Transforming Moments with Magic — an Interview with Sara Costa

It's beautiful. It's artistic. And we get to live it every day. Sara Costa believes in that idea and it shows in her work. The photographer from Barcelona is a fan of life and its wonderful minute details so much so that she tries to capture those moments on film. Time passes for others while Sara consciously feels and lives through it all, not wasting a single opportunity to appreciate what is around her.

Hello and welcome to the magazine, Sara! What do you do and what got you started with film photography?

Hello, and thank you for appreciating my work. At the moment I’m living one of my dreams! After the lockdown, I bought a little house in El Penedès that was built in 1910 here in Catalonia. I’m enjoying living in the countryside for the first time in my life and rebuilding the house little by little.

I started with film photography when I was 15 years old. I’ve discovered Lomo cameras and I’ve bought a Lubitel 166B via eBay. At that moment in my life, I didn’t even know what was—a medium format camera and it was my first “toy” for experimenting with photography.

What makes you stay with analogue? What's your favorite thing about it?

The result is amazing but the process is what I think I prefer more. I have a little scattered mind and analogue makes me stop at the moment and ponder on it and the frame.

For me, analoue photography is “conscious photography.”

We're loving the variety of your work. It looks like you can go and shoot just different kinds of shots. How long did you train yourself to be this skilled with a camera?

Thank you for this! I enjoy working on lots of different projects—always finding my own point of view in each challenge. For years I’ve always carried a camera in my handbag on my day-to-day and I’ve worked as a wedding photographer a lot as well. It's the kind of job where you prove all your skills as a fashion photographer, photojournalist, portrait photographer all in one.

Aside from your versatility, we're also loving the soft glow and sometimes warm atmosphere of your photographs. Was that a particular style you were going for?

I love warm atmospheres which place the viewer inside an intimate scene. The soft glow makes it more dreamy—maybe an everyday image could feel like a magical one just with light treatment like this. I suppose I’m influenced by magic realism.

How do you stay creative? Is there any formula that you follow?

I’m still looking for the perfect formula! But if you give time to yourself to play, experiment, and stay close to nature—it’s a really good one.

Where do you see your film photography work taking you in the next five to ten years?

I expect to know more about myself by that time.

Do you think you'll ever stop shooting?

I discovered myself in a pandemic crisis last year as all of us did. At the beginning of the lockdown, it was the first time since forever that I didn’t want to shoot. After the first month, I was just feeling that I was on the other side.

I can say now that I’m never going to stop shooting because I feel it's like an important screw in my mechanism—a tool for talking to myself about life. But everything can change with a swift 180º.

What inspires you to create?

Tons of things! I feel beauty all around me every day and I want to catch it, remember it or just participate in it—beauty is not just something aesthetic. I like the beauty of a relationship, the beauty of intimacy, the beauty of the little decisions, sounds, stories, and the feeling of finishing a book or looking at oneself in the mirror after a long road trip. Even the atmosphere in a kitchen that was just used or a bathroom just after a shower.

In your opinion, which matters more—talent or skill?

Passion is the most important like love always is also. After that, then I think you can have both talent and skill.

What does a perfect day look like for Sara Costa?

Any situation close to nature with good food, honest company, and good conversation.

We would like to thank Sara for letting us feature her story in the Magazine. Follow her on Instagram and website to see more of her work.

written by cheeo on 2021-08-22 in #people #places #interview #analogue #artist #seaside #film-photography #sara-costa