Daniel MAYA

My first approach to art came from my parents, a designer and painter. From a young age I was attracted to creative endeavors, design and sports. During my teenage years I questioned the monotony of my life and I set out on a search that would change the course of my life.  During the year I spent working in the Northern Mountains of Mexico with Indigenous communities I found the balance and inner strength I had been looking for. In that process I found my passion for traveling and photography. 

I first found the beauty of the analogous camera and what you could create with the technology, which is how I started my artistic career. I have had the opportunity to visit different parts of the world, experiences which have opened my eyes to new horizons and perspectives, all of which I hope to capture as they occur. Showing us how the world around us is much more than what meets the eye. 

Urban and landscape photography are my main points of interest, in them I strive to capture the beautiful horizons we usually ignore in our hectic lives. I hope that my art can inspire its viewers and create social impact through the display of what I love.

Who am I?

I could say that for many years one of my main characteristics has been to search. I am always seeking new and different paths to discover who I am and what I do best. I believe at every step I come closer to figuring that out, or at the very least I keep trying to. Day in and day out I fall in love with the unnoticed, the ephemeral and the mundane. I discover the smallest of moments and I make them larger tan life through my photographs. 

In them time is imperceptible, as my memories shape themselves around them as the creations which I look forward top time and time again

My growth and development I owe to being true to myself. That hunger to ‘being me’ helps me to lose the fear of the unknown and within the search, to face my different characteristics. This creates a symbiotic relationship within me that makes me ask “Who am I?”

For this I always say, “those who know me, will understand what I see; What my camara sees” 

I have always known there were many layers to who I was, each one as valuable as the other . It has been a challenge to full embrace some of them, but now that I experience them I couldn’t conceive a life without them. I am more tan my name of my history; more than flesh and bone.I like to think that I am all that which can’t be seen, but it’s felt. I am the form in which I face my fears and that is how my sensibilities get tuned. 

I believe evolution stems from self-discovery and in many occasions it takes the shape of courage, will and strength. I am aware of that because I have been faced with my shortcomings, fears and insecurities; and even though they do not represent me, they are a part of me.  

I am also my rebelliousness and my silence, my voice contained within my photographs. 

I am who I want to be, not who they want me to be.

I think back to Buddhism and there are things that connect with me now more than before. I am sure that all that I need I will find within; not bound by what is outside; In a way to create happiness from authenticity and faithfulness to who I am. Something I always have in mind is this: “My soul is your home and you can enter and in doing so you can see what I see”.

The photographs I keep In my mind make me feel everything, see everything; creations that invite me to remember that the camera is my best ally and thanks to her I can immortalize these moments to share them with the world.