Meet Ana Aizer | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ana Aizer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ana, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I think a lot about the impact that taking risks had on me on both a personal and a professional level.
I started off my career by “playing it safe”. I wanted to be a part of the film industry and though the thing I loved the most was photography, I studied production because I though that was the safest path economically. I worked as a producer for different film companies until I decided I would change my life radically in some way. It started with moving abroad to Australia to explore photography in an amateur way and travel. This was one of the best experiences in my life and it was also a pivotal moment for me to decide, when I came back, I was going to try an actual career doing photography. This didn’t happen from one day to the other but rather I went back to producing, this time being a freelancer. I produced commercials, music videos, tv shows and movies and, whenever I could, I would also offer myself as a still photographer (someone who shoots BTS and other marketing material). I slowly transitioned from producer to producer AND still photographer to just still photographer by the last years I lived in Argentina. All of these were risks I was throwing myself into: going abroad without knowing what I was doing or knowing anything about the country I was going to live in for a year, coming back and having a more unstable job and then again moving abroad for the second time.
I moved to New York in 2022 to further develop my photography, to be able to photograph beyond movie sets and develop my own artistry. I then again, took a huge risk, probably the biggest I’ve taken yet because this decision had much more intention than when I decided to move to Australia. This time, the career I had built in Argentina was at risk as well as all that I was leaving behind for something completely unknown.
After almost 2 years of living here, I still feel I’m taking risks all the time, by maintaining my decision of living in this difficult competitive city but also I feel like all freelancers we are constantly taking risks.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I feel like I’m constantly developing who I am as an artist, that’s been changing since forever and I hope it will always keep changing in a way. I’m really happy with where I’m at right now professionally but I always dream bigger. The more I achieve, the more I dream. My constant goal is to bring my own style and point of view to every work I make. The jobs that depict more of my style are the ones I end up liking the most. A big lesson I learned is that developing a style or being less versatile is something good in a hugely competitive market as the NY image making industry is. Back in Buenos Aires, versatility is much more appreciated because the industry is smaller but a year ago someone pointed this out and it got stuck with me: here the most valuable thing a photographer can bring into the picture is their own style.

As for my work per se, I try to involve all the things I like. For example, my whole childhood and teenage years I went to acting schools, I was always involved in theater. Nowadays in my work I like portraying characters, working with actors and creating stories. I also like to involve a certain child spirit that’s probably more clear in my analog interventions but in my most straightforward photography you can also see it, characters playing with their bodies and objects. I also try to connect with the person I’m shooting in ways I did with my classmates at acting school, the gaze is very important, not only the model’s but myself. Creating a good ambient for the shoot is something I’ve learned to give more importance too, it affects the picture much more than what one can think it would. Same when it comes to letting the body loose, I bring a lot of things from the theater to help the models feel comfortable even in the uncomfortable.

As for what sets me apart, I try that to be in my photos as well as in the shooting experience and my discipline. It’s not always all about the results but the time and effort you put into your craft and also the process is also very important, I think this applies to so many other things in life.

I’m constantly working on many projects. Right now I’ve been trying to develop one that hasn’t been named yet but it revolves around nostalgia, being far away from home but also far away in time from memories from the past. For this I’ve been shooting my family and friends when I go visit. I also love the city I’m from so I try to pay homage to Buenos Aires as well. In June, 3 of these photos will be exhibited in a show in Switzerland. I’m part of Small Table Collective and, alongside 9 other photographers from around the world, we’re having this exhibition called “I know this place”.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I feel these past few months I became a professional tour guide from all the visits I’ve had.
In a week, I would tour some neighborhoods of the city such as midtown, SoHo, LES, Fi-Di and the West Village and I’d also bring them to Brooklyn: Dumbo, Williamsburg and maybe Bushwick as well. For people that have visited before, I’d also include Fort Greene or Greenpoint.
Some of my favorite activities are taking the ferry from Greenpoint to Dumbo or going around finding the best eats. Things that I won’t let my visits miss are the cardamom bun from Fabrique Bakery, the ramen at Okiboru, some bagel -lately my favorite has been Leon’s Bagels-, Artichoke’s pizza, the Levain cookie and Nami Nori restaurant, just to name a few.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I truly feel everything is interconnected in lives and relationships. I think I owe a lot to the people I’ve encountered in my working years, even when the jobs were bad experiences -or maybe especially-, even though I haven’t had a lot of those luckily.

Looking back, I’m grateful for the first few people that trusted in me to work in the movie industry as a producer. That built my confidence in the work field. Some of the companies I worked and appreciate are Tarea Fina, Ajimolido Films and Winona.

After some years I was lucky enough to befriend my coworkers. We built a team of friends with whom I enjoyed working so much and we did a lot of music videos and commercials. Some of them are Facundo Vanoli, Tomas Seivane, Emilia Herbst amongst others. On these projects I was producing but I was also transitioning into working as a still photographer and after some years I achieved my goal of letting production go and building a career solely photographing. For this, a project that was key was the HBO show Dias de Gallos for which I certainly have to thank my friend and wardrobe designer Bernarda Crudo as well as directors and producers of the show.

After two seasons of this show and a lot of other production and still photography jobs in Argentina, I moved to New York to focus on my craft as a photographer. Here the list went on and on when it comes to credit and recognition or as I identify it better, with whom I’m so grateful. Starting with the Delicia Studio team, specially Albert Font Garcia and Camila Falquez who have given me a very special place in the Delicia fam which I appreciate so so much! And I also definitely need to thank my ICP family as well, without whom I wouldn’t still be here.

Website: https://anaaizer.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fotosdeana_/