Barbers and barber shops
I live in Venezuela and wear my hair short. You would think this is frequent in a Caribbean country, but it is not. After looking for a stylist that would give me a pixie cut, with zero success, I ended up visiting a barber shop.
Even though they took me, I could feel that I was disrupting an intimate space of masculinity and that I did not belong as a patron. Yet, the overload of design in the shape of the new cuts, cool instruments, products, packages, logos, the chairs, and the barbers themselves, captivated me. It was so powerful that I wanted to capture it with my camera, and surprisingly, my presence as a as a photographer was not awkward at all.
Since then, I have visited and shot barbers and barbershops in NYC, Las Terrenas (Dominican Republic), Playa del Carmen and Caracas, and have found that, no matter how luxurious or funky the shop, the relationship between barber and client is almost a sacred one, and more often than not, a long-lasting bond.
I also realized that barbers —much like chefs— take a profound pride in their craft.
Verónica Ettedgui
Street and Travel photographer.
Dachshund lover.
I have always loved photography but considered myself as a graphic designer and illustrator. Then 2020 arrived and life got a new pace, a slower rythm, now I had tons of free time confined at home. Suddenly, getting my camera and studying photography deeper than as a hobby, got real. So that was my pandemic survival plan. First professional photography, then travel photography and after that, street photography.
The challenge was to shoot at home, then around home and suddenly, seeing the world through a different lens.
Now, my beautiful Fujifilm X T4 is such a perfect companion.
https://www.vettedgui.photography/
Instagram: @vettedgui