Interview:Alba Yruela_English edition
- cyrospace
- Jan 18
- 8 min read
＿Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. I’m truly honored to have this opportunity. To begin, could you please introduce yourself in your own words?
I’m Alba Yruela, a photographer born in La Bisbal d’Empordà and based in Barcelona. I have a deep love for capturing nature and human feelings, seeking intimacy and emotional connection in every image.
＿I’d love to hear about what first led you to pursue photography. When did you first encounter photography, and how did that develop into the decision to become a photographer?
At the beginning, it was just for fun, taking pictures with friends in my hometown. I was also on Flickr, and anyone who grew up on that platform knows the feeling it created. It was the first place where an entire generation of amateur photographers could share their images, discover one another’s work, and connect through common interests for the first time. That’s where I began to see photographs that truly moved me and inspired me to photograph more deeply.
At 18, I moved to Barcelona to study and suddenly found myself in a completely new and vast environment. There, I met Rafa Castells; we shared more and more interests, and together we grew and learned how to photograph.
I didn’t consciously decide to become a photographer; it was more of an instinct. Photography was where I found the greatest pleasure, and I didn’t want to waste any time. I dropped out of my graphic design studies and started working in a bar until I earned enough money from photography to quit and become a freelancer. Everything happened very organically, and I’ve been very patient with the process.
＿Looking through your photobooks, I notice recurring elements such as everyday scenes, friends, lovers, self-portraits, and always nature—flowers, trees, and landscapes. How do you feel these elements of nature relate to you personally?
All these subjects express emotions. They are elements of a life, my own life, each one drawing my attention and guiding me to slow down and look more closely. I see them as a mirror of my inner feelings where emotions become visible.
＿Do you think this relationship with nature is connected to Empordà, where you are from? I’ve heard that Empordà is a region rich in natural surroundings.
Yes, I’m sure that growing up in Empordà shaped my deep love for the region. I remember spending a lot of time outdoors as a child, going to the river and walking through the fields. As a teenager, it began to feel limiting, and I felt the need to leave. It was only after I started living in Barcelona that I began to understand the permanent connection I had with those landscapes.
A large part of my work has been photographed there. It feels like home, yet every time I walk through its landscapes, I discover something new.
＿You have published several photobooks so far. When releasing Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry, you wrote on social media:“I feel every book I make holds something special that begs to be created…”I’d love to hear more about this. Do you begin a project because you sense that “something special” from the start, or does that feeling emerge through the process of making the work?
I usually don’t plan projects in advance. My process is intuitive; ideas emerge as I move through my work. I begin by sensing a direction, and over time I reflect on it through reading and thinking.
I photograph constantly, as part of an ongoing diary. When I find the theme of a project, I look back at my images and gradually collect the photographs that best represent it. Through this process, I come to understand myself, because when I look back at older images, the feeling of the moment almost always comes back.
That’s how Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry began. When I looked at the images from that trip some time after returning, I realized that the journey to Tokyo was deeply personal. I felt present in all of the photographs, as they reveal my emotional state.
＿I’d like to ask about your previous book, Diaris 2009–2019. Its ten-year span and substantial volume of 464 pages are very striking. You had published several books before Diaris. Why did you decide to shape this work into a ten-year compilation at that particular moment? What kind of process led to the creation of this book?
I began thinking about the Diaris 2009-2019 project in 2019, while I was living in London. During that time, I felt that more and more people were discovering my work mainly through Instagram and weren’t aware of everything I had done before. I felt I wanted to give that body of work a proper context and a place to exist.
When I started the project, I knew it was a very extensive body of work, and I wanted to create a book that could hold all of those moments, giving proper space to ten years of work.I approached the archive slowly, with curiosity and excitement, paying attention to the images I felt a strong emotional connection to.
After making an initial selection, I printed around 1,000 photographs and laid them out on the floor of my studio. Seeing the images physically allowed me to understand new relationships between them. I began combining them intuitively, guided by feeling rather than structure. At first, I had no intention of organizing the book chronologically, but as the sequence started to take shape, I realized that chronology was the best way to convey this emotional journey.
＿Diaris 2009–2019 feels extremely open and intimate. How do you personally perceive this book? And within this work, what does that “something special” mean to you?
