Interview: Idalia Payán Russell
Luca Curci talks with Idalia Payán Russell, winner of PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE MONTH – JULY 2023.

Idalia was born and raised in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico. She comments that since she was little, observing the sunsets of her city and the nature of the Badiraguato, Sinaloa mountains, was what prompted her to pick up a camera. Study a degree in Graphic Design in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. Upon graduating, she traveled to the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she studied analog photography for 4 months, and then returned to her hometown, where she began in 2007 to carry out her learning in design and photography at work for several years in different agencies and secretaries, as well as independently, in Sinaloa, Mexico City and Guadalajara, Jalisco. Merging photography with design, becoming a creator of images, forming her own Photography and Digital Art Studio in 2018. Holding some exhibitions in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tokyo, Japan, as well as in Barcelona and Alicante in Spain.

Luca Curci – How important is the editing process in your work? How’s yours?
Idalia Payán Russell – I keep simple photography and digital artwork that I create very separate, but I consider it very important in both. Each photograph is a world and I dedicate my time to each one. My style enhances but maintains the originality of the colors and real scenarios. The editing process finishes giving life to the photo and it can be very magical. Over the years the eye becomes polished and the photos transcend. In my Digital Artwork, starting from and unlike a simple photograph, I do use imagination and manipulation without limitations. Most of it is based on designing with photography, making different types of collages, sometimes adding digital drawing or other techniques. Beyond technical editing, it is my moment of calm and what I enjoy the most. It is when I analyze and give even more meaning to each project.

LC – When did you realize that photography could also be a life lens?
IPR – When I realized that my images and message could contribute to creating awareness, inspiration and elevating people’s spirits.

LC – How do you choose your topics? Is it a reasoned or instinctive process?
IPR – Observe nature as a child, as well as the real and spontaneous aspects of the urban environment is what has inspired me to date. These being natural scenes of life. Being able to capture the truth of beauty, of a story or a place, that which cannot be disguised through the reality of documentary photography and the intangible emotion of artistic photography. First just instinct. Now it is instinct, I plan it, analyze and I make sense of it.Topics that have ranged from the physical to the invisible of the world. My themes have been connecting by themselves. I like images that, despite the subject, stand out on their own.

LC – Do you use art to express something in particular? Is it your means of expression?
IPR – In addition to wanting to portray the soul of the moment and highlight the beauty of the world with the imperfection of its character, the main theme that I want to remind humanity with or without my work is the importance of “sincere study of oneself” and which we must doing it like any other topic, being one of the best contributions we can make to the world. Starting from the beauty or truth of a documentary photography, in my Digital Artwork is where I try to understand these realities of the world, to build character in the face of adversity, with themes deepened in the invisible worlds of the intangible universe of thought and heart. The School of Soul Life on this planet. That is why I consider and use as my slogan that “Art is life itself.”

LC – How do you feel when you see your finished work?
IPR – My breath returns, I feel a very gratifying rest.