About
Homepage → Berlin Segovia
My name is Berlin Segovia, a black & white film photographer currently attending School of Visual Arts as a sophomore. Recently I've been focusing on portraits of people close to me, documentation about the environment around my family, and studio work.
To begin this interview, could you tell us about a project you're currently working on?
I'm currently working on a series called 'Haunted by the Consequences From the Past,' which I've been working on for a couple of months. I'm using both film and digital mediums. I started with a draft photo a while back to get an idea how i wanted the photo to express. It explores the story of a girl self consciously haunted by Guilt itself.’
Also, I'm currently working on portraits of my parents and photographing where they grew up in Juarez Mexico. Witnessing my parents navigate through various challenges at different stages of their lives, while standing by each other's side and supporting one another, inspired me for this project. My aim is to showcase the beginning of their journey in this world and to narrate their unique story.
I've already seen some of the images—they're absolutely stunning! Would you mind sharing what inspired the creation of the series?
I wanted to sit down and really take my time with this series; in order to illustrate a personal story. I wanted to go through this series dissecting the emotions I experienced during this revealing period of time.
"Guilt has haunted me again, as different scenarios began to replay continuously in my mind; through the decisions I made in the past. lamentably I can't escape them. I surrendered my heart and kindness to guilt—wasn't I enough? Maybe for some time, it made me believe as if I had sold it to the devil, in return for this heavy weighted shame. It removed the beauty of life within my soul, preventing me from becoming someone I was supposed to be. Guilt realized who I could become began to zealously obstruct the essence of my identity."
This inspired me to write about my inability to go back in time and stopping myself from meeting the people who from my past; who took my kindness for weakness, going through a spiral of not understanding how I allowed it to happen from the start, but realizing It's something I can't control.
Guilt personified itself caused by my over-scrutinization of myself. Behind the name Guilt, was a reflection of those emotions I felt for the people I let go and left behind in the past. Over time this feeling of guilt grew and evolved into a feeling of self love.
'Haunted by the Consequences' is a project im still trying to wrap my head around since I'm still young going through stages of life but one important thing that I'm still learning from writing this series is that everything happens for a reason.
Now, rewinding a bit, could you share how your journey into photography began?
Half way during my freshman year in high school I transferred schools. When I was going through my schedule with my counselor there were more art credit classes to choose from, such as photography. I went into the class assuming I knew the basics, but instead failed the class. I didn't think much about it at the time since I was still figuring out what I wanted to do but it humbles me till this day.
I chose a two year art credit program in Graphic Design during my junior and senior year in high school. Mr. Salgado was my teacher for those two years. Little did I know that he would open my eyes to a creative side of me that I didn't know I had. It became my favorite class. He not only taught me how to use adobe illustrator and photoshop, but also taught the importance of film production, writing, editing, collaborating with another artist, and most importantly, photography. Mr. Salgado being very technique driven it engrained this important foundation into me allowing me to work efficiently and organized ; and still embraced creativity, and outside the box thinking.
Mr. Salgado's passion for his craft, allowed for this "regular high school graphic design class" to become a pivotal initiation to the world of photography. It truly was a class that helped me find myself as an artist and giving me an outlet to creativity.
The majority of your analog work appears to be in black-and-white. Can you explain why you chose this approach?
I started noticing when working with black and white film it allowed me to revisit certain emotions from my childhood memories. My childhood memories come back to me in small fragments, not thinking about color, but thinking about the feeling. That's why I love photographing my family. It takes me back to this nostalgic feeling of being a little kid again.
In most of my portraiture work, you'll notice that the subject is not smiling, which is intentional. It's as if we're going back in time before people became self-conscious of cameras.
Can you describe your creative process?
Journaling is the key to my creative process. Writing helps me discover into my innermost thoughts and reflections, giving me clarity of my emotions to different situations that I went through, whether positive or negative. I then continue on creating small sketches of something I wrote and vision boards pulling all the pieces and ideas together creating a story that I want to voice out.
Tell us about the equipment you use. Where did it come from, and what does the camera you use represent to you?
The equipment I carry around with me the most is my Polaroid SX-70 Sonar camera. I take it everywhere with me. I started getting into polaroid when I went through my moms family albums and seeing this white framed border with a photo of my mother and father. I was amazed and started researching what this camera was.
I love photographing family events and capturing what's happening in the moment so I can gift them to my siblings, and everytime I do they always say "It's like mom's old photo album". It's like a cycle, I can't wait for the day I show my nephews and nieces stacks of family albums filled with polaroids of them, that's what keeps me going.
Do you have a favorite film, and if so, what makes it special to you?
Polaroid SX-70 Film
I love polaroids and when I finally got my hands on a polaroid SX-70 Sonar camera it was a game changer. I was able to focus on the subject or object while still being close, at the same time with SX-70 film having more saturation, contrast, and finer grain on your polaroid balances it all together.
As we wrap up this interview, are there any artists, whether or not they’re in the field of photography, who have had a profound influence on your life and work?
Julia Margaret Cameron left a significant impact in my life discovering her work at the beginning of my academic year at SVA has sparked an appreciation for the power of storytelling through photography and the art of capturing raw emotion and human connection in a single frame. Julia Margaret Cameron's impact in my life and work continues to fill my passion for photography, pushing me to strive for artistic excellence, authenticity, and storytelling prowess in every image I create.
Thank you, Berline, for joining us in this interview. To see more of her work, follow her on Instagram at @berlinsegovia.