Sergi Escribano

The origins of the “Light and Darkness” series must be found back in my student days, when very little was known about digital photography.

The series are titled as a tribute to Ansel Adams as well as two of my black and white laboratory teachers without whom everything would’ve been much more difficult for me.


“Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, / quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes”.


The energy underlying my photography is based on such different sources, ranging from my personal mood to influences that come directly from the cinema, literature, music or painting. Food for thought. I adapt those sources to my needs and the light that I get when I go out in the streets to photograph.

My aim is with this project is to provide a sight of Barcelona far away from its current clichés through this great set of sporadic light, available every day in our city. The result is an almost cinematic, narration of the city’s old town streets, alleys and corners. A hard and sometimes frustrating task due to the vast number of tourists invading many streets of the old city and making them impossible for any kind of human transit. I’m pretty sure that at this moment it would be absolutely impossible to carry out this project as the invasion has overpassed any limit now.


Sometimes I get asked about those pictures. Mainly questions regarding when where taken, what time of the day, etc. Even in which city. I like to be asked those questions as part of the idea surrounding the series is actually to provide timeless images and to make all pictures work as a part of common story but at the same time having their own world and significance.

I love the power of photography when it comes to transform spaces that we already know and set them out with a special aura of mysticism able to transport you to different geographies and time lapses.

As far as I can say, that is where lies the true strength of photographic language