Through Their lens : Interview I Daniela espindola
“One common stance against photography as art is that photography captures reality rather than creating a subjective reality, which is what ‘real art’ does.”
As a photographer, I have repeatedly felt as though, my work is seen as “less valuable”. To learn more on the topic and how it is affecting other local creatives, BrassTuna has decided to sit down and interview two local photographers while also inviting them into the Brasstuna studio and step in front of the camera.
(In Partnership with ECBE)
Hey Daniela, it’s great to talk to you. Let’s start with a question focused on where you find your inspiration. Would you mind sharing with our readers, who is the most influential person in your life? If not a person, then what location influences your outlook or perspective?
“When I think about the most influential person in my life, I do take a while to truly think about my answer. I am constantly surrounded by people who positively influence me and inspire me to become the person I am today but they each have their own ways they are influential to me. No one inspires me the same way another person will. But to answer this specifically it will have to be my mother. My journey with art did not start with film photography, it actually started with drawing and painting- I was about 10 years old when I started to go through sketch books and paints like crazy and my mother loved it. For her it was not much about me becoming an artist, it was about finding something I truly enjoyed doing and being proud of my own work. “
“During these years of my life we had a lot of family challenges come our way, family challenges that have now become trauma to us so for her to see I had an outlet during these hard times meant she was going to become as supportive as she could. Once I started high school I stopped drawing and started doing film photography and my mom was just as supportive as she was before maybe even more. This type of support from my mom, from both my parents actually, mainly came from what we learn as we grow together. Growing up we did not have as much but like every other parent/guardian they still tried their best to give us everything we needed and for myself everything I got from my parents was the world- I did not want more and I did not need any more than what I was given. I get this perspective from my mom, she has taught me ways to be so grateful with what I have and with what I have earned and with what is to come towards me. My mom is pretty religious in ways that I am not so her prayers are always different from mine but she has taught me to wake up every single morning and be thankful for just that simple action of waking up, she has taught me be thankful every single night before going to bed because once again I got through the day, she taught me to be thankful for the food I ate every single day, and most importantly I grew up with her constantly reminding me that what mattered the most was my health mentally and physically and my happiness.”
“I remember weeks before I moved into my freshman college dorm she kept telling me that it was okay if school was something I did not want to do, she reminded me that just because I am first generation in our family doesn’t mean I have to pursue other people's dreams, only my own. She told me that if at any point of my college career I did not want to continue that would be okay. She made sure the decision I made was clear and for myself and not others or even my family. She taught me to separate what my family would like to see me accomplish to what I wanted to see myself accomplish. She reminds me every day that what I choose to do with my life she will always be there and will always be as supportive as she can. Because of this type of support I am able to do what I love and I am able to see myself accomplish what I want to accomplish. She inspires me to become a woman filled with joy, filled with power that I am far more capable to do things that are meant for myself and not for others but at the same time she inspires me to give back to people and allow people to see the beauty and greatness I have towards my friends and community. Because of her support towards my journey with life I am constantly inspired to chase my own drive and become a person for myself and myself only.”
For our next question let’s pretend you get to sit down with your 6-year-old self. What advice would you give them?
“Advice I would give my 6 year old self sounds pretty simple but I think it holds power; I will tell myself that “I am okay, things will turn out okay, and if I am not doing okay I will find ways to become better.” I say this because I grew up being an anxious child, I was afraid to try new things, afraid to stand out in the crowd, afraid of embarrassment. I was a cautious child. As an adult now I sort of still am, not too much but I do carry some anxiety here and there but who doesn't? But when I constantly remind myself to feel the present and feel that I will be okay and if I am not I will work to become okay, it eases all that anxiety and/or fear of trying new things. I also went through a lot of challenges growing up specifically after I turned 5 and I think if I had awareness about the fact that I will be okay no matter what I could’ve taken certain things with some ease rather than constantly panicking. My present is proof that I am okay, I have accomplished so many amazing goals despite any fear or challenges that got in the way. I think my 6 year old self will be overwhelmed by everything I have been through but they will also be proud that I still pulled through and I am continuing to move along.”
Yes! I love to hear that! Everything I do as an artist comes from the perspective of what my 6-year-old self would’ve wanted to see. So it makes me so happy to hear that you continuously get through those challenges. I know your younger self not only would be proud, but is proud of you!
For our next question, please tell our readers what art means to you. What is the importance of art in your life?
“Art to me means freedom and expression, it means an escape. Art to me is fun and it's constantly evolving, it means beauty and love and community. It can mean everything and anything. The importance of art in my life is the fact that in art I am the creator. I can create art that is intentional or unintentional but it's art to me and it matters. I definitely took a long time to truly realize that art is anything I create. There are no rules to art. I used to be self conscious of my own art and what I created felt like it had no meaning or intention especially to an audience. But once I took a moment to think about what art truly means to ME, that self consciousness goes away because I knew that no matter what there will always be someone enjoying my art even if it is one individual at least I made that individual see and enjoy a piece of art that I created. There are times where my film photography becomes very random and at times non intentional or even small but those same pictures have been part of art shows that people genuinely enjoyed. Moments like these truly taught me that art really can be anything I make and it can have meaning or no meaning, just a fun art piece that is created . It can express all the emotions and more and it can even express a sense of nothingness and it still becomes art.”
