Emilio Espejel

Where are you based and what makes you passionate about using your camera to show what you are seeing in the world?
I'm based in between Mexico City and Tijuana, and photography drives me to break my bubble and question my comfort zone. Photography has been my constant reminder that I'm just one human more on this earth. I look to reconcile myself with the world and humanity through pictures. It is my tool to reconnect with what made me hurt, and heal.

From the perspective of your images, it is clear you are able to get into the intimate details of the stories of those you photograph, how do you create conversation that helps people share their lives with you?
I believe in connecting with those I am photographing. It is important to me that my subjects feel confident when I am photographing them. When they feel confident it allows me to learn more about their life, this level of trust helps develop the stories I hear into a photo essay or a specific project.
As human beings I believe we love to be heard and is important to feel that our stories are of value to others. My photography focuses on my empathy for various topics. Maybe I try to make stories that remind me of some of the important stages of my life, or situations that I could be involved in in the past.

With seeing how similar our stories could be, it becomes easy to make a conversation about something that is close to your heart and yourself. I believe if you speak from the heart others can feel it. When they feel your heart speaking they become confident in opening up and sharing their story and intimacy within it.

How do you make sure to highlight the voice and perspective of those you are photographing?

I try to understand that my pictures are less important than the people I'm photographing, people share their time and life with me or at least what they choose to show me... I try to highlight what is important to them according to what we have talked about and understood. I try to listen and prioritize what is important for them with the fear that my perspective will not be that accurate about their lives. As a photographer I believe that sharing someone else’s story is just an illusion. It is shaped from our own perspective of what we have understood their story to be. Most of the time I try to share my work with those I photographed before it could get published, that's how I try to see if they agree with my perspective.


When you first began photographing people did you encounter any difficulties when approaching them? For those who might be nervous to approach someone what advice would you give them?

Yes, at first it cost me a lot, I was even clumsy with my words and the intentions could not be verbalized well, I think that sometimes it is difficult for me to communicate with my mouth, sometimes I am clumsy and I feel shy approaching people. Approaching a stranger through my camera is an exercise that I imposed on myself to face certain social anxiety and emotional issues that sometimes reappear. This is my therapy that just comes from words like: "Hey, what's your name? can I take a portrait of you? you have a lovely expression". Most of the time I'm scared that people say "No". And honestly, sometimes I'm still miss some shots. My wiser advice is, no matter what the answer is, just express what your needs are, be kind to the people you're photographing, and ask their names. Never just stay with the desire to ask to photograph someone, act on that desire and ask, even if their answer might be no.

What do you want to teach people through your photography about Mexico? What are you showing them that mainstream media is not?

I think that in my photography I show a bit of everything but I really try to show what I have connected with at some point in my life, I think that within what I portray in Mexico there is an internal search which I transfer to my work with themes. These themes can be focused on the relatives who look for the skeletal remains of their loved ones in the desert or the millions of believers of the Virgin of Guadalupe who come to Mexico City every year from all over the country. What I seek to show is the contrast of the place where I was born, the nuances that my country has, and its divisions among its people. But Mexico is not only nuances, I just want people from Mexico and the world to see that it is a place with soul, strength, personality, and character. Mexico is not only violence, drug trafficking series from Netflix, el Chapo, Frida Kahlo, or the backyard of the United States. Mexico has style. Coming out of chaos has its charm.

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