Warning: some of these pictures will make you cringe. Uneven frames on the wall, tangled-up headphones, the spinning circle of death on a Mac! Mexico City photographer Rodrigo Ceballos has created an album dedicated to those objects and situations that are just off enough that they make our skin crawl: Pet Peeves.
I was in my apartment when I opened up the fridge craving a cold glass of milk and noticed it was almost gone. At first, I got mad, but then I started laughing. The empty milk carton got to me. I then realized that these amusing—and annoying—beings are all around us. So I started sketching and asking around about people’s pet peeves.
Rodrigo says he likes to try to get a laugh here and there with his photographs, and he knew this album would be perfect for that. He’d come up with ideas from his own memories and life experiences as well as from others. And he says he always had a couple of great colleagues he could rely on to help brainstorm when he was second-guessing an idea. From there he mocked up the concepts on paper and then in Photoshop.
I started by making a list of these nuisances. I knew right away that the series had to be as simple as possible, so I crossed out those that I felt wouldn’t be as straight-forward. And then I started to sketch—in Photoshop I played with the color palettes, the framing, etc., just to make the actual shoot more efficient.
So far, Rodrigo has loved the reactions he’s been getting to this series. People are getting a kick out of the photos, while also taking them in on a more personal level. It’s easy to feel connected to images that strike such a specific feeling or memory. For Rodrigo, his favorite image is the DVD in the wrong container. He says it just takes him back to childhood, and those silly, heated arguments with his sister.
People have been requesting more pet peeves shots from Rodrigo, so that is currently in the works. He plans to be shooting later in the month of May!
To see the full Pet Peeves gallery and more from Rodrigo, visit rodrigoceballos.com!