The silhouette of Juanjo Araujo (La Rasa-Turón, Mieres, 1950) is clear and unmistakable, always intersecting with one of his cameras. The unmistakable hat and ponytail are symbols of the identity of this little man, who values the thousand and one stories he has lived along those roads that make up and cross Asturias, although he realizes that “what attracts me is the West.”
We met in his “cave,” as he calls the space in his house where he keeps negatives, slides, paper photographs, CDs, hard drives (up to 6 terabytes), cameras (about two dozen)… filing cabinets that organize about three million raw images, and about one and a half million originals. “Look, I don’t have anywhere to put anything anymore.” Certificates, awards and publications collecting his work adorn the walls of this house in Gijón.
“I can’t wait,” he says, knowing that he will have to digitize the memory that covers, professionally, since the year 79. A tour of the 78 councils of Asturias that brings together mainly landscapes, palaces, grounds… and caves.
It is not for nothing that Juanjo Araujo is the only specialist in photographing these tight spaces and wall art, something he had to learn by hand, carrying a huge metal box that he ended up buying to store all the materials. Today, digital technology has made his life a little easier, but he counts the number of lost photos as he measures in those film days. Although he wants to train new generations in this specialty, he regrets that no one takes responsibility for it.
From miner to photographer
Born in Toruń, he was sent with the Gialos family to Cudiero when he was six months old. He lived there until he was four or five years old, when he returned to Meares. He worked in the mine from the age of 18 to 29, first in Honossa, in the Santiago and San Jorge wells, then moving to Minas de Figaredo.
Throughout his life, he never stops coming and going. Here’s an Ayalga encyclopedia book containing his photographs, an envelope containing 6×6 slides, and the latest work of the Archaeological Museum of Asturias on one of the three Macs he works on (to which, we should add, two scanners). “It doesn’t give me life,” he says. But the truth is that he “enjoys” his work. He himself confirms this. You see it. Feel it.
There, in the mine, he worked from Monday to Saturday. During this time, one of his cousins, who was working at the College of Architects in Oviedo, told him about the possibility of photographing all the Indian palaces in Asturias for a job. And he got the job. “The problem in 1979 was going to Taramundi or Liannis. I didn’t give concerts only on Sundays, but I managed it.”
By then I was already living in Oviedo: “I got married in 1974 and went there, but until I was able to come to Gijón, I didn’t stop. I love Oviedo as a city, but not to live in. You go to the wall or to the sidewalk, and it changes every day.” Then came the breakup, his new partner and the apartment in El Llano, where when he saw the living room he already knew he was going to make his man cave there.
Since he was not a professional, he sent an invoice through a friend and took the opportunity to turn professional when he saw that the business was profitable. Plus, it was safer than a mine. And it wasn’t bad at all. He says he came to Madrid to take an exam for his photography training. “I had no idea what they were asking about there, what if it was Kelvin, what if it was color temperature…”, but with all honor, he prepared himself and returned in seconds. Then he returned with his card from the National Union of Photographers in Spain, although he testified that “the professionalism was given to me by the clients.”
Insight
The fact is that when the head of the College of Architects changed, disagreements arose and he left this commission job and thought: “I’m for mine … what the hell!” He gathered two files and took them under his arms to the General Directorate of Tourism. “There was almost nothing in tourism (nor in culture), everything was at the beginning.” We’re talking about the 1980s and Araujo was here, living up to his family name, a true visionary: “I’m Juanjo Araujo, I’m a photographer and I’m able to take these kind of pictures.” Thus he also enters the Nobel Publishing House.
From there everything came together: through a connection that began with Everest Publishing and a meeting with Ana Rosa (the current editor of Delallama), who was keen to buy two of Arrojo’s titles when the León Press closed. He is currently working with her on three new books about Oviedo, Gijon and Asturias.
Enjoy the photographer and stick with it
“Now that I’m retired but still paying, I don’t take jobs for the money, but because I love them,” he laughs at the hustle and bustle life brings. “Dear, but I’m not retired, I have more going on than when I was working! The important thing about this, you know what? I’m enjoying it,” he says, then talks about other projects he’s fallen in love with, like honoring the Navia River, “that great unknown.”
In addition, “the associations I am involved in, some of which are on the board of directors. I want to cooperate with everything I can,” he says. And this is how Juanjo Araujo appears regularly in A Thousand and One “Almovidas”, an Asturian activist, “activist from Asturias”.
The photographer is from Asturias
“I see what others don’t see.” This is what an expert’s eye behind the lens provides: the search for light, perspective, and the patience to wait three minutes of exposure to capture a photo in a confined space like a cave. “Do you know what it’s like to have an object from 6,000 years ago in your hands? This is what fills me. I have vacations all year round, and they pay me for them,” is how he defines his profession.
Among the thousand and one tales he cherishes, he says he has photographs of all the caves in Asturias, “those that can be visited and those that cannot be visited, and on two occasions I was afraid”: one was in El Tornero, in Castaño del Monte (Oviedo) and the other in Les Tempranes (Llanes). This second time, his experience as a miner helped him: “I know the effects of a fire lamp. It’s not a miracle we got there.”
Asturias lover
“I started to fall in love with Asturias when I went with a friend to the Meres Cultural Sports Centre, which ran the Messín shelter.” There he met Emilio Fuyo, whom he thanks for being his photography teacher, along with Alonso, who worked at the Museum of Fine Arts and had a studio on Via Fruela. In this way, he learned the art of photographing works of art.
He says that his first pictures were taken with a plastic camera, and that is how he began photographing this land, climbing the Ubinías Mountains. In the ethnographic plan, the first image was of a granary in Zorya (Lena) and this is how he discovered, learned and fell in love. “You have to know more places, of course, but I don’t like that people don’t even know where Conforkus is.”
The legend
“There is a legend that may be partly true.” Arcadi Muradil, the designer of the Asturias Paraiso Natural image, was said to be honeymooning in the region and was commissioned by the principality to send him a series of images, including a selection of Arrojo, the famous arch of Santa María del Naranco: “I’ve always criticized that there’s a little bit of snow missing at the summit,” he quips.
In that first volume of pages there were three pictures of him. From there he was responsible for the booklets. The rest is known history.
On Tuesday, December 2, he will be honored at the La Laboral Theater in the framework of the 40th anniversary of the emirate’s tourism brand, in the image and communication category: “For your sensitive view of the region for four decades,” as stated in the letter of appreciation.