You’re a self-taught film photographer. What is your go-to film stock, and why do you prefer film over digital?
I think that there's a softness [with film]; it is very forgiving on different skin. I mean, digital can do that too; you can emulate digital to look like film now. It's ridiculous. But I think starting out as a film photographer has taught me how to be really intentional with my shots. So it's funny because when I'm in other spaces where I'm shooting for big clients, and we have to shoot digital and it's on the screen, they're like, 'What the hell! You don't take a lot of photos.' [Film] has taught me how to be very selective with each shot. It's like a meditative thing for me. I've also been exploring the darkroom so that's a whole other thing that I'm just obsessed with right now. Like actually having a process where I take the photo, and then after, this meditative process of being in a darkroom, and it's like alchemy that happens, you know? You can't get that from a digital session. Yeah, I just love film. I could talk about it for hours.
For the most part, I think I've developed a relationship with my lab guy where like he's able to know what I want. If you go to a generic lab, a lot of these photos look the same. It looks like they're just mass-producing these images. And then there's other film photographers where you see they have a style. There's a lot that goes into like how it's processed and scanned, and I feel like I've kind of developed a recipe with my lab guy to create an image that looks like and feels like me. I never want my photos to not feel like me.
Absolutely. And you said that you've been experimenting with the darkroom? How has that process been when it comes to being able to put more of yourself in your in your work? You have a lot more direct control over your photos in the darkroom.
That's why I wanted to do that, so I can have a little more control of how the image looks. It's been a steep learning curve, but also, it's weird, a lot of these things I kind of innately already knew, which is really cool. I feel like, for a while, I doubted my capabilities as a photographer, and then I get tested and I'm like, 'Oh shit! I actually do know what I'm doing.' But I don't know, maybe that's just being a woman in the creative industry. I feel like there's always a lingering layer of self-doubt, but I feel like the more skills I get, the more that voice just gets quiet. I'm just like, 'Oh, I actually do know what I'm talking about. They don't know what they're doing.' That's been a really empowering thing, going to YouTube university, and learning more about film photography and darkroom work. It's really empowered me as a photographer to take a little more chances and experiments.
After your busy year last year, do you have any upcoming projects that you would like to tell us about?
Well, I have my first global campaign that's coming out in the spring, which I'm really excited for. It's coming out in a couple months for like a very big brand. I shot that last year, and that was really, really cool. I've never experienced that type of production. The idea of a global brand, like the assets are different because you have to cater to different markets around the globe. And that was really challenging, but in a beautiful way. So I'm excited for that to come out.
In the spring, I've also been working on a book, like a coffee table book. I want it to be called, ¿De donde eres? as in, ‘Where are you from?’ A lot of times, I've experienced this where I'll be with my mom or family, and we're at the supermarket, and my mom finds comfort in seeing like, a woman or man that she can tell are not born in America, that they're immigrants, born in a different place. A lot of the times, when she'll greet them, whether it's literally the butcher or just someone getting spices next to her, she'll talk to them, and then the next thing that comes out of either of their mouths is, 'De donde eres?' I feel like that's a greeting thing that they do. Just like, 'Oh, I'm from El Salvador' or 'Oh, I'm from Mexico.' They have this camaraderie that's really special, and I feel like it's very unique to that experience that I want to capture in a book. So I think I'm going to be taking portraits of like just different folks from around California, and highlighting their immigrant stories.