As photographers, we’ve all been trained to view the world in different ways than most. Please tell our readers, what sets you apart from the rest?
How would you describe your style of photography?
'“I can describe my style of photography as random but also intentional. I enjoy taking pictures of anything, anywhere and at any time. I carry my camera around with me and if I see a place or a moment I think is worth capturing I take a picture of it. But also sometimes I just take pictures to see how it might look on color film or on black and white film. I think my photography style also connects to what I think art is.”
‘The simple action of taking a picture involves creating what you’re about to capture; you have to take a pause, put the scene in frame and press that magic button that will capture the picture and onto the film. The exciting (and somewhat annoying) part is not being able to immediately see how the picture came; we have to wait for the film to be developed and then scan those negatives. There is even art in that; the behind the scenes to film photography is art. I also think that is what sets me apart from other photographers; I am able to hand pick pictures from a roll of film that can have a mixture of non intentional pictures with pictures that took planning. Multiple of my pictures that have been showcased in art shows were usually pictures that were either taken out of nowhere or a planned photoshoot and I believe that that's what I enjoy about my photography; I find beauty and meaning in every single picture even after taking random pictures.”
Next, let’s talk a bit more about your works and the stories you set out to tell.
Would you mind telling us about the most valuable and important stories you’ve told, and what they’ve meant to you?
‘I do not take portraits as much but I have done portrait photoshoots about twice: once in high school and once in college. I think capturing portraits of people holds a lot of power and it can say so much just by one picture. The first portrait photoshoot was to tell a story of cancer survivors. These individuals were specifically teachers in my high school. I did this photoshoot to portray that after going through life changing difficulties there is still so much power and strength and beauty within these people.”
“My other portrait photoshoot was in college and it was to portray the beauty of this individual; I wanted them to feel confident, beautiful and powerful for who they are and for the beauty that they hold. I specifically love these two portrait photoshoots because they were shot in black and white film, so even without any color all these portraits came out so beautiful and held so much power and it made the people in front of the camera feel beautiful and powerful. That's one of the things I want to bring into this project; I want to capture the beauty of people and I want them to feel beautiful, powerful and confident.”
“Another set of pictures I hold a lot of value to is the pictures I shot for the photo show “La Finikera.” This show was to show all the beauty there is in the city of Phoenix. My heart holds a special place for this city, I grew up in Phoenix and my entire childhood happened in Phoenix. I spent so many afternoons and nights out in Downtown Phoenix all through high school. My most fun and memorable memories happened in Phoenix. So when I was asked to participate in this show I was way more than delighted; especially because I moved to Tempe for college and since I started college I don’t spend nearly as much time as I used to in Phoenix. For this photo show I had to go out and I did a photo walk all through Downtown Phoenix and captured as many moments as I could. These set of pictures will always have a special meaning to me because it relates to the city that hold a part of my life.”
As we reach the end of our interview, I want to touch on a topic surrounding those who are coming into the arts after us. We as artists must try our hardest to make a difference in our communities to in turn make art more accessible for generations to come.
Let’s say you are giving a speech or a talk to a room full of high school students. What advice would you give them? What would you want them to know?
“I would tell them to never stop creating, even when your art might feel so small in this world there will always be an audience for all sorts of art including our own. I would tell them that art will constantly be evolving and it's okay to be different and unique and make crazy art out of all sorts of things. I would tell them that art should be fun and it should provide a sense of relief and expression. It's okay to take breaks from creating; even if it's two months or two years, art should not be something that makes you feel tied down or ashamed because you are not constantly creating art on a day to day basis. I would tell them to use what they are feeling to create art. If you are angry at the world; create.'“
“If you are sad; create. If you are feeling anxious, scared, or literally anything, create something. Making art out of our own expressions and perspectives will always be our best work. I would tell them to never feel small in the world of art, it can be hard sometimes but art is for everyone and someone in this gigantic world will enjoy the art we create. I would also tell them that no one will support their own art more than the person creating it. It's okay to feel proud and good about your art, it's what you need in order to constantly grow because no one will have your back more than your own self so might as well be your number one supporter in your art. I would tell them that it’s okay to be different and if the idea feels crazy but if it is capable of accomplishing then do it. Nothing will feel better than accomplishing something or creating something that you were told was too crazy or unique for this world, it's truly what the world needs. A constant evolution of art.”
That concludes our interview today, I want to give a special thanks to Daniela Espindola for finding the time to join us in the BrassTuna studio.
I also want to give a huge Thank You to ExpiredCitizensByElad for providing our participants with custom 1 of 1 garments to model in studio.
You can find Daniela on their Instagram: @_daaniela_e
You can find ECBE on their Instagram: @expiredcitizensbyelad