Leonardo Ponis is a 40 years old photographer, born in San Juan, Argentina, where he works as an editor in chief in a local news website. His photographs portray the human control and power over the natural land, the consequences of human activity in altered landscapes. Leonardo’s fourth series 2186 invites us on the roads of his province and their surroundings.
How did you got into photography ?
When I got my first serious job, around 19, I bought a motorcycle, took the family camera (a point-and-shoot film camera), and went randomly shooting during my trips. I had no idea about photography, I was just curious. By then, I was trying to become a writer and didn’t pay much attention to photography. A couple of years later, I got blocked, I couldn’t write a line. So photography became a kind of therapy and at the same time slowly grew up in me. I did some street-documentary stuff at the beginning and I finally turned to landscaping.
When I got my first serious job, around 19, I bought a motorcycle, took the family camera (a point-and-shoot film camera), and went randomly shooting during my trips. I had no idea about photography, I was just curious. By then, I was trying to become a writer and didn’t pay much attention to photography. A couple of years later, I got blocked, I couldn’t write a line. So photography became a kind of therapy and at the same time slowly grew up in me. I did some street-documentary stuff at the beginning and I finally turned to landscaping.
About 2186
In total there are 2186 kilometers of roads in my province. That’s where the name of the project comes from. San Juan’s landscape is mostly a desert with mountains, so you can drive thousands of miles almost without finding any human settlement. Without the roads, there’s no human development, but the road itself is in this case just a strap of pavement that most of the time remains empty across the vastness. Every weekend for a couple of years I drove in my car around and took pictures, looking for those glimpses of human traces.
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