Making a Moment: Tania Revela and the Healing Power of Self Portraits

In our article series, Making a Moment, we’re asking photographers to share one of their favorite photos that they’ve taken. We want to know the story behind the final image and everything that went into making it.

Tania Revela (@moda_daniela) is a photographer from Mexico whose work is mainly focused on self-portrait and daily life. She has a particular passion for Lomography cameras as their unique features help her to create a surreal and dreamy aesthetic in her photos. Tania tells us she first discovered Lomography in 2011 and fell completely in love. 12 years later she now boasts a large collection of Lomography cameras and is a much admired member of our community, having twice been a winner of our TEN AND ONE Annual Lomography Photo Awards. As if that’s not enough she is also the co-creator of Film In Dreams, a store selling cameras, film and goods related to analogue photography.

Today we welcome Tania to the magazine to tell us about one of her most meaningful self portraits.

Tania: This is my favorite photo because I was able to transform my sadness and insecurity into a gloomy self-portrait which transmits the melancholic feeling that I want to reflect in my photography. I like its darkness and the way my face is hidden by the branches of a strange tree. I have had self-esteem issues for several years, particularly about my face. That's why I tried to hide it in most of my self-portraits. I'm always looking for creative ways to do it.

I used the Diana F+ loaded with Ilford HP5. I love the type of images that I can create with this camera which is one of my favorites. Additionally, a tripod and a human self-timer was necessary to do the picture.

Sometimes my brother helps me to do my self-portraits. We went to a lake near my house, I put the camera in the right place and then my brother pressed the shutter release button when I was ready. The photo was taken in the afternoon. I thought a lot about the dark atmosphere I wanted to create, fortunately it was a cloudy day, so this gave me the perfect amount of light.

I was very sad while I took this picture because negative thoughts appeared that day as a result of an anxiety crisis. Even though I try to express sorrowful emotions with this photo, I feel better when I see it because I realize I can do something beautiful with my pain.

Photography is like therapy. Taking self-portraits it's the best way for me to understand my mind when the words get stuck. So this helps me to increase my self-esteem and improve my mental health.

To see more of Tania's photography be sure to follow her at her LomoHome. and on Instagram.

In this series of articles we're asking you to share the story behind your favorite photo. Interested in being featured? Email alex.gray@lomography.com with the subject line - Making a Moment.

2023-07-02 #people #making-a-moment #black-and-white #experimental #community #diana-f #making-a-moment alexgray の記事