Vertical Horizon

© Andrés Aranguren - Somewhere between Barcelona and Murcia. © Andrés Aranguren - What holds up the bridges? Looking at the highest point of a river. © Andrés Aranguren - Roads are the perfect canvas to erase reality. View all images ↓
View all images ↓
  • Dates
    2018 - 2018
  • Author
  • Topics Archive, Daily Life, Documentary, Landscape, Street Photography, Travel
  • Location Spain
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A photographic essay developed from my archive, aiming to depict uncertain places, similar to those that now appear in AI-generated images. It is a gaze toward the future from the past, in a time between joy and emotional pain.

Seven years ago, I took these photos in vertical format with a cellphone during a trip to a country I had always wanted to visit. My fascination with horizons, exploring the city, and natural spaces was shaped by sadness and the desolation brought on by the breakup of a significant emotional bond.

Looking back at the photos in that archive, the recurring presence of empty spaces stands out. I chose a simple edit, with white borders and a subtle grainy effect to enhance the sense of nostalgia. However, keeping the vertical format of the scenes led to an unexpected resemblance—one that echoes those vague, nearly uninhabited landscapes generated by artificial intelligence.

Vertical Horizon may be an oxymoron. It is the portrait of a lost gaze. The attempt to move forward in a past filled with uncertainty. These are my postcards of an adventure tinged with despair.

© Andrés Aranguren - Somewhere between Barcelona and Murcia.
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Somewhere between Barcelona and Murcia.

© Andrés Aranguren - What holds up the bridges? Looking at the highest point of a river.
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What holds up the bridges? Looking at the highest point of a river.

© Andrés Aranguren - Roads are the perfect canvas to erase reality.
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Roads are the perfect canvas to erase reality.

© Andrés Aranguren - Architecture, like a geometric invitation to calm.
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Architecture, like a geometric invitation to calm.

© Andrés Aranguren - When the sun rises by sea and makes you feel even stranger.
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When the sun rises by sea and makes you feel even stranger.

© Andrés Aranguren - How to fly when you are the ceiling?
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How to fly when you are the ceiling?

© Andrés Aranguren - "Mil Palmeras" beach, a warm and lonely meet with myself.
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"Mil Palmeras" beach, a warm and lonely meet with myself.

© Andrés Aranguren - Casa Milà, an Antoni Gaudí's demonstration that dreams are built.
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Casa Milà, an Antoni Gaudí's demonstration that dreams are built.

© Andrés Aranguren - Parking lots, a rhythmic reminder of the distressing routine.
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Parking lots, a rhythmic reminder of the distressing routine.

© Andrés Aranguren - "Macizo de Montserrat". That overwhelming presence of mountains and nature.
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"Macizo de Montserrat". That overwhelming presence of mountains and nature.

© Andrés Aranguren - When the heartbeat of the city leaves you breathless and the sunsets of the past strike again
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When the heartbeat of the city leaves you breathless and the sunsets of the past strike again

© Andrés Aranguren - Monastery of the Virgin of Montserrat and that which men call faith.
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Monastery of the Virgin of Montserrat and that which men call faith.

© Andrés Aranguren - El Raval and its narrow streets, where you get lost and find yourself different at the next corner.
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El Raval and its narrow streets, where you get lost and find yourself different at the next corner.

© Andrés Aranguren - "Barri Gòtic", a dark place, next to the clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
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"Barri Gòtic", a dark place, next to the clear waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

© Andrés Aranguren - Sometimes there's no more horizon, but the scars of what you did.
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Sometimes there's no more horizon, but the scars of what you did.

Vertical Horizon by Andrés Aranguren

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