How you became interested in photography and also it is very experimental too, why you choose that route?
photography was always something that interested me, perhaps because at my parents’ house there were always photographs, everywhere, of the whole family. Photos that told true stories of my ancestors, my own story. People who lived inside those images, and who he had never met.
For me photography is the information of my soul, expression of my desires, sadness and joy. The intensity and the passive of my feelings.
The experimental part began in the laboratory, what we call dark room, I always tried to keep full frame, not cropped so much, the entire image, what my eye saw, printed. There I found the magic, the game, and the purest artistic expression of analog photography. There, inside the laboratory, I understood that behind an image, there is a magical world, and how wonderful it is to go through that infinite adventure, full of sensations. It is literally living your own freedom of expression. When digital photography started I stuck to the basics, I never virtually transformed my work with the available tools, I always stuck to my stuff, which is what I do best.
I love that your photography is about self discovery and how the outside world affected you. Could you tell me a bit about that?
Everything is always connected, it is a mirror, it reflects your personality, it is not always your reality, but behind an image of you is you, that does not mean that my photographic work is about me, as a person. I always want to tell stories, many inspired by dreams, others by locations, that inspire me. Many times I have had the valuable collaboration of models, artists, dancers, actors, who have given me their beauty and their imagination. Everything is embodied in the sequences, series. I always felt that my camera is me. How does the outside affect me? I only adapt, I incorporate it, many times it is very painful and sad, but I rescue the beauty where sometimes there is only pain. I have been lucky enough to receive spontaneous feedback about my work, wonderful messages, full of profound feelings, of hidden truths. They have told me that they see a photo and already know that it is mine, that gives me the certainty that springs from the image, that inspires sensations, that motivates others and listening to that makes me feel very happy. Because I really love my job.
How your book, called “Dark tears started”?
The story of my book Dark Tears began, through my friend and colleague Jenny Papalexandris, who saw in my images the potential to make a book, she who had the idea to introduce my work to Jurek Wajdowicz and his team Emerson Wajdowicz Studio , with whom we had an immediate connection and the magic of Dark Tears happened. The book flowed thanks to the team that designed it and the extraordinary work that was done together. Published by The New Press, in the USA for the LGTB foundation in NYC.
I have a lot to be thankful for, every day that passes I love my book and the collection it belongs to more, surrounded by great photographers from all over the world, helping a wonderful and just cause. Artivism is felt and appreciated in each book. Thanks to all those people who told me their stories and let me take pictures of them, friends who gave me their love and support and unconditional help.
Thank you very much Claudia for your interview with us at BKC Magazine
Thanks to you
Claudia Jares
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Website: https://claudiajares.com/
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