Diaris 2009–2019 is a book that allows me to return to my own life. I’m drawn to keeping things, to archives and memories, especially because my own memory isn’t very reliable without images. Every moment I photograph becomes something I can remember over time, and creating this book felt like preserving the emotional core of my twenties and the 2010s.
I built this book guided only by what it meant to me personally, following an inner necessity. As the pages began to find their place within the book, a rhythm slowly revealed itself, allowing the viewer to find their own connection.
＿I’d like to ask about your latest book, Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry. When looking at Diaris 2009–2019, Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry, and your other books, I consistently feel a strong sense of your personality throughout. When turning your photographs into a book, are there any common elements or values you consciously keep in mind?
I think all of my personal work comes from a kind of ongoing diary that I keep without overthinking what I photograph. What I end up photographing are my small obsessions, again and again. From time to time, a new curiosity appears and I follow it, but I never force anything.
When creating a book, it’s during the selection process that I start to look inward, at myself and at the feelings the images give me. It’s not only about a beautiful image; it needs to carry emotion, and the images need to work together as an emotional whole.
In the end, I guess that all my books are connected because they come from my life, seen from different points of view, each one focusing on a fragment of time, a place, or emotion.
＿Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry is based on your time in Tokyo in 2023. How do you see this book yourself? Compared to Diaris 2009–2019, it feels different not only in terms of volume and shooting period, but also in other aspects. I would love to hear more in detail about what you wanted to express or convey through this work.
I also think this book is different; its peculiarity lies in its limited time and place frame, as it only includes images taken during my trip to Tokyo in 2023.
I arrived in the city feeling very fragile as I was going through a difficult period in my personal life, and I also felt disconnected from my work. That's the feeling that marks the beginning of the book. Being so far from home made me realize that I wasn’t well, and I felt the need to react. During the first days, affected by jet lag, I felt disoriented.
But as the days passed, I began to walk endlessly and the city, the small details I discovered, the images I encountered in books and exhibitions, the people I met, and especially the flowers, slowly began to heal me.
I feel that the title of the book was something my subconscious was telling me, as a reminder. In the book, each flower carries a different meaning and helps explain what I was going through. In the end, Sakura marked a quiet turning point in me.
＿For the Special Edition Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry. 桜花笑春風, you selected eight photographs. This edition allows viewers to rearrange the hanging scroll images themselves. Why did you choose these eight images, and could you share your honest thoughts about this special edition?
I chose these eight images specifically because, together, they summarize the book. I see them as key moments within the narrative. The flower image used on the cover and the black-and-white self-portrait in the mirror convey the sadness, loneliness, and sense of enclosure I was experiencing at the beginning. In contrast, the white flowers reflected in the river suggest a moment of self-reflection, while the flowers tinted pink by streetlights and the staircase image hint at a movement toward light.
As an object, the special edition feels very meaningful to me because it invites the viewer to participate. Allowing the images to be rearranged creates a more intimate and active relationship with the work, letting the sequence shift in the same way our moods do. It has been an honor to create a typically Japanese object while engaging with a local format and tradition. I feel deep gratitude for the way the work has been received in Japan; it confirmed for me that the emotions carried by the images were understood and shared.
＿Thank you very much for answering these questions. Finally, could you please share a message for the readers of this interview?
I hope readers can find something familiar in these images, something that resonates with their own experiences and emotions.
＿Thank you
Alba Yruela -Profile-
Alba Yruela (b. 1989, Spain) grew up in Empordà, where she cultivated a deep affection for nature. She photographs the landscapes and people around her with an intimate and delicate approach, yet direct point of view. Her practice spans various media, including portraiture, still life, fashion, and video.
She has exhibited her work in cities such as Paris, Los Angeles, London, and Barcelona, and has published more than a dozen photobooks. Among them, her major work Diaris 2009–2019 has been highly praised as a beautiful and contemplative record that tenderly captures her inner world. Composed of over 500 photographs taken across a decade, the book weaves together personal recollection with an exploration of form, color, and light.
In her latest publication, Cherry Blossom, Don’t Cry (2025), Yruela reflects on an emotional shift experienced during her stay in Japan, portraying the transition from feeling lost to experiencing renewal through her characteristic gaze toward nature. An emotive interplay between the external world and her inner sensibility, captured through the full bloom of cherry blossoms.
