Recently, my parents and I stumbled upon their old slides and projector from college and decided to have a little family slide show. My dad commented on almost every photo with a story or joke from the past. In these slides were images from their cross country trip from Kansas to California (around 1987).
When I was looking at this images I felt this oddly strong feeling of nostalgia. I don’t know if it was because we were viewing the images from an old projector, or if it was their style and youth, but I was not even born yet and found it odd that I felt so connected to that time in their lives.
Immediately, I knew I wanted to do a project on their trip. At first my projection series was more about my parents then vs. now, but it has recently shifted into a more personal interaction between my parents then and my self now. In making these images, I try to accomplish the same feeling of nostalgia I felt when I saw them for the first time. Along with, the surrealistic that my parents documented their journey, not knowing that later in life they would be married with children. Not to be cheesy but, that they would embark on other journeys in life together as well.
Aside from this most recent project of mine, I am currently a sophomore at The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, NY but living in New Jersey. I have done previous works that are more documentary and other more portrait/fashion. But although my works are all very unique and different from one another- I feel they all have a quality of expressionism and creativity that stays consistent throughout all of my works.
I started photographing with a point and shoot at the age of… I don’t know, 14 or 15. Then moved onto my fathers minolta 35mm around 15 and 16. And when I turned 17, instead of getting a car I asked for a Canon Rebel XTi. Now, I’m 19 going on 20 and have had the pleasure to shoot for marvelous ballet dancers, actors, musicians, and for a fashion magazine.
I only just started going portraits and head shots for bands, families, models, singers, actors, etc. It’s not necessarily what I plan on photographing for the rest of my career, but bills need to be paid and I found out this summer that I have a sixth sense for studio lighting. Ideally, I would like to be in galleries for my fine art work and in magazines for my fashion, editorial, portrait type of photographs. If you see my work, it might seem all over the place, but that’s just because I am all over the place and I plan to stay all over the place for as long as I can. I don’t want to be put in stereotype or category, I just want to do what I love and how I love it.
My inspirations are funny, because they are not really similar to the work I do. I love Stephen Shore and Richard Avedon. Not because they are such iconic photographers and their photographs are- blah blah blah… I just really admire their technique and execution; I struggle with a lot of my photographs, I just never feel like I actually finish editing my works. More recently, I have seen the works of Miru Kim and I find her self portraits to be stunning and inspirational- look her up if you don’t know who I’m talking about. (You won’t regret it)
All in all, I’m glad I have such great support from my family and friends. I understand the fear some parents get when they hear the words “I want to go to art school” come out of their child’s mouth. And I was surprised I didn’t have to argue with them, but no matter what, this is what I need to do, so I’m doing it!
ANDREA GARCIA’S WEBSITE:
www.a-garcia-photography.com
After reading this article, I was left with an immense sense of gratitude, humbleness, and needless to say Love. Andrea, you’re here doing what you’ve always loved doing: arts. Keep on doing what you love, keep on expressing what you feel, keep on being “all over the place” and bring us all those wonderful photographs from all those places that exist inside of you and as well as around you. Continue being who you are, continue believing in yourself. We believe in you! ~ Mom and Dad (10/22/2011)