Winter Archive

A roll of an expired colour film, from a winter's visit to Toronto to my family. I think it was 2012 or 2013.

I've recently started scanning my archive. I have negatives from the time I was a high school student, discovering the darkroom and film photography for the first time (and learning the "rules" of photography), and up until recently (with new ones to develop).

Here in Israel, we rarely experience this kind of weather (we are lucky to have sunny days in winter), so of course, for me, being in Toronto at that time of a year had some sort of magic and excitement. On the other hand, the appeal dissolved when I wanted to go outside and photograph, not being used to the weather probably meant I was outdoors photographing for maybe 10-15 minutes. That is one of the reasons most of the images were taken close and around the house.

Another reason is my continuing interest in documenting places I'm very familiar with and have a strong emotional connection to. From my early days of discovering photography, I was drawn to make images that capture the mundane but might frame it differently, giving to it a new meaning, having the details telling the story (or a story) rather than an action or a spectacle. Perhaps a constant wish to remember things as they were at that moment, for me anyway; and perhaps another with to reveal how moving and touching those unexciting and supposedly insignificant details can be.

As in life, this process is continued learning and investigation (I don't like to refer to everything as a "work in progress", even when it holds some truth in it). And as of today, I'm not sure where it goes next. But these last months I've discovered more deeply what I do and why I do it; a clearer and more refined way to get to know my practice. Some of these discoveries will be only for me. However, I would share some of those insights here.

Starting with a non-sequenced 35mm roll of film.