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Robin Rodriguez
@farfadexphotography
Photographer based in New Zealand
In the 80’s, before my birth, my parents quitted everything. After having worked very hard for a long time, it was time for them to travel around the world. They went to the USA, Australia, Bahamas, Greece, southern European countries… I have always been told great stories from those adventures. Unsurprisingly, this triggered my imagination and instilled a desire to travel in me too.
I grew up in Lacanau in the South West of France where the winter is pretty quiet and the summer is buzzing with the waves and sunshine. Every summer for 40 years, Lacanau Ocean has hosted the World Surf League competition, when I’d be working in hospitality, and every single break or in my time off I was watching the competition. It was the main event of the year for us. The vibes were incredible during this period – the good old time. All the pro surfers were present and so were many photographers. In addition, all of my friends were surfers too and members of the Lacanau Surf Club (I wasn’t).
"So I grew up with surfers, surfboards, and surf trips. I've great memories and the surf spots are always a little piece of heaven."
At the age of 20, my friends and I decided to organise a surf trip in Indonesia. I discovered Bali and the small Islands around for the first time – I could have never imagined or believed that such a heavenly and peaceful place like this existed on Earth. I often enjoyed the ocean from the shore (as I wasn’t such a good surfer) watching my friends (who were all good surfers), smoothly gliding through the water. One of them, Guillaume, lent me his camera one day and once I started to shoot, I couldn’t stop. I loved it! This is when I realized that I really enjoyed photography.
"How good is it to catch a single second of the time in a photograph and make your friends happy with an amazing shot of them doing their thing."
When I was a teenager, I had often borrowed a little compact camera from my dad to get some memories of our birthday parties, football games at the corner, and of course the afternoons on the beach, but I never continued this. That time in Bali, I found the spark, the passion, the inspiration. The great photographers I discovered on Instagram only fueled this and never stopped pursuing this emerging dream.
Since I bought my first camera and learned a couple skills by myself, traveling has taken a completely different dimension for me. I stopped enjoying “classic tourism” and I started to look deeper, find unknown spots and organize more adventures to reach the most beautiful landscapes.
When I moved to Australia in 2013, I was mainly practicing landscape photography and wildlife with Julien, a French guy who I met at my first work place. He taught me a lot in my scarce free moments, when I wasn’t learning English or working to pay my rent. Before 2013 I would never think to be able to print and sell my photographs – I thought my skills were too limited and the quality of my photography was not sharp enough to print a decent product… So, basically it was just an expensive passion that I was sharing with friends. As the months of 2013 passed by, however, I slowly started to look at the photography market, the products available, and understand how to live from a passion, transforming it into a lifestyle. I improved my photography, my gears, and my editing.
"I have been very well supported by my friends while working on my craft - They encouraged me to challenge myself to fulfill my dreams."
After a couple of years in Australia I went to Perth, Western Australia and I met Paul, a very talented French surfer, and he took me weekend after weekend with his dog down south of the West Coast; Yallingup became our favourite place to share our passion. And one day – unsurprisingly we were on the beach – Paul asked me if I would like to take photos from the water and instead of the shore… It took me a month to think about it and I decided to buy an underwater camera housing from Aquatech Image Solution (they are the best!) This way I could go underwater with my camera and be closer to the surfers and the marine life.
Meanwhile, I have been to Bali a few times with my gear to push myself to be creative by practicing split-shots and playing with turtles in the ocean. I also went to Noosa in 2019, a wonderful tropical surfing town on the Sunshine Coast in Australia where I met the local surfers, and enjoyed the warm ocean and the surf vibes. And today, I am dreaming of joining Ben Thouard in Tahiti, French Polynesia. I love his work; as the Master of Ocean Photography he is a real inspiration for me. I would love to spend time with him to progress with regard to recording the waves, the reef, and to learn how to protect the ocean.
