Author:mena
The last shepherd of castelló. Ramón Aviñó In 1994 I made a photographic report on the last pastor of Castelló, aware at that time of the importance of the inevitable fact of the disappearance of a profession doomed to oblivion and absorbed by progress. Thank you Ramon. I have been privileged and I will always feel grateful for your kindness and that you have shared with me some of your secrets. Ethnographic document Ramon Aviñó Martínez is currently (2007) […]
Vicente Talens: heritage from a near past Text: Xavier Aznar and Jose Mena. Photography: Jose Mena. (This article was published on August 2010. Unfortunately, two years later our friend Vicente passed away, leaving us a legacy of incalculable value and an example of honesty, very difficult to find today in this hypocritical society full of rascals). We are shown, friendly and smiling, a silhouette mounted on the back of an old post-war bicycle, in which the traces of a history […]
The last shepherds of Caroig This article aims to show a brief introduction to the work I have done as a photographer in these lands, which will bring us closer to some unique characters who have gone unnoticed in our history, who have lived their lives in the silence of the roads and mountains. They have contributed to leaving an important mark on our culture and heritage. Anonymous, unknown and marginal beings for most of society, but enormously attractive to […]
Grazing in the Gúdar mountainsNotebooks of transhumance – N° 14 Texto completo en PDF: https://www.mapa.gob.es/es/desarrollo-rural/temas/politica-forestal/vias-pecuarias/num_13al24_vias_pecuarias.aspx “Every year, when the winter solstice arrives, and as has been happening for centuries, the mountain ranchers of Gúdar-Maestrazgo, after leaving their homes, move on foot through the cattle ranches, leading their herds to the coastal plains in search of the grass grown after the autumn rains.Later, around the summer solstice, when the sun begins to scorch the lowlands, it is the time when the […]
Wild nature of the Caroig Massif. Text: Neus Asensi Wild nature of the Caroig Massif is the title of this work in which the nature photographer Jose Mena has combined his effort and knowledge in photography and knowledge about the natural environment, making available to any nature lover a series of images captured in recent years. The photographer has focused his work on the Caroig Massif, where the Júcar river makes its way through mountains, forming a wild and overwhelming […]
The little owls of Castellet That gray and cold afternoon was declining and would soon give way to night. The freshness of the Xúquer and Albaida rivers extended pleasantly through the term. He stopped listening to the verse of the hoopoe, the song of the blackbird, the buzzing of the blowflies, and began to hear the hooting of the owls, the chirping of the crickets and the flutter of the bats. During the night, when the most absolute silence takes […]
The lady of the night In nature photography, chance practically does not exist, it is not improvised, the images have to be thoroughly worked on regardless of the animal being studied. Now, it is true that some photographs involve more elaboration than others, such as the one shown in this article, where it took three months to obtain acceptable results. The challenge that I proposed this time was not easy at all, it was about photographing an enigmatic being, a […]
Eagle owl in winter landscape Winter has fully touched the Caroig mountains and a white blanket of snow covers its hills and crests. I am in the heart of a huge region, possibly one of the wildest and most remote areas of the Valencian Country.I arrive in the vicinity of the Caroig peak, which gives its name to this colossal Massif. Up there, the thermometer shows -8ºC, it is 2:00 p.m. on December 20, 2009. Days ago, near the summit, […]
THE INTERSTELLAR BAT The Sierra of Tous belongs to the platform of the Caroig Massif, it stands out for its abrupt and harsh orography. In these mountains there are many ravines, springs, shelters, caves and chasms formed as a result of the limestone composition of the land. The Júcar river crosses it, wedged on its western side between an impressive vertical canyon of over 400 meters high. I begin the tour in the early afternoon, this time through the Barranco […]
It is curious to find out that one of the most representative and significant symbols of our territory, is at the time the most unknown by the Valencians. We are talking about the bat known in our town as the rat penà, which is the most widespread and popular name in the Valencian Community. The adjective “penada” comes from the Latin penatus, -a, -um, and means that it has wings.In the 2014 Festes Majors book I already talked about this […]
