WORK ON PAPER PUBLISHES “IN FLIGHT”, PHOTOGRAPHS BY MANUEL ÚNICA

In Flight is the first of a series of photographic collections and publications, in a limited edition, grouped together under the common heading of The public life of sparrows. The author, Manuel Única (Guadalajara, 1961), has produced a unique visual discourse on the plastic behaviour of these birds, made with brief but expressive visual tales organized in series. What the photos in this work have in common, among other things, is a refined use of available light and a compositional approach developed as a language, with an accomplished choreographic style. In The public life of sparrows what is photographed are countless fleeting moments of how sparrows behave. They are photos taken in those rare instants of intense but ephemeral visual attraction that we all vaguely remember have watched at some time. Única’s work has been to capture these images, organize them as tales and share them.

Manuel Única

A subjective documentary photographer

In over three decades of work in audiovisual journalism Manuel Única has built up documentary records and testimonials loaded with the ability to tell a story. War scenes, interviews, events, press conferences, environmental catastrophes and court trials are the themes in which Única works as a video camera reporter for the leading Spanish news agency. Perhaps this is why, in his personal work, he focuses on flora and fauna, landscape and portrait. From 1980 to 1990, he photographed old rural properties, unique urban buildings, festivals, artists and other celebrities. He also compiled a portfolio on Paris and another on seaboard and rural Galicia. As far as press photography is concerned, in which he was involved in Guadalajara and Galicia, he migrated to audiovisual journalism. In Flight is the first of a series of photographic collections and publications, in a limited edition, grouped together under the common heading of The public life of sparrows, edited by Work on Paper.