Jim: After you discovered your passion for photography were you instantly drawn to make images of people and the human condition and why do you believe it's the genre you've gravitated to?

Robert: Not instantly. I went down all the normal roads. I started out photographing my own interests which were really not so different than most males at my age. I started taking pictures at the beach... photographing sunsets and empty streets. I felt like I had a pretty big breakthrough when I was allowed to photograph my first naked girl, then soon after I also got into night photography... long exposures in cemeteries and what not. Some of these phases lasted longer than others, but pretty much from the start I was taking pictures of my Grandma and Grandpa who I lived with at the time. Looking back, they were the number one consistency in my life... not just as a subject but also as parental figures. I have always had a close and healthy relationship with my parents, but they went through trying times of their own and Grandma and Grandpa were always right there. So if I go back and connect the dots... I was led to care about the human condition in whatever way it is presented to me, through my love for them.

On April 20, 2011 Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, acclaim photojournalists who had worked in conflict zones around the world, were killed in an explosion during an attack by Moammar Gaddafi’s forces against rebels in the western Libyan city of Misurata. Two other photographers were injured.
Guillermo Cervera was one of the photojournalists who was at the place of the attack, saving his life by a few meters. We talked with him about the situation in Libya.

In your bio you make a confession: you are a failed athlete. Is this the reason that you travel around the world photographing weird sports?

 

 

I joke that I'm a failed athlete in part because I am. I've always loved sports, but I was never very coordinated. High school basketball coaches kept me around because I was tall. Sadly, height is not a skill.

 

My interest in sports in large part stems from growing up as an only-child without a father. Sports was a vague, masculine blueprint on how to become a man. All my guy friends followed sports, so it gave us something in common. And I travel because I love meeting new people and visiting new places.

Why are you making photos? What do you expect to get from it?

 

Photography isn’t something that I do but something that I am. I understand that this may sound kind of poetic or arrogant but I can assure you that it isn’t. In other words, I cannot not to make photos whether I am good at it or not.

It’s not about a conscious choice that I made at one particular point in my life but about a habit, a fundamental need of mine such as communication or having a relationship with other people.

I don’t really expect something from photography and I don’t tend to believe that photography should expect something from me, now or in the future. I just try all the time to be better in terms of expressing in a better way what I believe it deserves to be photographed, using my instinct, my personal point of view.

I hate to hear some times people saying that they love photography. Well, I don’t love photography, I love my son. Loving it or not, photography is something that I can’t stop doing for any reason except, perhaps, inability.

In what type of photography do you specialize?

 

is tightly focused on photojournalism and documentary work and we don’t cater to “snob appeal”. Too many times gallery visitors walk away from a fine art photography exhibition saying “what was THAT all about?”.

 What are the services offered by 52Selects.com?

 

In addition to the prints offered on our website, we offer custom sizes through 40” x 60” , archival 4, 6, and 8 ply matting and gallery framing. We work with clients on custom orders to create an appropriate balance between the print and the required space.

What is LUCEO Images?

 

LUCEO Images is a photographer owned and operated cooperative established with the goal of supporting the significant work of its members. LUCEO produces the highest quality commercial and editorial photography and works to provide creative nourishment to our member photographers.

 

LUCEO’s six founding members came together during a time of industry transition that has impacted the way in which imagery is created, distributed and consumed. We are meeting these challenges with creative ideas that offer solutions to our clients and allow us opportunities to work on projects with purpose.

 

LUCEO believes that photography is about dialogue, discussion and shared ideas. It is with this belief that LUCEO reaches out beyond its group to establish relationships with other individuals and collectives. Our hope is to build a network of partnerships that gives us opportunities to fulfill our goals and to offer unique products and services to our clients.

Hi Benjamin, where do you live?

 

I am currently living in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. I have been here for just over a year and will most likely remain here for another several years before moving on.

You have spent your childhood in many different places, like the Philippines, Arkansas and the Faroe Islands. How has that influenced the way in which you see life today?

 

Although I am American by nationality, I have lived abroad most of my life, only returning as an adult. I grew up on a small island off of the southern coast of the Philippines with a minority Muslim people group and spent my childhood running around the jungle, chopping things with machetes and exploring the island’s beaches and rivers.