Fernando Vacaflores first found his fascination with photography in secondary school. ‘My Spanish teacher gave us a project of narrating a story using a few videos and pictures,’ he told us with a nostalgic smile, and he was hooked. 

 

First Camera

His first camera was a Zenit 12xp with a fixed lens Zenit Helios 58mm, given to him by his parents when he was just seventeen. He currently uses the Fujifilm x-pro1, ‘as it is compact, light and above all, discreet,’ he tells us, ‘And my preferred lens is the Fujinon 18mm (27mm full frame).’

Vacaflores is a Chilean Photographer who has lived in Morocco since 2013. He specialises in mesmerising street photography. He explained to us in an interview, ‘I discovered that almost every situation around me could be captured and put in a frame. Photography is the way I try to capture and express the beauty that I see around me.’

 

Magical Days

‘During a photo walk in Marrakech with a client, I saw a scene that was interesting to photograph so I stopped,” he told us, “He said to me: "What do you see interesting here?" I took a photo and showed it to him and he loved it.

I gave him the settings with which I took the photo so that he could replicate it. We waited for a few seconds and an elderly woman appeared in a typical Moroccan dress, perfect for the photo. My client took the photo, and with a big smile he told me: "this is the photo of the day, I travelled to Morocco to capture this photo." I couldn't ask for more.’

 

Light, Shadow & Natural Frames

Vacaflores plans his photos in advance, focussing a lot on framing. As he told us, ‘When I see a good mix of light and shadow I stay there waiting for someone interesting to enter my frame. As a client once told me during a workshop in Marrakech: "I feel like I'm on safari, waiting for my victim."’ 

He gets his inspiration from the world around him and other artists. ‘When I started photographing in my hometown, Valparaiso in Chile, one of the photographers who inspired me was Sergio Larrain and the film director Aldo Francia. When I arrived in Morocco I discovered the work Bruno Barbey, a French Photographer who was born here, and also painting has helped me to refine my eye when capturing images in Morocco, and one of my great inspirations has been the Chilean painter Claudio Bravo.’

He recounted the advice of Alfred Einstaedt on street photography: ‘It’s more important to click with people to click the shutter.’

‘When I started to implement that in my professional life, it was a game changer,’ Vacaflores enthused, ‘And also, learn from artists from the past, study how they painted or photographed your own city and country. Walk through the streets of your town and rediscover it through the lens of your camera before visiting another country.’

Find more of Fernando Vacaflores’ work and about the brilliant photographic tours he leads.