

You began learning biology.

— Yes, two years. But then Franco died, and courses stopped. One day far-right teams got here in with golf equipment and chains, the subsequent there was a lecturers’ strike… I handed botany on the primary strive, however I failed all the opposite topics, and I began learning design.

And from design to pictures.

— They say my images have quite a lot of composition, possibly that has one thing to do with it. There is a sort of nature photographer, portraitists, we name them, who worth close-ups: what issues is that the animal seems as giant as doable. But I feel you can try this with out leaving the zoo. I wish to {photograph} them with different parts of their pure atmosphere.

Do you have got the sensation that you’re photographing issues that may quickly disappear?

— Especially landscapes. I’ve many images of locations that now not exist. Not far-off: misplaced villages within the Pyrenees, owned by 4 farmers, the place there are actually condominium blocks.

And what about animals?

— In latest many years, many efforts have been made to preserve emblematic species similar to bears, vultures, eagles, wolves, and lynxes. But, however, many bugs and small agricultural birds are disappearing as a result of they are not as conspicuous and nobody cares about them. I’m planning on doing a venture on this; it ought to present how pesticides are used or how roadsides, the place there was a lot biodiversity, are cleaned.

One of your most well-known works is that of the Himalayan snow leopard.

— Yes, it is humorous as a result of we have been satisfied we would not see any, and on the primary day we have been on the lookout for them, two appeared directly. I began shivering, I do not know if it was from the chilly, as a result of the solar had set and the temperature had dropped considerably, or from nerves. I took ten pictures of one of many leopards, circled, and ten of the opposite. Afterward, we went for a lot of days with out seeing one: over time, I’ve realized that nature is completely unpredictable.

Because the hazard of getting back from a visit like this empty-handed is at all times there.

— When I used to be younger, I used to be extremely annoyed after investing time in one thing and seeing no private or monetary return, as a result of, after all, you got here again with no materials to supply. But nature would not perceive immediacy. It’s all about persistence. And I’ve the sensation that whenever you strive, failure after failure, nature finally rewards you. Other instances, sure, you spend eight hours looking at a cliff and nothing occurs: dangerous luck.

Not everybody has that persistence.

— There are individuals who join a safari and go along with an inventory of all of the issues they wish to see; the lions, the tigers, the river crossing of the wildebeest herds, the zebras… as a result of they’ve seen it within the National GeographicThese documentaries carry collectively the work of a whole lot of execs over hundreds of weeks of labor, and so they wish to see all of it in seven days as a result of that is what they paid for.

They wish to keep away from ready hours, which I assume is rather a lot for an expert. How do you cope with it?

— When you {photograph} wildlife, in the event you get distracted, you are misplaced. You need to be scanning the horizon repeatedly, for hours on finish. You get into standby…Although with birds, for instance, I rely closely on listening to. I do know their sound very nicely, even their flapping.

You’ve labored rather a lot within the desert and the Arctic. Why?

— They are primeval, open areas, with excellent lighting, particularly at daybreak and at night time. I enormously admire my colleagues who take pictures within the jungle, as a result of they’re very enclosed areas the place the sunshine is usually dire and there’s a lot of vegetation. In the desert, there are fewer animals, however these which are there are simpler to see. Ultimately, there are fewer wild locations on the planet than folks suppose. And I’ve additionally seen distant areas, in Africa, for instance, the place the land has been destroyed; there are hardly any animals as a result of persons are ravenous and poaching is widespread.

How a lot time do you spend at house and the way a lot time do you spend touring?

— We used to take one lengthy journey a 12 months, lasting three months. Now, we additionally manage pictures journeys for teams of ten or twelve folks to locations just like the Svalbard Islands, India, Morocco, Jordan, Patagonia, Australia, Oman… And we’re solely in Barcelona for 2 months at a time.

You at all times communicate in plural…

— Yes, as a result of I journey with my associate, Eulàlia, on all my journeys. She would not take pictures, however she’s a genius at organizing all the pieces else. I do not know if I might go to sure locations alone anymore, as a result of when one will get scared, the opposite one takes care of it, and vice versa.

Do you imply you have been scared whereas taking photos?

— Well, I’ve usually needed to work in excessive temperatures, and I’ve reached some peaks in tears as a result of I felt so in poor health and we could not flip again. In Yemen, we boarded a airplane escorted by the military. In Egypt, I used to be photographing a desert fowl, not realizing there was a navy camp behind it, and a younger soldier, who was very nervous, snatched the movie from me, pointing a machine gun at me. He advised me they’d develop it and, relying on what they discovered, they would not let me depart the nation.

With synthetic intelligence, it is now not simple to inform which pictures are actual and which are not.

— For me, sitting in entrance of the pc and asking it to attract me a lion sitting on a dry department in a ray of afternoon gentle would not actually do something for me. I perceive it might be helpful, however personally, it is nothing like sitting in a 35-degree Land Rover sweating profusely looking for an animal.