Isabel Steva (Barcelona, 1940), better known as Colita, will receive this Monday the 6th the highest award from the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya: the Ofici de Periodista award; a well-deserved recognition of a long professional career that began in the sixties as a self-taught person. The Col·legi highlights “her bold and provocative photographic work, which challenged established norms and captured the vitality and diversity of Barcelona at that time.”
What does receiving this award mean to you?
There is no more authentic award than the one your colleagues give you. It causes me great honor and pleasure. All my life I have boasted of being a journalist when people have asked me what I do for a living.
Do you understand it as a recognition of photojournalism?
Exactly, it is a way to recognize the work of photojournalists, who have always been considered “second-class.” I have always fought for the rights of photographers. I remember that the first association of photographers that was founded here was in my house, with Pepe Encinas and Pilar Aymerich, in the seventies or eighties. We thought that either we would create an association of photographers or we would all go to live under a bridge. Because the issue of rights was fatal.
As the Col·legi highlights, do you feel that “you have been able to capture crucial moments in the history of the city of Barcelona”?
I have worked a lot for several city councils in the metropolitan area, including Barcelona. I could have gone to work abroad because they suggested it to me, but I was interested in portraying what was happening here. When I enjoyed it the most it was at the Barcelona Olympics. We shared a job with several photographers and I got the Olympic Village. I had a really good time because there was a lot of joy and the people were very comfortable in their city, which was also beautiful.
And what has been the worst moment of your career?
Until Franco died it was an arm's length fight against censorship. After his death, all kinds of magazines flourished like mushrooms and it was a splendid time for journalism.
When did you feel that you liked photography?
My father gave me a Bakelite camera when I was 12 years old and I became very fond of photography, photographing my parents, my grandparents, my dogs and cats... I waited for my father to arrive on Saturdays because he would bring the developed photos. It was a party for me.
How did you get started in the trade?
I met Oriol Maspons by chance because he was spending the summer near my house in La Garriga. He took me as an assistant to photo sessions, he let me be in the darkroom... Then I worked with Xavier Miserachs and met Català-Roca. From the beginning I was surrounded by the best Catalan photographers and I learned from watching them work and working with them. I didn't need to go to an academy. Later I specialized and decided that I had to manage to make a living from this.
The Ofici award is also awarded to her for her fight for women's rights and gender equality. Where do you think we are today?
We have made progress, but we certainly cannot claim victory. When they stop murdering a woman every day, then we can start talking about equality. And in terms of labor rights, we have also made progress, but we have not reached equality of wages and salary conditions either. We must continue in the gap.
When you are going to take a photograph, what is your priority? What are you looking for?
Inform. Explain in an image everything that is happening. In the cinema you have a lot of time to explain what is happening, but in photography you only have tenths of a second.
Are the photographs black and white or color?
I prefer black and white, because it is what it is: white, black and gray. Color is all a lie because a negative will never reflect the authentic colors you are seeing. I find the color very postcard-like. I have done a lot of color because clients have also asked me to do so, but it has never left me as satisfied as a good black and white photograph.
What has remained to be portrayed?
There are always things left in the pipeline. Sometimes it happens that you don't carry the camera on the street, you see a photo, but you can't take it. But yes, there is a photo that I have been waiting for. I would have very much liked to portray the actress Bette Davis at the San Sebastián Festival. I have felt great admiration for this woman all my life and I would have liked to portray her when she was older. Furthermore, a few months after visiting San Sebastián, she died in Paris. It was her last appearance in public.
What legacy would you like to leave to new generations?
The only thing I have tried in life has been to share what I have seen. Be it people, be it situations, etc. I have witnessed our time and my intention was to transmit it. Let people know how we lived, how we felt, what we saw, who were the luminaries of the time in which we lived... This is the great gift that photographers give to the following generations: to teach what they saw and inform them.
