Boots and laces

Words: Jordi Borrull

Images: Jordi Borrull

I am Jordi Borrull, a catalan graphic designer and art director based in Barcelona, but football has held an important place in my life for many years beyond my professional work.

I don’t experience it only as a sport, but as a cultural, social and visual phenomenon.

It is at this intersection between the aesthetic and the emotional that analogue photography appears, becoming my way of observing and connecting with football.

Every time I travel to a stadium, I take my analogue camera with me, along with one or two rolls of film.

I’m not looking for the perfect play or the decisive goal.

What interests me is everything that happens around the match: people arriving, the surroundings of the stadium, the stands before they fill up, the architecture, the worn colours, old signage and pre-match rituals.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Real Sporting de Gijón.

All of this builds a club’s identity and often goes unnoticed.

Analogue photography forces me to slow down. There is no screen, no instant review, no endless correction.

Every frame matters, and that completely changes the way you look. There is intuition, patience and an acceptance of mistakes.

This process connects strongly with how I understand football: imperfect, unpredictable and emotional.

Not everything turns out as expected, and that is where much of its beauty lies.

To me, stadiums are cultural spaces. They are places where memories, defeats, celebrations and silences accumulate.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Asturias.

Each one has its own personality and rhythm.

Some impress through their size, others through their history. Photographing these spaces on film is a way of respecting that memory, of capturing it without artifice or haste.

My background as a graphic designer and art director directly shapes the way I see things.

I pay close attention to composition, number typography, colour relationships, natural light and how time leaves its mark on materials.

From this perspective, football is also a visual exercise: identity, symbols, aesthetic coherence and narrative.

Once the film is developed, sharing these images on social media feels like a natural extension of the process.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Club Atlético Osasuna.

I’m not chasing the perfect image or empty nostalgia, but trying to convey a feeling, an atmosphere, a small story.

I’m interested in connecting with others who understand football in a similar way: as something that is lived, remembered and interpreted.

This personal project is born from curiosity and from a love of two worlds that, to me, are deeply connected.

Analogue photography and football share values such as memory, identity and the passing of time.

Through this perspective, I try to reclaim the stadium as a cultural space and football as something that goes far beyond the final score.

Because football isn’t only played. It is also observed, felt and, sometimes, photographed.

Before we take off our boots, we must undo our laces.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. CF Estudiantes.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Real Zaragoza.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Club Atlético Osasuna.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. AC Milan.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Real Sporting de Gijón.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. SD Huesca.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Real Sporting de Gijón.

©Jordi Borull/ Terrace Edition. Real Zaragoza.

©Jordi Borrull/ Terrace Edition. Asturias.

Jordi is on Instagram: @jrborrull