José Manuel Navia

José Manuel Navia was born in Madrid in 1957. He was an editorial photographer from the age of 17 (1974) to 30 (1987). In 1979, at the age of 22, he married Carmen Martín. In 1980, at the age of 23, he graduated in Philosophy at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and became the father of his first son: Manuel Navia. In 1987, at the age of 30, he left editorial photography and became a freelance photographer, working for the Cover agency. His work as a reporter evolved into a more personal and delayed photography, always in colour and documentary style. His images are nourished by a profoundly Iberian root and explore territories and people linked in one way or another to my origins and their culture. He is obsessed with the power of meaning of photography and its relationship with literature, with words. In 1992, at 35, he began to work as a freelance photographer for the Vu agency in Paris and as a regular contributor to ‘El País Semanal’. From 1995 to 1996, from the age of 38 to 39, he worked as a graphic editor for El País Semanal. Text: José Manuel Navia Voice: Marcus O'Donnell (AI) + info www.audiotecafotografica.com