Tin Dreams Project
A few years ago, one morning while having breakfast, my eye fell on an English biscuit tin.
It was a beautiful tin box, depicting a winter landscape with children pushing a sled. The scene reminded me a lot of the public park in front of my house — only the season was different.
It would be interesting, I thought, to photograph the tin in that setting… but I’d have to wait for it to snow.
Months passed, and then one day, finally, the snow arrived.
I grabbed the tin, my camera tripod, and ran to the park.
It didn’t take long for me to realize that capturing this shot wouldn’t be easy.
When the tin was in focus, the background blurred — and vice versa.
After many attempts, I finally found the right balance; the first photo was complete.
Would I be able to find other contexts and take more?
It seemed an impossible task — but I’ve always been drawn to challenges.
The first step was to find more tins. So I reached out to a few collectors in the field.
Like most collectors, they were, alas, very protective and reluctant to lend their treasures.
So my search moved to eBay.
Things went better there, though the problem was that tins — especially the antique ones — cost a fortune, and auctions were fierce battles.
Slowly, my collection grew, along with the pressure of not being able to photograph them properly.
But then, something miraculous happened — as if a higher power were guiding me.
For every tin, I found the perfect setting: sometimes close to home, sometimes in distant, unfamiliar places, hundreds of kilometers away.
After several years, the project was complete.
I managed to photograph around thirty tins — a small miracle accomplished!
