Irina Werning's sentimental project Back to the Future revisits moments from people's youth, with touching and funny results.
Like so much of what we enjoy about photography, her work is about nostalgia. It even has us recalling Don Draper's Carousel pitch from Mad Men. It offers humor, gratitude, fond embarrassment, and rose-tinted memory all rolled into one.
"We are all curious about how we age," says Werning. "It's a universal thing."
When Back to the Future emerged online its endearing images resonated broadly, and the project went viral. That was four years ago; after globetrotting through 35 countries, Werning has put her greatest hits into a book.
Cameras and films throw out every kind of tone and finish, which makes Werning's coming so close to the original photos quite the achievement, even with the help of Photoshop. She won't say much about the details of her process, but admits to an almost uncontrollable urge to go through subjects' family photos upon meeting them.
"I try to find images that speak about cultures, societies, and traditions," says Werning of her initial meetings with her subjects and their photos. "There's a lot of improvisation."
In all cases, from India to Argentina, England to Japan, subjects have contacted Werning to reenact their old time fashions and kid-haircuts.
"Mostly, subjects laugh about themselves," she says. "This is the best virtue we humans have."
Sometimes you pick a project and sometimes a project picks you. As much as Werning dances into the past with Back to the Future, she is also carrying it forward. Werning says she doesn't know what she is to do next, but she has said that Back to the Future will "never end."
