Lomography in Academic Papers: Exploring the Coexistence of Analogue and Digital Photography With Juan Gil Segovia

Why do we keep analogue photography alive? is a question that is often asked, and the answer is usually revealed to be unique and personal – just like pictures taken on film. This question of why is then followed by how?

The presence of Lomography in academic papers proves that a great number of artists and researchers have been passionate about this subject matter, and one of them is Juan Gil Segovia. His doctoral thesis about film photography in the digital age has amazed us and his hard work led him to obtaining the prestigious Outstanding Cum Laude and Extraordinary Doctorate awards from his university.

We grabbed the opportunity to chat with Juan about the benefits of merging art forms, the importance of scratching beneath the surface, the method of learning by unlearning, and so much more.

Hi Juan, welcome to the Lomography Magazine! Please introduce yourself and tell us all about you.

Thank you so much for your interest, it is a real pleasure to share my experience with the Lomography Community. My name is Juan Gil Segovia and I was born in Ávila (a small Spanish city near Madrid) in 1983. I'm a multidisciplinary artist, although I'm also an art curator and I have been a teacher for more than ten years. I've written a few articles for magazines and exhibition catalogs, but I'm not sure I'd call myself a writer.

In 2021 I presented my doctoral thesis at the University of Salamanca in Spain, with the title Chemical photography in the digital image era: artists and practices in the Spanish context (2000-2020). When I finished the thesis, my director asked me, “What are you going to do now?” I told him, “Now I just want to set up my photo lab again and start developing photographs.”

When and how did your interest in film photography begin?

I was about 15 years old and in the last years of elementary school. The art teacher named Miguel Angel Pastor set up a small photo lab in a room that wasn't being used in the school, and we built some pinhole cameras. It seemed absolutely magical to me. Later, I took all the photography subjects at the School of Art and the Faculty of Fine Arts, bought an SLR camera, and set up a small photo lab at home.

Why did you pursue this topic for your thesis? Why is the survival of these photochemical processes in the digital world an important and interesting subject?

As mentioned, the process of film photography seems really magical to me. Even today I find it incredible to see images appear out of nowhere during the development process. I think it's important to keep that kind of thing going. My interest in photography coincided with the rise of digital images – it was a milestone in the photography industry but it was missing something for me. It's too immediate and too easy. It is also too perfect (or can easily be perfected in Photoshop), whereas I like to play with the mistakes of film photography and the imperfection of Lomography.

When I thought about doing a doctoral thesis, I knew what I wanted to focus on, but I wasn't sure if it would be important enough to develop an academic research project of that caliber. Seeing the validity of Lomography, among other things, helped me realize that it was possible to do the doctoral thesis I wanted to do.

I think it's important to recognize and validate other ways of doing photography. Why do all people have to take the same photographs in the same way?

When did you first learn about Lomography?

I don't really remember exactly; I think I read an article somewhere 15 or maybe 20 years ago and that led me to look for more information. What I do remember is that the first thing I thought was, these people are crazy – but in a very entertaining way. The story behind Lomography surprised me, but the photos seemed a little weird to me. My training in photography had been traditional and getting into Lomography meant forgetting almost everything I had learned; it was a challenge. I decided to buy a Diana camera with a bunch of accessories and start experimenting with it all, even with the packaging which I liked so much that I used it as a frame for a photo collage. I also like different films like the Lomography Redscale XR and other unique products like a bottle of red Inkodye photographic emulsion that I bought from a Lomography store a few years ago (and that I have used in works like La Espera or The Waiting).

In your paper, you mentioned that the emergence of digital photography increased people’s interest in film photography. Digital and film photography are now at a crossroads where they can support and complement each other. This is something that you embody in other ways too, such as through your project called “Lugares Comunes” or Common Places wherein you combined both digital and film photos to create sequences that can be interpreted in many ways.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating and combining digital and film photography together, rather than using them by themselves?

The disadvantages? Carrying three cameras when I go out to take pictures! My photographs are always landscapes so I have to travel with two SLR cameras (one digital and one analogue) and my beloved Diana.

Working with photography is a passion, so I think it's an advantage that there are different ways to take pictures. I couldn't say why I use one camera or another at any given moment, it's something intuitive. It's something similar to deciding what I'm going to eat today: pizza or salad? Also, in projects like Lugares Comunes I like to combine color and black and white, digital and analogue, “normal” photographs and Lomography pictures because reality is complex – it has many faces. Also, I find it boring to do the same thing all the time. I need to do different things.

