ALAIN Gutiérrez (Havana, 1975) is already a recognized photographer. His portraits of New Trova musicians, old cars (the so-called almendrones) and diverse parts of his native city have revealed a good eye for detail and composition.

He has returned to captivate spectators with the exhibition 20 acordes de un cíclope (20 Chords of a Cyclops), effectively displayed in his Sala Majadahonda in the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Center – his – because he has worked there regularly for more than 10 years.

Two currents within the Center have come together, inevitably, in this electrifying show; the reference is the Digital Art rooms and, in particular, the A Guitarra limpia concerts, where Trova music – new, very new, whatever – has its safe corner in the building’s beautiful patio.

This time, Alain Gutiérrez has distanced himself from journalism, for which he has composed different photo-essays and, although the images are taken in situ, he has intervened in them, like the digital artist he is.

In this exhibition the protagonists are not people, but guitars, their strings, the very act of music, the capturing of every instant which, for him, has a particular note.

The conversation with Alain Gutiérrez, an always selfless contributor to this publication, took place in the Sala Majadahonda itself, and he explained in detail each one of the photos selected for the exhibition.

For the first time I am on my own in the Majadahonda. It is a natural space to offer my work to other people and now, being here and exhibiting is a luxury for me.

They are 20 images that I took, some of them last year at the Nach Jazz Festival in Bergen, Holland, where I was invited as a photographer, and others this year during the singer Rochy’s Cuban tour, titled Contracorriente.

In essence, I wanted to escape from what I have traditionally done in journalistic terms, less information, I fled photographic conventions in order to exploit images, more like a painter. From the digital point of view, I took the colors to extremes, contrasted tones a lot in an attempt to achieve the different images that I wanted. They are testimonial photos. I have made a small intervention, but they are not manipulated, the scenes are as they are, what you see is what they were.

The protagonists are not people, although there are figures in some of them, but the very act of music. What I wish to convey via the images is how I felt the music. It is the reality which I saw, the music that I felt, I want people not to see photographs, but the chords which emerge from the strings.

I work with a digital camera, it isn’t analogous, it’s the technique. I wasn’t afraid of the pixels, nor the grain in the photos, I like this as an effect, as a texture.

The camera is a Nikon 3,000 and I shot in raw format, a crude format which doesn’t have a digital interpretation and allows me to give the interpretation that I want; that’s why I could do large prints. Raw is an interesting format, without a mathematical interpretation, it’s like a digital negative. You can make any intervention in the photo without losing the original.

I have worked in the Center for 12 years, and also with musicians in the A Guitarra limpia program, I’ve learned some of the movements, it’s like the ballet photographer who knows when a dancer is going to jump, which turn s/he is going to make; with the guitar I already know at what moment it’s going to be plucked and how to be on the stage without distracting the audience but capturing what I want. I have learnt to anticipate the movement.