Words and Images by Yvonne Venegas

Photo Edited by Kelly Woodyard

How did you develop this series?

It began with the question about my maternal grandfathers orphanhood. I had a very superficial knowledge of what happened to him, and I wanted to learn more and hopefully change something by learning about it and honoring it. The town where it happened is a small mining town called Santa Rosalia, that overlooks the sea of Cortez, in the middle of the peninsula of Baja California, and it is very hard to get to. I began to do trips, to arrive to it in different routes, visiting as many towns as I could, meeting local people while also collaborating with actors and dancers. I wanted to find my own identity when photographing landscape, and I found that I tried to find intimacy in it.

What challenges came up during this project?

This was the first time that I did a project with such an open geography, so in the beginning I had a lot of fears of not getting any images. I followed my intuition anyway, and eventually I learned that I didn’t need to plan too much.

Describe your creative process in one word?

Transformation

What inspires you to pursue image-making?

I feel connected and interested in the world most when I am photographing. I love being guided by light and people around me. I feel the world looks completely different when I have the intention of taking pictures. Even when not, I love looking at light how it touches everything. I have gotten back into drawing, and remembered it was my first approach to a visual practice way before I did photography. I feel that when I am there, time goes by so much faster, I can never get enough.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

I discovered Rebeca Solinit just recently, and her book Notes on the art of getting lost moved me, inspired me and I felt connected to most of what she talked about in the book. Also her book Wanderlust, as I not too long ago got into the practice of walking long distances.

What advice would you give to people just starting out in photography?

Focus on what you feel about the images you are doing, and focus on photographing things that really move you. The rest will work itself out.

What is your favorite thing (podcast, album, audio book...etc.) to listen to?

I love A Brush With podcast with Ben Luke, and I listen to a lot of audiobooks lately mostly spiritual. I am now reading a book called The Culture of the Copy that is about likenesses and has a few things on twins. My twin recommended it to me.

How do you take your coffee?

Sometimes black, sometimes with lots of almond milk.