Session1 - What/how/why

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FIRST VERSION

• WHAT (105 words)

The project “Familiar landscapes” is a photographic approach and reinterpretation of the photographic archive of my family. It is composed by digital pictures of analog photographs but also takes different other mainly but also takes the form of a photobook “essay”. There are different series on it, labelled by formal aspects such as the quality (color, the kind of film) or the size. The period of the in The original along photographs were taken in the 60s and 70s mainly in the city of Alicante and in the village where they were born, near Guadalajara, corresponding to my mother and my aunt’s childhood and youth.

• HOW (100 words)

I started digitalizing analog photographs with my Camera Nikon D610 and a lens of 50mm: I also used a Canon 5D with a macro lens. As I didn’t have the right materials to digitalize it in the best way/quality, I used my flash and other light sources that I found at home (I did it during the lockdown). While digitalizing the analog photos, I found random material qualities that (such as reflections? due to the brightness of the paper or designs and writings) engraved in them that I found interesting and that besides the information of the image itself.

• WHY (128 words)

In the summer 2021 I collected all the photographs of my family which were almost abandoned in the house of my grandparents in the seaside. I found that during the lockdown I would have enough time to clarify and digitalize it. Every summer since I was a child I looked to these photos and tried to figure out the relationship between my mother, my aunt and my grandparents, and the none of them were keen? to talk and express their feelings, that is why there are a lot of aspects of their lives (and also mine) that were never spoken or shared. By “re-photographing” or “re-interpreting” this images I found a way of “depict” and “express” or “represent” the silence and anxiety of the familiar story.

SECOND VERSION

(780 words)

The project “Familiar landscapes” is a photographic approach and reinterpretation of the photographic archive of my family. It is composed by 400 digital pictures of 250 analogue photographs, so there are several digital photos for every analogue photo. There are different series on it, based on material qualities such as color, reel type, size or condition. In contrast with analogue photographs, digital ones aim to show another image within the primitive image by hiding or showing specific content. The original analogue photographs were taken in the 60s and 70s in the childhood and youth of my mother and my aunt, in the city of Alicante and in the village where they were born in the countryside, near Guadalajara.

I started digitalizing the familiar archive in the domestic space during the lockdown in 2020. I did it by taking pictures with my Camera Nikon D610 and a zoom lens Tamron 35-70mm f2.8. I also used a Canon 5D with a macro lens. As I didn’t have the right materials (for example a scan) to get the best digital quality image, I used my flash and other light sources that I found at home.

In this process, depending on the type of paper of the analogue photograph, the incidence or direction of the light or the brightness of the paper I found random material qualities, such as reflections or designs and writings engraved in the photographic paper. These chance and random discoveries were the beginning of the project and made me reflect of the hidden information that a material photography can have. In other words, how the material can speak of the image beyond the image.

In the summer 2019 I collected all the photographs of my family which were almost abandoned and jumbled up in boxes in the house of my grandparents in the seaside. The initial purpose was its conservation so I thought that during the lockdown I would have enough time to classify, restore and digitalize it. Then, the discoveries I experienced made me take another way, leading to this project.

Every summer since I was a child I looked to these photos and tried to figure out the relationship between my mother, my aunt and their parents, none of them were keen nor able to talk and express their feelings, that is why there are a lot of aspects of their lives (and also mine) that were never spoken or shared.

By re-photographing these images I found a metaphorical and aesthetic way of depicting and expressing the silence and the unknown of the familiar story.