Paloma al Aire

Paloma al Aire is Ricardo Cases's vivid portrait of colombicultura, a little-known Spanish sport in which fluorescent-dyed pigeons are trained to chase, rather than outrace, a single female through the sky.

Published in 2011 by Dewi Lewis in a spiral-bound softback of 74 pages (and the same year in Spain by Photovision), the book's 43 color photographs follow the colombicultura clubs of Valencia and Murcia, where handlers invest years and considerable resources training male pigeons, painted in bold, flag-like color combinations, whose success is measured not by speed but by the persistence and intensity of their courtship display. Cases documents the men who run behind their birds through fields and rooftops, turning an obscure regional pastime into a study of aspiration, ritual, and belonging.

Cases, born in Orihuela, Spain, in 1971, trained as a journalist before turning to photography focused on the customs and subcultures of rural Spain. Paloma al Aire, his third photobook, was included in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's The Photobook: A History, Volume III and remains among the defining works of contemporary Spanish documentary photography.