A few weeks ago we hosted a great aTable dinner and amongst our guests was Souloner. We sat down with the legend for a fun conversation and a ride through Madrid in his new Mercedes, or as he calls it "Mercho".
Read below, and check out some pics after the jump.
Over the last decade, Souloneryounger has quietly become one of Spain's most recognizable photographers. His work has documented everything from sneaker culture and everyday life in Madrid to countless trips through New York, always through a perspective that feels instinctive, honest, and unmistakably his own. While social media has undoubtedly amplified his work, it never feels like the driving force behind it. The photographs always come first.
Long before photography became his profession, though, there was graffiti. Before campaigns, clients and collaborations, there was simply a kid from Moratalaz looking for a name that felt right. We sat down with Soul to talk about where it all began, how photography slowly found its way into his life, and why, despite everything that's changed, the things that matter most have remained exactly the same.
"Nobody knows me as Álvaro. Not even my dad calls me Álvaro."
He laughs before continuing.
For more than twenty years, everyone has simply known him as Soul. It's a name that's followed him through every stage of his life, from graffiti to photography, from his first camera to the work that now reaches hundreds of thousands of people online.
The story behind it is far less calculated than most people would expect.
"I was about thirteen. Everyone in my class already had a tag. All the kids who were into hip-hop had one, and it actually took me almost a full year to come up with something I liked."
Unlike many graffiti names, there wasn't a hidden meaning or elaborate backstory waiting behind it.
"I was leaving school one day when someone handed me a flyer for a youth party called Soul Train. Around the same time, I was playing Getting Up on PlayStation, where the main character's name is Trane. I didn't want people thinking I'd copied the game, so I dropped the 'Train' and kept 'Soul'."
Two decades later, nothing has changed.
"I've been Soul ever since."
Although he was born in Torrejón de Ardoz, Soul grew up between Torrejón and Moratalaz. Ask him which place feels like home, though, and the answer comes almost immediately.
"Moratalaz. Always."
Like so many stories from that generation, graffiti became the doorway into everything else. Painting walls naturally led to hip-hop, hip-hop led to rap, rap led to films, and before long there was another place occupying his imagination.
"It all started with the music. Music and movies."
Long before he ever visited New York, the city already existed in his head. Growing up in the early 2000s, it represented something much bigger than a destination. It was where the culture came from, where the records he listened to were made, where the stories he watched on screen unfolded.
"It always felt like the place where everything happened. The city of opportunity."
Listening almost exclusively to East Coast rap only deepened that fascination.
"For me, the greatest rappers have always come from the East Coast."
Photography didn't arrive through a carefully mapped-out career path. If anything, it slowly worked its way into his life while he was focused on entirely different things.
At the time, Soul was trying to balance school, athletics and a job at Foot Locker, squeezing as much as he could into every day until eventually something had to give.
"I was training early in the morning, going to school afterward, then working at Foot Locker. There just weren't enough hours in the day."
Leaving school wasn't part of some master plan. It was simply the decision that made the most sense at the time. He continued training, kept working and started taking photography jobs whenever they appeared. Looking back now, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
Sneaker culture was entering one of its defining moments.
"Supreme. Jordan 1s. Yeezys... it all happened at once."
Working in retail naturally pulled him closer to footwear, but it was never about chasing hype.
"I never liked the reselling side of it. I hated missing out on a pair because someone bought a hundred of them. The hustle is the hustle, I understand that. But it always pissed me off. What I loved was finally getting the shoe and taking pictures of it."
Like most people photographing sneakers back then, his early work revolved around on-foot shots. Over time, though, both the industry and his own eye evolved.
"I think sneakers are more beautiful when you treat them like objects. The lighting matters. The laces matter. Every little detail matters."
Rather than documenting a sneaker, he began building an image around it. Less about showing the product, more about giving it presence.
