Leila Méndezcounted shots and limitless inspiration
If you like photography that smells of life, you'll love following Leila Méndez. From Buenos Aires to Barcelona, this photographer turns images into stories. We also celebrate the recent publication of her first book: Disparos contados.
Born in Buenos Aires and based in Barcelona, the photographer Leila Méndez began portraying musicians and from there jumped to the world of publishing and advertising, cultivating a solid career that she combines with teaching, curating and audiovisual production. She has taken portraits of personalities for media such as The Guardian or El País Weeklyand his work has been exhibited at Les Rencontres d'Arles. The art of Leila does not seek to produce correct images, but to narrate: to discover the tone of a person, the tempo of a place, the emotion of a scene. Her projects speak of craft and well-trained curiosity.
Tell us about yourself and your work. Where did your vocation start? Any first memories?
I am Leila MéndezI am a photographer born in Buenos Aires. I grew up surrounded by creativity, but it was music that pushed me to pick up a camera for the first time. I started portraying musicians, as a way of approaching the universe that most fascinated me at the time. From there I moved on to the publishing world, then to advertising, and since then I have always continued to orbit around photography.
What do you find most satisfying about your work, and is there anything you are particularly proud of?
What I enjoy most about my work is the experience itself: being there, sharing time with other people, building something together. Meeting talented people, with their own voice, from whom I always learn something, is what nourishes me the most. Y There is always the impulse to translate what I am experiencing through the camera, as if the image were the most natural way to process it.
I am especially proud of the one that is about to come out in September: for the first time, it has to do with expressing myself in words rather than pictures.
What is your creative process like, what are your sources of inspiration, any particular music while working?
If it is a commission, the first thing I do after receiving the brief is to translate it visually into a document where I try to condense atmosphere, light, casting, acting... everything that defines the spirit of the image. I rely on references that awaken something: films, illustrations, found photos.
From there, I put together a team that connects with that mood and, already in the setI want the shooting to take place in a responsible and relaxed atmosphere, but where there is also room for fun and the unexpected.
When I started out as a photographer, my main source of inspiration was magazines, although film has always been my main reference point. Music, on the other hand, is constant: it is present throughout the creative process. I can't work without it.
"Every project has its own soundtrack, and sometimes it's the first thing that comes first, even before the image".
Favourite colour, book, film and record - in that order! ;D
Is your home a reflection of who you are? Tell us what it smells like, your favourite corner, your favourite decorative object or piece of furniture, if you treasure a collection... And if you have a pet, introduce it to us!
Always. I would say it is inevitable. My cupboards smell of Di Santa Maria Novella soap (Sapone alla Mandorla). My favourite spot is the terrace. If I could, I would live devoted body and soul to plants. The Parentesi lamp (Achille Castiglioni and Pio Manzù) is one of my favourite objects. It was a gift from my friend Anna and since then it has accompanied me wherever I live. My photography books are my treasure... and also my downfall (although I only curse them when I move). And on every trip, there is always a ceramic figurine. Some of them are really freaksbut I can't resist.
If you could buy anything right now and take it home, what would it be? Anything!
I would bring me a photo by Martin Parr: an iconic panorama he shot from inside a crowded Frankfurt in New Brighton. I can't get enough of it. It has humour, chaos, beauty... all in one shot.
A great plan at home always includes...
Always everyone in the kitchen. And music.
Do you have a signature dish?
Is a tasty Pisco Sour worth it?
Where is your favourite place in your city and abroad?
My favourite place is right in front of my house: the Turó Parc. I go down almost every day to make calls, although the cries of the parrots end up winning out. Abroad, the Galapagos Islands. For me, the most extraordinary place in the world. There the animals roam free, and we humans are just guests. There is no fear, only curiosity. It is as if nature is giving us another chance.
Anything you want to tell us that we haven't asked you, speak now or forever hold your peace!
I have just written a book, Disparos Contadosin which I reflect on the physical act of photographing. The publishing house Anagrama commissioned me to write an essay on photography, and it was a gift to be able to do something different from what I already know.
It has been a lesson in humility and, above all, a discovery: learning to enjoy working in solitude, without deadlines frantic and no noise around.
