The world turns with energy. Everything it contains is in constant movement; what stops runs the risk of being run over by some incessant force. And, nevertheless, there are those who, in any case, stop to observe. What happens is nothing more than the sum of instants. The time can be fractioned.
And Manuel knows it.
Walter Benjamin speaks of worlds of images that inhabit the minuscule, in which the spectator feels forced to look for a "sparkle" of chance. Manuel, as a photographer, is also a spectator. His search continues through the peephole of his camera, eager to find the unrepeatable, to find the singularity behind the fleeting. His photography moves his travels: it is the adventure itself.
From the age of 16, when his first camera was given to him, Manuel began to document his travels. The first one he made, camera in hand, went to the island of Ibiza. From that moment, the passion to capture images and travel the world accompanies him. He crossed the Atlantic on a sailboat, toured the Caribbean islands. He travels to the Amazon on several expeditions. In these, lives closely with different indigenous tribes, both from the Venezuelan Amazon and Brazil. This experience significantly marks Manuel.
The Gran Sabana, where the largest waterfall in the world is located, El Salto Angel, was also the object of its voyages. It was essential to document the beauty of nature, the immense mountains of flat peaks and vertical walls, the magical landscapes from the top; but, in all these trips, Manuel also pays attention to the inhabitants of each territory. The portrait creeps in him from the beginning. During those years, he traveled by bus Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the north of Brazil.
Back in Caracas, Manuel's photograph changes its course. He dedicate ́s to product photography. This, in no way, represents the end of the adventurous drive in him. Laos, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand: in search of the unpredictable. The illusion of the photo not taken, insatiable, beats within him.
In the year 2017, he travels the Silk Road, from northern Vietnam, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey to Istanbul. Usually moves by bus. And, although it seems that he does not stop, he stops to observe, he stays in hostels in remote villages, try the typical foods of each zone. It is an immersion in other cultures.
This web page is a sample of his journey, the result of his searches. But, it is also a reminder that the search continues: photography, for the illusion of perceiving the optical unconscious.
Mariana Bercowsky