Reference code

CAT INSPAI 69

Level of description

Collection

Title

Manel Lladó Aliu Fonds (in process)

Date(s)

Dates of creation and addition: 1984-2021

Volume and support

Between 150,000 and 250,000 photographs, with 10 × 15 paper prints; polyester plastic and cellulose acetate plastic negatives, 35 mm format, 10 × 15 cm, silver gelatin chemical development, black and white and color, slides and JPEG digital images.

Name of producer(s)

Manel Lladó Aliu

Producer history

Manel Lladó Aliu (Girona, September 26, 1961) is a Catalan photojournalist. He is the son of Manel Lladó, one of the architects behind the independence of the town of Salt and a prominent sports activist. He began taking photographs as an amateur and was self-taught, portraying everything related to social and street reportage in Salt and the surrounding area. In 1984, he began taking courses, seminars and pursuing theoretical and practical photography studies on social reportage, portraiture, studio photography, fashion and photojournalism at Institut d¿Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya (IEFC). He worked as a photographer for the tabloid magazine Lecturas and the agency Cover in Madrid, covering the region of Girona. He also contributed to different regional and national media such as Interviu, Panorama, Abc, Diari de Galicia, El 9 Nou and La Vanguardia, among others. Until 1991, he also did photographic work in the fields of fashion and advertising. In 1991 he joined the newspaper team at El Punt as a graphic editor, and in 1992 he was named the newspaper¿s director of photography. He has contributed to the production of 17 tourist books about the regions of Girona, Osona and Andorra, together with the journalist Pep Collelldemont, including Les masies d¿Aiguaviva, an extensive guide to nearly a hundred country houses in the municipality of Aiguaviva. Since 1998, he has also contributed to local magazines and other publications that publish his images. He has held individual and group exhibitions in Girona, Barcelona and Lleida, as well as in different centres and festivals such as the Maremàgnum in Barcelona, the Olot Photography Biennial, the Casal Català in Madrid, the French town of Albi, the College of Journalists of Catalonia, and in seven editions of the journalism exhibition Premsa Gràfica in Girona. He is a member of the photographic group Nou de 9 that promotes the dissemination of photography and the visual arts. He has also participated as a judge in different regional and national photography competitions and has taught photography classes at the amateur level. He currently combines his work for the newspaper El Punt with other portrait projects and with the compilation of old images such as ¿Una nova mirada de Valentí Fargnoli¿ for the magazine Revista de Girona, where he recreates a hundred years later some of the many pictures that Valentí Fargnoli took of the province of Girona, with text by Pere Bosch.

Archive history

The fonds was kept at the producer¿s home. When the fonds was assessed for acquisition by INSPAI, Centre de la Imatge, the material was in excellent condition, as it had been placed in well-preserved plastic and, especially, glassine sleeves (for the 35 mm negatives). Overall, it was necessary to adapt the conservation material to each type of image and remove any dust. The color photographs suffered from color loss, a common occurrence in this type of photograph, due to age and materials. The images were organized in albums, and the chronology and subject matter were written on the outside of the folders. Inside each folder, on the first page, was a descriptive list of all the contents, the chronology, and the glassine sheets that contained these reports. At the top of each page was a short descriptive sentence about all the reports including the dates. Each report was numbered and related to its paper copies based on that number and the location of the negative so that the original of the copy could always be found. As for the digital images, there are lists of everything that is preserved. The author sent a selection of 8 or 9 images to the newspaper and kept the rest of the report, although he always removed poorly focused or badly executed images, which he then eliminated. Since 1998, he has been choosing or selecting the best images and prints. He has placed them in albums which he did not donate to INSPAI, for now, since he uses them for his own enjoyment. It was decided that the fonds would be donated in three installments, in a maximum of four years. The submission blocks are as follows: ¿ First installment: Approximately 68,000 images from October 1984 to 2000, mostly black and white. Completed on April 12, 2022. ¿ Second installment: images from October 1984 to 2000, mostly in color. ¿ Third installment: images with dates between 2002 and the present, digital in JPEG format. Until September 2022, the first delivery of images from the fonds has been made.

Details of entry

The Diputació de Girona accepted Manel Lladó¿s proposal by agreement of the Governing Board on December 21, 2021. On March 22, 2022 the loan transfer and subsequent donation agreement was signed by the Diputació de Girona and Manel Lladó. On March 22, 2022, the first part of the fonds was acquired, in accordance with the easement agreement between INSPAI and the photographer.

Scope and content

The Manel Lladó Aliu personal fonds is a private and personal photographic fonds. Its authorship and ownership of the photographs that make it up pertain to Manel Lladó. The fonds is the result mainly of the producer¿s professional activity. It constitutes a graphic memory of Girona¿s counties, based on the photographer¿s work as a photojournalist in different media. The author has also worked with other types of photographic subjects such as advertising, fashion, studio portraits, weddings, nature and heritage. In 1984 he started working as a photojournalist. His first report was on the inauguration of the Europa square in Girona. This is an important collection of analog and digital photography, including silver gelatin prints. Subject matter includes nature photography, gallery photography, aerial photography, heritage photography, commercial postcards, photojournalism, social life and events, politics, happenings, urban planning, portraits and public figures and social photography, among others. The timeline spans from 1984 to approximately 2021. The geographical scope is mainly Girona counties, Barcelona counties and Catalonia. The photographs are of high technical quality and great importance due to the subject matter. Approximately, half of the fonds is in black and white and the other half is in color.In 2000 he began to make the transition to digital photography. The most important subject matter in the fonds, according to its creator, is related to the places where he has worked. This includes: 1. Photojournalism 2. Aiguaviva 3. Nature photographs. 4. Aerial photos of the region of Girona. 5. Studio photographs of models. 6. Digital images, most the result of photojournalism, from 2000 to the present day. As a photojournalist, Manel Lladó covered the region of Girona as well as Barcelona counties. As a result, the fonds also contains subject mattter described above that corresponds to areas in Barcelona.

Conditions for access

Free and open access. Regarding the permission of the models in the studio photographs, Manel Lladó needs to provide copies to be able to use them, or inform the affected people that the fonds is now managed by INSPAI. As such, a legal review is necessary.

Related documentation

Author and date(s)

Lydia Ballester, August 2022.

Sources

Administrative documentation related to the acquisition and technical treatment of the fonds. Descriptive lists provided by the photographer.