Positive Magazine interviewed a new photographer: Daniel Espinoza. He was born in Mexico City in 1979 and he lives and works in Zürich.
Daniel focuses his work in photography and collage. While studying for his degree in Engineering in Mexico City and following his passion, Daniel undertook different courses in photography and worked profusely in the dark room polishing his technique. Since then, he has developed his practice relying largely on passion and instinct and by completing diploma studies in contemporary photography, art history and art critique. After living in England and Spain, in 2010 Daniel moved to Zürich where he started to mature his photographic ideas and to craft his own style. In 2015 Daniel founded and started curating analog magazine, a space dedicated to promote new and more established talents working with analog techniques. Daniel still works with analog cameras as this is his preferred photographic medium.
When did you start to think about photography?
At a very young age because my dad is also a photo enthusiast who gave me a kodak 110 camera when I was 7 or 8 years old to take pictures of our family trips and celebrations. Then for long time it was just another hobby for me, until recently when I started to study art history and contemporary photography.
What does photography mean to you? and which kind of photography do you like more?
Photography for me is a mean of expression, it is a way to tell stories or to say things with images that I can’t say with words. I preferably enjoy minimal and simple images that are very expressive at the same time. I like those apparently insignificant things or moments that mark me deeper and can make an impression on the viewer.
When you take a portrait, what is important for you?
I personally like natural portraits where you can see into the soul of the sitter, and to achieve this I think that it is important to create a relaxed atmosphere and to observe in advance the natural moves and gestures of the people to be photographed.
Do you think it’s important to attend to a photography school to learn how to shoot?
Not necessarily because your style is something that you can only discover by yourself, by practicing a lot. However guidance and criticism is very important during this process but you can find this also in other places and not only in school.
What’s the photo you want to take and you never did?
I have several memories from childhood and adolescence that I would have loved to capture in photos and never did, however an interesting project would be to recreate those moments.
What’s your photo-mission?
I would like to encourage people to approach photography in a more thoughtful way. With all this image-rush that we are experiencing now, I think that it is important to slow down and think before taking so many photos. And in this way we could also explore the artistic side of photography.
