Contributor Interview: Alessandra (“Sasha”) Goodfriend
Alessandra (“Sasha”) Goodfriend is a recent high school graduate with a passion for photography and travel. Below is an excerpt of our interview that will appear in full (with select photos from her travels) in the inaugural issue of Side B.
Tell us a little about yourself.
I just graduated high school in New York City (the nyc lab school) and will be going to Boston University in the fall where I plan to major in international relations and eventually get a dual degree as a social studies teacher as well as minor in woman’s studies – but I plan to leave room to change my mind 100 times until then. As of now my dream is to start a school for girls somewhere in Latin America and prepare the girls to be self sufficient and successful in whatever career path they choose. Until then, I’ll enjoy dreaming.
Can you give us some background on these photos? How did you come to find yourself in such varied and interesting locales?
All of the photos I’ve taken in my travels with my mom during the last three years. My mom was born with the need to travel and I have been lucky enough to tag along on her adventures. I first traveled abroad when I was only 6 weeks old, spent my first birthday in Guatemala (where I’ve been back 14 times), have spent more than 3 and a half years cumulatively abroad to over 40 countries. Photographing, wandering, bargaining, smiling, talking, learning to understand and explore different cultures is in my blood. During almost every school vacation a week long we take a few days of school off at each end, book a plane ticket somewhere and with only our backpack and Lonely Planet guide book take off and get lost. My mom has been almost everywhere so she knows where to take me and friendly locals love to show us around their home town and I follow eagerly, photographing along the way.
Was it a challenge to photograph complete strangers or were they receptive to the presence of a camera?
I’ve learned almost everything about photographing from my mom. People will get annoyed when you stick a camera in their face but if you smile at them first (the international language), show them the camera, and gesture to take a picture they are almost always happy to smile for you. When you show them the picture afterwards on the digital screen they love it and get very excited so the whole process is actually a lot of fun! When my mom and I went to Guatemala we would go back and return the pictures to the people and each year they would come out and show us that they kept the photos and loved them.