The patient hunter of light
My main ally is patience. I study weather conditions carefully and remain with my camera facing the landscape for as long as necessary — five, ten, or even fifteen hours if needed. My working days always pass in silence until finally the light I long for appears.
I was born in Madrid in 1961, and through photography, I strive to capture my vision of a singular world. I work with a large-format bellows camera — an instrument that compels me, as I focus beneath its black cloth, to contemplate that world inverted. It is an act of pure technique and profound faith, always trusting in what will emerge.
My greatest luxury, and my deepest obsession, is the pursuit of perfect light. To find it, I observe. I watch. I wait — without haste.
I am slow, and I embrace it. I seek a very specific light, and not just any landscape will suffice — for I am not in search of a postcard.
Light has become the true protagonist of my work. It is a different kind of light — one that allows me to move away from the familiar brilliance of blue skies and sharp sun, requiring neither spotlights nor flash. In this way, I reveal places that, though known, appear transfigured — imbued with an intimate truth that renders them almost unrecognizable.
This is the essence of my practice: technique, vision, and above all, the patience to capture that perfect, elusive light.
I was born in Madrid in 1961, and through photography, I strive to capture my vision of a singular world. I work with a large-format bellows camera — an instrument that compels me, as I focus beneath its black cloth, to contemplate that world inverted. It is an act of pure technique and profound faith, always trusting in what will emerge.
My greatest luxury, and my deepest obsession, is the pursuit of perfect light. To find it, I observe. I watch. I wait — without haste.
I am slow, and I embrace it. I seek a very specific light, and not just any landscape will suffice — for I am not in search of a postcard.
Light has become the true protagonist of my work. It is a different kind of light — one that allows me to move away from the familiar brilliance of blue skies and sharp sun, requiring neither spotlights nor flash. In this way, I reveal places that, though known, appear transfigured — imbued with an intimate truth that renders them almost unrecognizable.
This is the essence of my practice: technique, vision, and above all, the patience to capture that perfect, elusive light.
Exhibitions
2023 – LA ALHAMBRA
Venue: Palace of Charles V Museum, Granada
Type: Solo exhibition
Notes: Reached over 105,000 visitors.
2023 – CONTEMPLAR Y ESCUCHAR LA ALHAMBRA
Venue: Dar el Bacha Museum, Marrakech
Type: Exhibition sponsored by AECID (Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation).
2022 – AQUILEA
Venue: Ansorena Gallery, Madrid.
2019 – ALHAMBRA OXIDADA
Venue: Ansorena Gallery, Madrid.
2018 – NORTE
Venue: Ansorena Gallery, Madrid.
2017 – EL AGUA
Venue: Siglo XXI Gallery.
2015 – VISIÓN INÉDITA DE LA ALHAMBRA
Venues: National Archaeological Museum, Madrid, and Palace of Charles V, Granada.
2014–2015 – LUZ OXIDADA
Type: Solo exhibition
Venues: Caylus Gallery, Madrid (catalogue) and Gulf Gallery, Dubai.
2013 – MADRID, REGIÓN INÉDITA
Venues:
- Bulevar Salvador Allende and San Agustín Cloister, Bogotá (Colombia)
- Cartagena and Cali (Colombia)
- Mario Sequeira Gallery, Braga (Portugal)
Type: Group exhibition.
2010–2012 – MADRID, REGIÓN INÉDITA
Venues: ITINER Network, Community of Madrid, and Instituto Cervantes of São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Salvador, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, and Rabat.
2009–2013 – MADRID, REGIÓN INÉDITA
Venue: Real Casa de Correos, Madrid.
2009 – MADRID, FERNANDO MANSO
Venues: Instituto Cervantes, Moscow, and Corso Vittorio Emanuele near the Duomo, Milan.
2009 – FERIA DE ARCO
Type: Photography fair
Notes: Showed six personal works as an independent photographer.
2008 – BODEGONES SIGLO XXI
Venue: Museum of Contemporary Art of Unión Fenosa (MACUF), A Coruña.
Notes: A personal vision of twenty recipes by Spain’s best chefs, sponsored by the Xunta de Galicia and Unión Fenosa.
2008 – FERIA DE ARCO
Type: Group exhibition
Notes: With Ars Fundum, presented the works Lake and the quadriptych Iceland.
2007 – OCULTOS
Venue: Canal Isabel II Foundation, Madrid.
Type: Group exhibition with sixty-six photographers, including major masters of world photography.
Notes: Presented the work Harmony.
2006 – NIEBLA
Venue: Arte XXI Gallery, Madrid.
Reviews and critiques
“He has the mysterious charm of a romantic spirit” – Antonio López, painter
“…giving us, through his artist’s gaze, new ways to enjoy, images that enrich our ways of appreciating the senses of the marvelous” – Book Alhambra, Preface by José Tito Rojo and Manuel Casares Porcel
“Craftsman of photography, his hallmark” – OK Diario, 2022
“Fernando Manso’s photography, with its refined sensitivity and rigorous working methodology, always carries a personal stamp, an impeccable, intimate, and beautiful style” – Siglo XXI, 2018
“Romantic artist
And indeed, Manso believes in the old principles of photography as an additional quality of the gaze, and in the gaze as an attribute of patience”
“An artist who paints with light” – La Razón, 2015
“The last romantic” – Granada Hoy, 2015
“Manso in his photographs resorts to the mysterious charm of a romantic spirit (as Antonio López warns in the preface of one of his books), but his working method is impressionistic in that it requires a self-absorbed contemplation of nature while waiting for what Cartier-Bresson called the decisive moment.
Manso’s work is much more than a frame and special light; it has, especially in landscapes, an unmistakable personal halo, a magical poetry and delicacy in each piece.” – Expansión, 2017
“Fernando Manso, the photographer allied with time who knows how to wait for the perfect moment” – OK Diario, 2017