Feeling Like a Fraud Doesn’t Make You One, Says Photographer Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández

In this episode I’m joined by Emiliano Zúñiga Hernández, a Costa Rican photographer whose photobook Paraíso, published by Trespasser in 2023, grew out of one of the hardest chapters of his life. We talk about the healing community he helped to build in the hills of Costa Rica, how it fell apart, and how photography gave him his purpose back when depression had taken it away. Emiliano opens up about feeling like a fraud, the question at the Chico Review that changed how he saw his own work, and why he believes the most meaningful photography comes from knowing yourself rather than from pain.
If your photographs feel like they’re circling something you can’t yet name, this conversation might show you why honest work comes from knowing yourself, not from suffering.
Other things we discussed:
The question that started it all: what would your life look like with no obstacles?
Who am I, what am I doing, where am I: the 3 questions he still asks every day
Giving a ride to a barefoot stranger who became his mentor
Turning down Trespasser, and how it still led to the book
Editing Paraíso in Paradise Valley with Bryan Schutmaat, Matthew Genitempo and Harrison Miller
Shooting intuitively, before you know what the story is
A daily practice of 3 questions and 3 gratitudes
His new project photographing strangers while they sleep
Emiliano’s links:
https://www.instagram.com/emilianozunigah/
https://trespasser.co/shop/paraiso
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