After the publication of Schlecker, Rafa Castells gradually moved away from analog photography. He continued to take photos compulsively, but almost always using his mobile phone as a camera.
So we were surprised that, in the spring of 2018, we proposed the publication of a new book, continuous with Schlecker‘s aesthetics and motives, and starting from the same base: unreleased reels that had been accumulating for years. When revealing these reels, Rafa verified that they crossed a very wide temporary arc, from right after the publication of his first book, until months before getting to work on the new one.
The book became by itself a documentation of the photographer’s youth, intense years, almost opposite extremes of night and day, madness and calm, loneliness and company, joy and sadness. In Life there are solitary walks and firestones in group, crappy graffiti and beautiful flowers, smashed cars and sleeping cats, crazy nights and peaceful mornings.
This time Rafa wanted to count on Albert Romagosa for the design, opting for something simple, almost invisible, that would expand the format and bring brightness to the images, while at the same time granting the publication a fragile and disposable character close to the fanzine.
— Terranova