[editor's note: this is the first in a series of interviews with photographers DVA loves]

I had the pleasure of meeting Basque photographer Jon Cazenave at the Paolo Pellegrin’s class and we ended up spending a lot of time together helping each other with our projects and edits, as well as recovering from the pace and stress with food (I recall a nice, exhausted meal at a McDonalds, where I had a bigmac meal for $17) and the occasional beer (about $10).

One of the projects he brought to show in Oslo was about the ‘underground’, life in subways in Spain and around the world. He recently wrapped up a new segment of this project and published a multimedia version of the piece titled SUBLIFE.

I’ve always adored this project and I was blown away by the new presentation. Instead of just posting the link here I thought it would be a great opportunity to ask him a few questions and have him explain his work, this project and his future plans. Jon is a fantastic guy with a huge heart and passion for documentary photography. (And, I found out today, an equally deep and historic love of Paul Simon’s Graceland as me! If that doesn’t make us brothers I don’t know what does..) Enjoy this and support him in the future.

What brought you into photography? What else have you been doing in life and work, and what has changed now that you are taking pictures more seriously?

I studied economics in Deusto University and when I got my degree in 2001 I started working in a multinational company based in the Basque Country as an accountant. I started taking photos in that period of my life to hide from the boring days spent in the office and since then, everything went so quick that in 2006 I decided to quit and go to Barcelona to specialize in documentary photography.

Do you consider yourself to be a photojournalist?

I always tell to people that “I am a man that takes photographs…” I take photographs to document the world we live in but also the world I see with my eyes and I want this personal view to be shown in the photographs I make.

How did you start this project? What was your idea? What was your plan (a story for a workshop, a book, a multimedia piece?)

I started this story in a workshop I made with Pep Bonet. He gave us a subject, “obsession”, and I thought about a very good friend I have. He is not able to enter any closed space and he feels terrified when he is forced to go down the stairs of the subway.

(please click below to jump to the rest of the interview)
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