José Torregrosa gana el VI Concurso de Fotografía Erótica de Sanfermin con una imagen de la juerga del Chupinazo

The snapshot shows a typical warming-up scene as the crowd waits for the Chupinazo rocket to go off to open the Sanfermin fiestas. The photo was taken by the Pamplona photographer, José Torregrosa and it has been given the title “La Diosa de la Juerga” (‘The Goddess of the Rave-Up’). The Jury has selected it as the winning photo of this VI Sanfermin Erotic Photo Competition and it receives the first prize of 1.500 euro. The snapshot was taken about an hour and a half before the opening rocket was set off in front of Pamplona City Hall. It shows a girl baring her breasts in front of a packed crowd who admire her with interest. The president of the jury, Mikel Urmeneta, observes that “the figure of the women does not at all suggest a sexual object but rather she stands out like some kind of huge goddess of the party scene before an admiring largely masculine public who are transfixed by a mixture of amusement and stunned under her power. Without a doubt, she is in control of the scene”.

José Torregrosa is a 63 year-old man from Pamplona and he has been an enthusiastic amateur photographer for many years. His snapshot has come out on top from the 231 entries sent in by 66 different authors. The Jury praised the composition of the photo as well as the technique found in the image and the precise moment when the girl exhibits herself and how she seems to dazzle the throng of people packed together in the square shortly before the fiestas take off.

José María Sanchón, editor of Playboy magazine and a member of the jury points out that ” The classic image of the fiestas which I have always had of the Sanfermin fiestas is that of the bulls, in the line of the Hemingway novel, but it is clear that I have got it wrong. Now, with all the photos entered for the competition, I can see that there is a strong element of the American style Spring Break. The notes of the Mardi Gras from New Orleans, like the “flashing” in the winning photo – I mean showing off her breasts in public – there is a strong suggestion of those wild bawdy university movies with a whiff of kalimotxo booze in the air.”

Torregrosa and his camera have had a long relationship with the Sanfermin fiestas. Just recently Torregrosa finally got rid of the plaster around his forearm which he has had ever since the 12th of July this year. The accident happened during the running of the bulls on the 12th right in the middle of the fiestas when a runner, trying to get away from a bull, knocked José Torregrosa off the wooden fencing where he was seated and which resulted in a broken bone.

His winning photo was taken at 10.34 in the morning of the 6th of July and he used a Nikon D300S a shutter speed of 1/250, to 200 of Iso, f/8 of diaphragm and an 18-135 mm lens. That camera came to a sorry end at the time of the accident to his forearm when it was completely destroyed in his fall.