About useless photographs

About useless photographs by Julia Sabiniarz is about embracing imperfections, exploring the value of unsuccessful pictures and giving them a second chance. It opposes the current standards of digital photography and encourages to accept and admire flaws in the world that desires perfection.

The idea for this publication was born after years of believing that only high-quality images are worth something. My approach towards photography has changed, and I have begun questioning digital photography and its values after I started using my dad's old analogue camera that is being passed down in my family. One day, I got a roll of very blurry pictures back from a photo lab. Usually, I would move on and forget about the frames I'm not happy with, but this time I kept coming back to these scans. Seeing them together and not among better photos, not comparing them to more successful shots made me fascinated by this collection of useless photos. I have started thinking about the factors that make a particular image worthless, and I pulled out my archive of negatives and searched for other pictures I have never paid attention to because I considered them useless. Gathering them all and looking at them in a different context helped me appreciate them. I have learnt to embrace the poor image, accept the failure and find inspiration in it.

The publication consists of a selection of images taken between 2017 and 2020 with analogue cameras. The photographs are accompanied by a short text.

Softcover, 210x260mm, 44 pages

First edition, July 2020