A familiar city can become difficult to see. For Seniscero, photographing Buenos Aires sometimes means imagining that he is visiting it for the first time. A library, a street or a cemetery can then offer something he had stopped noticing.
His interest began with views he wanted to keep: parks, high places and scenes that seemed to belong somewhere else. Learning composition matters to him, but so does the simple pleasure of making a picture.
Learning without losing the moment
Seniscero began taking photography more seriously with his phone in 2024. In January 2026, he bought a Sony A390 with a kit lens and started photographing in central Buenos Aires, including the Esteban Echeverría library.
He wanted to understand composition and colour well enough to communicate something to another person. At times, concentrating on those ideas made him forget to experience the moment itself. Now he describes a more instinctive rhythm: noticing a subject, pointing the camera and taking the photograph.
The camera does not accompany every outing, and carrying it does not mean keeping it in his hands. His practice leaves room for ordinary life, including the occasions when something happens and he wishes he had brought it.
A contemporary street, dressed as another time
One day, a cousin told him that old cars had appeared around Plaza de Mayo for what looked like a film or television production. Seniscero went there with the Sony.
A photograph of a car and a bus became one of his favourites. He remembers the contrast between their colours and the pleasure of seeing older vehicles moving through a place he knew. The photograph records a contemporary production setting; it is not an image made in the 1970s.
Although colour matters to him, he does not describe himself as hunting for pictures or chasing colours. The starting point is the desire to preserve a view, sometimes because it makes his own city feel unfamiliar.
Following lenses towards film
Buying Minolta lenses for the Sony led him to wonder about the cameras those lenses had originally been made for. In July 2026, he bought a working Minolta Alpha 7000 and tried it with an expired roll of Kodacolor Gold 100.
The Minolta remains part of his practice, particularly with longer lenses. Later, he inherited a Pentax K1000, which he uses with 50mm and 28mm lenses. He enjoys the mechanical feeling of working with it.
Film is a smaller part of his output than digital photography. With a budget of roughly one roll a month, each frame involves a decision. He feels that the limited number of exposures has helped him think more carefully about where and how to make a picture, without replacing the digital camera he uses most often.
Chacarita and a different sense of time
At Chacarita cemetery, Seniscero found quiet, older architecture and views unlike those he had expected. He did not go because someone he knew was buried there. Curiosity about the place, its history and the possibility of finding peace drew him in.
After walking through it, he wanted to return with a camera. He chose to make relatively few photographs and give each composition time. The absence of crowds and the feeling of being somewhere outside the modern city made it easier to concentrate.
From the editor — Looking at these photographs together, I notice how often a passage or an opening gives the picture its shape. The library leads the eye upwards; the cemetery corridor draws it towards a tree. Those repeated forms make the change of place feel connected, even as the light and atmosphere change.
For this conversation, Seniscero shared five photographs from Chacarita, made with the Pentax K1000 and Sony A390. Four are proposed in this sequence. The three colour photographs shown here were made digitally with the Sony.
The black-and-white frame below was made with a Pentax K1000, using Fomapan Classic 100 exposed at ISO 200 and push-developed one stop.
The Plaza de Mayo street and the cemetery offer different ways for a familiar place to feel outside its usual time. Seniscero’s account stays rooted in the pleasure of walking, noticing and choosing when to make a photograph.
Questions about Seniscero’s photography
Does Seniscero work only with film?
No. Most of his photographs are digital, made with a Sony A390. Film cameras also form part of his practice.
Why photograph familiar places as a visitor?
Imagining a visitor’s perspective helps him notice views in Buenos Aires that familiarity can make easy to overlook.
What draws him to Chacarita?
He describes its quiet, architecture and feeling of another time, approaching it through walking and considered compositions.
Explore Seniscero’s photographs on Lomography and more conversations in Developing Stories.
Based on a written conversation with Seniscero, edited in English by Emiliano Vittoriosi / Berlin Photo Studio. Seniscero is the photographer’s chosen public name.
