Guillermo De Angelis Photographer - Madrid, Spain
When and where did you learn and begin your photographic career?
It began in Argentina, in the city of Rosario, and that was before I realized. If you mean, when it started to manifest almost urgently, it was during the years I lived in Madrid as a way to stop time.
Originally you studied Architecture. How has this influenced your photography?
It influenced to study the space, the environment, for the abstraction. To study Design, to get interested for the fine arts. To learn to look.
Your comment, “I try to get the expression through the economy of resources.” Can you please discuss this?
I confess I have a weakness for detail. The essence is contained in a brush stroke, in a gesture. I’m sure that if it was beautiful singing, it would be in a low voice.
Light plays a huge part in your work. Can you discuss this in relationship to one or two of your photographs?
Light is fundamental to photography in general. In my case, sometimes, I try to do scenography images, where light is the main ingredient. In other situations I obtain photographs of details or situations that seem to me urgent with any temperature of light or any kind of light.
Can you discuss the subtle use of colour in your work? Eg. ‘Aquella Vieja Rebeldia Animal’
These photographs are the ones I like, they just happen. It’s a sunset in the outskirts of the city of Rosario, Argentina. The subtlety can come in many ways. In this case, I chose the color.
You use full colour in ‘Buoy’. It is not the colour we are drawn to, but the composition. Can you expand on this?
In this image the primary colors almost go unnoticed, they occupy a small area in relation to the overall image. That’s why they don’t become substantial, the composition and the arrangement of the elements are the foundation of photography.
lease discuss composition in your work – is this done on location or back in the studio?
When you have the need to take pictures, when there is a mimetic reaction between yourself and what’s photographed, work in the studio is always a slight formality.
How important are Photoshop or similar programs to a modern photographer?
Photoshop is a lawful work tool. It’s like an ax, useful but you have to use it with caution.
Your series ‘Diégesis’: this work is full of abstraction. Please discuss?
After doing architecture, design and philosophy I dove into photography. With the sort of enthusiasm that drives you to move forward, or better still, inwards. Hoping to discover within, rather than outside myself, what I am trying to show. I choose to take pictures not prepared. I try to get the expression through the economy of resources. Focusing on the details that strike me as essential. Suggesting clearly, presenting without describing.
Can you take two photographs and discuss why in one you have used black and white and the other colour and your choices of medium?
With the black and white we look beyond of we see at first. We are interested in the world of concepts.
With color, we look for sensations in spite of being rookies in the use of color. Generally, I prefer black and white.
‘Winter Song’ didn’t just happen. Can you tell us about the set up for this photograph?
This image has been taken at “Parque del Retiro” from Madrid, a winter day on which it was snowing in an unusually way. Sometimes the opportunity is like a “smug miss” who doesn’t appear if you’re not willing to wait for her.
Can you explain the technique you used for your work ‘Loneliness’?
Is a double exposure photograph. A horizontal motion blur and other fixed.
Discuss your photographs and symmetry?
Many of my photographs are symmetric due to the square format. Is a classic composition for this type of format. I prefer square because elements and composition are critical for the capture.
Discuss how you are able to represent the sense of feeling into your work?
I think the best test to transmit a sensation is to experience it myself. I don’t pretend to generate something specific with my images; this would be the pretension to anticipate a result. If any of my images generates something, I was the first touched.
Expand on the equipment you use and your studio space in Madrid?
My equipment consists of a Nikon with several objectives, the one I use more is 24-70 2.8mm. My Fujifilm X20 that comes with me everywhere, a Lumix, always faith full and my phone or whatever you can take a photograph with. In my studio I have a Mac, some of my favorite music and little more.
Contact details.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guillermo.deangelis.1
Email: deangelis.guillermo@gmail.com
Guillermo De Angelis, Madrid, Spain
Interview by Deborah Blakeley, June, 2014
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