Your paper tackled the relationship of film photography with other media as well – like painting, which is an art form that you also have first-hand experience in. You have taught students about painting, innovation projects, and fine arts too. What is the importance of approaching our works with an interdisciplinary point of view? How has the mindset of connecting several practices with each other helped you evolve as a creative individual?

Challenging limits is something that art and Lomography share. At the University I met my thesis director, the artist named José Luis Pajares, as a professor of a subject called Interdisciplinarity in Painting, something that has marked my later career. I remember that I had recently discovered the impactful work of Robert Rauschenberg, and then a friend told me about the subject. He said to me: it's perfect for you. And he was right. In that course I learned to work with chemical processes such as liquid photographic emulsion applied to different materials, but also the incipient possibilities of digital technology. I was also a student of the painter Jesús Alonso, who showed me a different way of looking at the relationship between painting and photography. I believe that José Luis Pajares' and Jesús Alonso's own artistic work (and that of other artists such as Juan Ugalde, Darío Villalba, Sigmar Polke or John Baldessari) is a visible influence in projects such as Trama.

As I said previously, staying within so-called limits and always doing the same thing is boring, that's why I work in artistic projects as different as Trama or Taller de Color. A very important influence for the latter project is Sol Lewitt, who is an artist with highly interesting photographic works (but are quite unknown compared to the rest of his art).

Do you have a favorite fun fact or discovery that you found while you were doing your research for your doctoral thesis?

I was surprised by the number of artists who work with film photography. At first, I thought most of them would say that they've completely switched to digital, but a significant number of artists still work with film alongside digital photography.

I was also surprised to discover facts such as that the first digital camera in history is from 1975, that the square format of Instagram photographs is a tribute to the classic Polaroid format or the influence that a Holga camera had on Kevin Systrom (one of the founders of Instagram) in the birth of this social network.

Looking for information for the thesis I discovered Caffenol thanks to the collective called Ropa Tendida, composed of Eva Herrero, Natalia Romay, and Ester Montenegro. Caffenol is a black and white film developer based on vitamin C, soluble coffee, sodium carbonate, salt and water, so it is much more ecological than the traditional developer.

I have also discovered experimental processes that I did not know about, such as film soup – introducing the photographic film before or during development in non-photographic liquids (like soup, juice, urine, milk, and beer) to produce strange effects on the images. I learned about the technique from the work of photographer Iosune de Goñi and from an article in the Lomography Magazine.

Why should we keep long-standing art practices like film photography alive? What future do you see for film photography?

We should keep film photography alive because it makes no sense to destroy a technology capable of making images. Painting did not disappear when photography was invented, although painting changed. Let's not forget that different media produce different results. When I want to photograph my paintings and sculptures, I always do it with digital because it is faster and it is very easy to edit later on, but when I want to enjoy taking photographs, I generally use film. Although they both result in a photograph, the experience is completely different.

The future of film photography? I think that just as video didn't kill the radio star, digital imaging hasn't killed film photography. Years ago, it seemed that it was going to disappear in a short time, but I think that the current situation is and will continue to be stable. Most people take digital photographs but there are groups of people – from artists and students to experimental digital natives and people who are simply nostalgic – who keep film photography alive.

Do you have any words of wisdom or advice for our Community members?

I don't usually offer advice because I don't think I have the experience to do so. Plus, I learn a lot from the Community!

However, I would recommend three things that generally give good results: reading (something beyond the content on social media), visiting museums and exhibitions, and not being afraid to make mistakes (at least in photography).

Thank you so much for taking part in this interview! Please let our readers know about your upcoming projects and where they can see more of your work.

Right now, some of the works from my project Lugares Comunes are part of the group exhibition White Balance at Est Art Space (Alcobendas, Madrid). I'm also preparing for a joint exhibition with Clara Isabel Arribas Cerezo at the Archivo Histórico of Ávila in Spain for next year about the artist and writer José Antonio Arribas. You can see my work on my Instagram profile and on my website. Thank you!

We'd like to thank Juan for sharing his works, stories, and findings with us! For more studies like this, head over to Lomography in Academic Papers and let us know what topics interest you.

written by kylavillena on 2024-09-16 #people #history #studies #news #academia #academics