I am a plant scientist heading a laboratory at the Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica (UPM-INIA). At the CBGP, my group is working on plant stress responses and plant hormone crosstalk. Since the early nineties, photography is one of my favourite hobbies. Animated by a college mate, and armed with the SLR of my father, we mainly took photos on slide films. We especially enjoyed to sneak into closed and ruinous industrial locations at night to take photographs. However, after a while photography tailed off a bit, basically due to shortage in time.

In 2000, I bought my first digital camera, a RICOH RDC-5300 (long ago replaced by other cameras), and my interest in taking pictures revived, particularly due to the new freedom and ease of capturing and processing digital images. From 2006 on, I was experimenting with a CANON EOS 20D and more or less fragmentary equipment. After a while, I became fed up of carrying all these kilos of equipment around, and eventually my photo equipment again began to gather dust. Currently, I am mainly taking pictures with my smartphone camera, although I would love to purchase a full-frame DSLR.

I am still inspired by industrial locations, architecture, and landscapes, although my motive selection has slightly changed with the birth of my kids in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Occasionally, I find the time to go out and take pictures of different subjects. Just recently, I made a long held wish come true and purchased my first drone, a DJI Mini2. I am absolutely flashed by this awesome piece of tech. It has “only” a 12 MP camera, but it shoots in RAW, which gives plenty of space for post-production modifications, and stitching together several photographs in panorama shots gives bigger picture sizes that allow for decent prints. However, I have still a lot to learn, not least how to fly this little thing, but I am really looking forward to shooting some stunning coastline pictures in and around the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park.