Basque ethnography at a glance

Photographer Daniel Velez. Photo: Daniel Velez.

There are famous figures who remain unknown. The one we mention today is one of them. His name is Daniel Velez. Few Basques know who he is. However, most Basque people know him through his photographs. At 88 years old, you realize you are in the presence of an important witness to the last 60 years when he speaks about his career as a photographer.

Daniel Velez was a press photographer in Bayonne, primarily for the newspaper Sud-Ouest, from 1960 to 1998. Coincidentally, from the creation of ETA until the Lizarra Garazi massacre. He was at the centre of most of the historical events that occurred during that period.

Starting with Hemingway

He began taking photographs in the early 1960s in his father’s shop in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. One day, Velez’s father photographed the writer Ernest Hemingway in the Bayonne bullring. The next day, he sent his son to the writer and insisted he give him a copy of the previous day’s photograph. He kept that photograph of Hemingway for a long time. Several years ago, Daniel Velez donated it to the writer’s museum in Cuba.

Basque Country Culture

How can we forget September 18, 1970, when Joseba Elosegi set himself on fire in the Atano III fronton (pelota court) in Donostia-San Sebastián? As the time to return to Bayonne approached, Elosegi set his body ablaze in front of Franco. Following the advice of an old journalist, Velez always left a couple of photos on the roll of film, no matter what. Seeing Elosegi in flames, he took two photos, without fully understanding the image he was capturing. He followed the firefighters who were walking with the burned body and left. By chance, he ended up in Bayonne, taking the photos with him on his camera. Later, he learned that the Civil Guard had confiscated all the other photographers’ rolls of film.

Velez says: “Photography is 20% work and 80% coincidence.”

Most emotional memory: The Monbar murder

Whether by chance or professional conscience, during the time of the GAL terrorist group (1983-87), the photographer made a habit of taking a walk through Bayonne after work, as demonstrations were organized whenever they felt like it. He did the same on September 25, 1985, and arrived in front of the Monbar inn where the four Basque militants had just been murdered, becoming the first witness to the tragic event and giving the Basque Country the image of that dark and bloody day.

Ez dok Amairu

Vélez was also a privileged witness to the last charcoal burner in Banca, the last cheese shepherd and several professions that have disappeared or changed significantly.

Finally, who hasn’t seen this photo of the Zazpiribai group?

Zazpiribai Group. Author: Daniel Velez.

Following Ez Dok Amairu, this photograph of the Basque group Zazpiribai was taken in 1972, five minutes before the show began, backstage at the Bayonne Theatre.

Velez, more than on paper, holds all those moments he has gifted us in photographs, etched within his soul. We can see the work of this famous unknown in the book Une photo, une histoire (Daniel Velez, ZORTZIKO publishing house).

Pantxix Bidart Pla