Saying Hello From Your Grave: Finding Family Through Their Viewfinders

For many of us, photography has been an outlet for processing loss, grief, and our connection to humanity. One photographer takes us along his own journey in the literal footsteps of his ancestors — through the viewfinders of their very own cameras.

In this emotional self-documentary spurred by the 10-year anniversary of his mother's death, JT Evans revisits locations across the American Southwest which molded his life and his work as a photographer. He photographs the same scenes his great-grandfather and grandfather saw through their viewfinders, using the very cameras they held in their hands decades ago.

A circa-2004 Canon EOS 20D digital camera, his late grandfather's Minolta Maxxum 5000 35mm film camera, and a 110-year-old Kodak No. 1A Autographic medium format film camera belonging to his great-grandfather: these are the tools JT Evans chooses to weave an unconventional documentary of connection to his family's past.

As he tells his story of loss and self-discovery, the past comes alive and lends a heartfelt glimpse into the quiet mechanisms which can shape our perspectives as photographers, even if those mechanisms are unknown to us at the time.

JT's journey is one which can resonate with us all, especially those who in times of personal loss have leaned on their cameras to cope with the immeasurable weight of grief.

The distinct connection of using the personal cameras of lost loved ones is an irreplaceable privilege held by very few. This is an incredibly personal story of accidental self-discovery and remembrance, told through digital frames and rolls of film.