Mono no Aware

Most photographers have a natural and sometimes preferred subject in their family. I am no exception. On the contrary. It is a constant source of inspiration to be able to document, explore, revisit, discover our lives. If anything, the purposeful capture of an image allows me to enjoy more our interactions. The camera is never far in our times. Its ever-present eye is inevitable. Phones, surveillance-cameras, TVs, computers all have them pointed at us. One can at least take some control and create his or her own visual narrative. When it comes to family, photography is inevitably nostalgic. The very moment I push the button and hear the shutter I know that the moment the camera just captures is forever gone. And that makes both the act and the result so much more valuable. This is what Susan Sontag and John Berger often write about. But the same act can be cathartic or even a self provocation, an emotional challenge. I have just published a series of images from a summer outing to the Black Sea. Our son's first. It was for him a constant discovery. For us it was a confirmation, an empirical evidence that our lust for travel is only enhanced by the presence of a child. Is it different? Of course it is. But it is better.