While those experiences helped me grow and develop, specific shooting projects helped me to boost my professional growth. The first spur happened when @westernaustralia, an account with more than 500k followers, republished one of my photographs for the first time. It received more than 10k likes. They chose a sunrise photograph with the incredible sunlight I catched at the Bald Head Walk Trail in the Torndirrup National Park, Western Australia.
It gave me a lot of confidence as I was looking for feedback, validation and support at this time, still a little uncertain of my work. This big account thought my work was worth sharing, which boosted my confidence. I am aware that I’ve been lucky to some extent too and that my confidence should depend on this kind of validation, but it’s inevitable that something like this had a huge positive impact. In the meantime my work has been featured on various big accounts – Thanks to these features on Instagram I now reach an international photography market, potential clients, and an enthusiastic and diverse public.
The second project that helped me professionalize my work was a shooting for a swimwear brand. A friend of mine launched it and called me to take some photos of the collection. As I photographed the swimwear and the models, I got my first professional experience working with models and a clothing brand. I learned how to work with people and create amazing portraits which amplified my abilities and skills.
The third project was a photography workshop with Pure Adventure Photography New Zealand organised by @rachstewartnz, @leecook_images and @danielmurray.nz. During the workshop I have been very impressed by these three amazing photographers from New Zealand. They taught me how to improve my compositions, gave me constructive feedback, and advised me on how to become an outstanding landscape photographer and visual creative.
"According to me, photography is all about creativity. It is very important for me to share my passion with people, whatever the activity and wherever in the world."
I would say that photography does not need words to be understood. Photography is fine Art. In that regard, the photo of my collection that I am the most proud of is one that I took on a perfect morning in Indonesia. It was one of these mornings when you wake up, the weather is incredibly beautiful and the ocean is glassy. I decided to go swimming with my underwater camera and look for any marine life around the Island. Being in the water this beautiful reef turtle appeared. Curiously and fearlessly, it came very close to me. I was so blessed to be able to swim with one of these wild turtles. They are so peaceful and the way they swim is like angels in the ocean. So while I allowed the turtle to explore who I am, I got this shot. It is a split-shot, half underwater and half above the water, that I had dreamed of creating one day.
"A photo that, for many reasons, carries a feeling of pride and achievement, a wonderful memory, and profound emotions that I experienced at the very moment of the shot."
When post-processing the shot from the RAW image to the final result with the final watermark I walk through a routine that works perfectly for me, with some specific amendments depending on the photo. First I upload my RAW files from my camera to my laptop into a specific folder, which I name according to the place I went. The folder I create in Lightroom classic will be named the same and after selecting the best photos, I import them into the software.
If my setting on my camera did not capture the exact colors I had in reality, because it was too dark, too bright, or for whatever other reason, Lightroom is definitely the right tool to get my photograph up to the next level and add emotion and depth. I like to create a beautiful and natural balance and to enhance fine details and sharpness from the bottom to the sky. The rocks and reflection in the water bring in the aspects of the surrounding, which will be seen after the main subject that first got the attention. When I’m sharing my photography with others I hope they feel the outdoor sensations, the thrill of the moment of being there.
Waking up from a hut or a camping tent in the wonderful mountains of New Zealand. Gazing at the stars and the milky-way on a quiet beach at night. Hunting sunsets and sunrises anywhere I can. Sometimes the whole landscape seems to be on fire; what I feel at those moments is indescribable, so unique, so intense. The amount of happiness in my mind and throughout my body is out of control. Photography makes me feel what I wouldn’t if I weren’t a photographer. And it takes me where I would otherwise never go. When I live these kinds of moments I can save it forever and share it with my family and people who never had the chance to travel before. Because of that, photography is very important to me.
It raises awareness of climate change, encourages wildlife conservation, amplifies everyone’s world vision, helps countries that economically depend on tourism, changes life and circumstances of the underprivileged, and convinces people to believe or do one thing or another… People find inspiration and ideas, meet new people, discover new places and cultures, learn about the diversity of the world, and express themselves without words… All thanks to photography. It is more powerful that we realize.
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