Transient Encounters

• Photographer
  Sylvia De Swaan
• Agency / Studio
  Sylvia de Swaan Photography

A current series in progress of portraits of people whom I don't know personally, but as I encounter them I feel a sense of attraction & I ask, "may I take your picture?". If they assent I tell them a little about myself as a photographer proceed to do so & they may or may not tell me a little of their story. In any case they seem pleased to let me take some photos. If they choose to give me their email address I send them a jpeg of the photo I took.

I'm a fine art and documentary photographer who has lived and worked in Mexico, Europe and the United States. I work on several long term projects concurrently that explore themes of memory, identity, the state of the world and the places where I live. I have traveled extensively in Eastern Europe. In 2006 and 2008 I was invited to participate in international conference and exhibition titled "IN TRANSITION: Cultural Identities in the Age of Transnational and Transcultural Flux" about refugee displacement. The first took place in Limassol, Cyprus, the second in Ekaterinburg, Russia.