I’ve been putting off this post for months. I always make the excuse that it’s because I don’t have time, but the truth is that it’s hard for me to publish this post because it ends a project that I’m particularly fond of: the traveling dress project.
This white dress, which I bought in 2017 a bit on the spur of the moment, has passed through the hands of a group of photographers whom I appreciate and admire equally. It symbolizes many things for me: my beginnings as a photographer, not being afraid to pursue my dreams, creating community and so many other things that make me feel a bit nostalgic today. At the same time, when I see how we have all evolved over the last three years, a wide smile illuminates my face and I tell myself that the traveling dress will bring up happy memories for all of us.
I am ending this trip with the dress photos of my dear Olga Sola, who I’m sure you know on Instagram as @cerrandoplano. It’s not the first time Olga collaborates with me on this blog and she had to be part of this project; she is a great photographer and a dear friend.
This is how Olga describes her experience photographing the dress:
A white dress, like a canvas to start with… I had a lump in my throat when I received it, I didn’t know how to give life to it. Despite its lightness and movement, it was extreme and at the same time too simple; no textures, no nuances.
However, it was precisely that empty canvas that forced me to search and think. I remembered my childhood days, when I loved dancing so much, I used to wear dresses with flounces to be able to twirl without stopping, and that ended up leading me to Ada, the dancer protagonist of this session.
In the middle of November, the wind tangling the dress, the sea hitting the stones and Ada dancing and swaying to the beat, as if both were singing a melody for her. I remembered Pablo Neruda’s Ode to the Sea: ” Here on the island the sea and so much sea overflowing, relentless, it says yes, then no, then no, no, no, then yes (…) It cannot stay still, my name is sea, it repeats while slamming against rocks but unable to convince rocks (…)”.*
I saw the sun go down and the Ode ended with it. Thank you, Marta, for allowing me to participate in this project, something that made me live a unique moment which, without a doubt, I will never forget.
And, like the sun sets in Olga’s session, this is how our project ends. Many thanks to Bea (@camparinagreen), Inés (@inesdedomingojuan), Mirin (@mirinclos), Mónica (@momarino), Carla (@carlamonge) and Olga (@cerrandoplano) for joining me in my madness and for having portrayed the traveling dress so well.
* Poem translated from Spanish by Linh Dinh (https://calquezine.blogspot.com/2007/06/pablo-neruda-ode-to-sea.html)
