Trying to not f*ck it this time

In my way back to home after have photographed the concert I remembered that once I started a 365 project with my mobile phone. It started well as I was excited about it and was my first smartphone with a decent camera. However, after the initial excitement, I struggled to do interesting images without relying  on the effects or filter that all camera apps have. I did not want to make some pretty images just because of a stupid filter or app but somehow I started to like and wanted to take photos of a fake world, that one with always blue skies, perfect sunsets and nice tonalities but all thanks to a filter. That was not me, well was in part but was not the direction where I wanted that my creativity and art go. So I stopped it.

Now I am carrying my camera again with me everywhere and I decided to take the challenge again and even more, will do it in color. Yes for most of it I will not make any conversion to black and white. If you don't leave our comfort zone then I think you should not call yourself and artist or a creative person. Think about it.

A calm street.

Being a lazy creative person

I have not been taking photos lastly, focused mostly on my poems and other non-photography matters I started to feel myself more as a hobbyist than as a photographer. That thought has been around two months in my head until yesterday that there was a local concert in my district to which I went to take some photos with my old canon 20d and a fixed lens of 20mm.
I always liked to photograph concerts, especially of extreme metal, but this was band Claymore played in broad light :/  I took no more than a hundred shots, I think that if in the days of film we had 36 images per film roll and with two or three rolls we were able to have around 5 good images why not should Ii try to do it again. 

Is not new that with digital we take more photos than we really need so literally we are just wasting the life cycle of the camera and being lazy creatively. Shoot 5 images per second or more per every possible angle is nonsense. Explore your subject from all angles is great but think twice before taking the picture, just like that you will be more critical with your composition and improve your skills.

This is my selection:

 

Inspiration is a bitch.

Inspiration is a bitch. She must be taken, exploited and used as much as needed because there will be times when no idea will come. Days when your canvas will remain blank waiting your brushes be driven by your hand.

Those days are hard. You have something in your head but don't know how to transform into a painting, photograph or a sculpture. You walk around, sketch but all is garbage.

Some try help with wine, beer, drugs, sex, yoga, long walks to sort the ideas but all is useless. You end tired and hopeless, questioning if you deserve to be called an "artist" or if you even are one and not just a "wanna be".

"Inspiration" won't come to you so easily. You must pay for it. Pay with your insecurity, fear, happiness and dreams. You must sacrifice your time with friends, boyfriends, family and your time to be with just with yourself" only after that you will be able to create as God. Creativity will flow through hands. It is a force that pushes you to paint, write, sculpt, photograph, etc at any given moment. You will express whatever you have inside your soul as joy or doubts. It won't be rational anymore, now is time to let your feelings be exposed without fear.

But as she comes, she goes. She serves for a limited time only. You cannot retain her. She is not yours and never was. That is why when she is pleasing you make the most of her. If you are weak or not ready for the intensity of her grace then don't force it. You may hurt yourself and your beloved ones. But if you are ready then don't rest. You will be on ecstasy and your creations will have magic.

After she is gone you won't be the same. You will see what you have done and finally will have some inner peace. You will be able to recognise your own demons no longer needing to run away from them and that will set you apart from the rest of men and women.

She has shown you a door of infinite options. Now you need her again and start over.

a Brno woman - Katerina

Lastly I have been trying to take photos in a different way that I am used to. From the back background and with studio lights to a more natural and relaxing environment. 

This session was unexpected. She is a photographer too and I was her model that day however by the end of the session I took my camera and we switch roles.
The session was short and fun and these are her selection.

a Brno woman - Božena

One of the thing I enjoy photograph more are portraits. I don't believe that single picture can show the personality of a subject but only the point of the view of the photographer about the subject being photograph.

As photographers we have control, up to certain level, over the image of a person. After a photo session we can have images that show the person as an easy going friend or as a very strict and serious person.

The greatest artist ever born!

Once upon a time there was a boy that dreamed to be an artist, be famous, get tons of money for a single painting, get laid with pretty girls and paint with total liberty whatever he had on mind.

He went to an art school. There he learned about the masters: Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo and Rafael. His idols from childhood, the ninja turtles. Life could not be better.

An interview: Zoe Massey, Peruvian photographer.

From the series "Houses".

From the series "Mi Perú de Bolsillo" by Zoe Massey.

Zoë P Massey is a Peruvian photographer working in visual arts since 1999; with numerous solo and group exhibitions today she share something about her and her work.

a poem - a flower

"There is a flower I have found,

there is a smile I have kissed

and I want to keep on my hands

the flower that has kissed me"

 -

She hides from the sunlight

away in a dark garden

 where her brown eyes

cannot see mine.

Her name I cannot tell

reserved to the Gods it is

as from heaven to hell

all beauty and danger she is.

All what she wants is

a caress on her face

while the wind and sun sing

these magic words to her.

and as the time goes

the flower slowly rises everyday

to smile to the sun

and let herself be hold on my hands...

                                             C.L.

Untitled XXXIII. From the series The solitude of delirium.

a Brno girl 29 - Mirka

a poem - The princess

I can see trough your eyes
 the little girl behind,
 feel your scratched hands
 looking for a nice heart,
 and hear your soul
 laughing at the sky.

However I cannot kiss you tonight
 neither flirt with your smile
 nor tell you my poems till sunrise.

But I will kidnap you tomorrow somehow
 close you eyes with my hands
 and let you imagine
 the princess that you really are.

                                                              Carlos Lopez, October 2014

An interview: Max Cabello, Peruvian photographer.

The remains of a grown woman and a girl are dug up from
a mass grave located in Chungui.

Bride during wedding celebrations at Chungui

Max Cabello, is a Peruvian documentary photographer. Finalist of the Leica Oskar Barnak Award 2014 with his series about Chunguis, a small village in the Peruvian Andes severely affected by the terrorism in the 80's. Founding memeber of the photo collective Supay fotos in this interview from 2012 he share some insights about his beginnings and motivation.

a brno Girl - Zdenka

I while ago I had the opportunity to photograph a very versatile, pretty and interesting person, Zdenka.
Like most Moravian girls she irradiates confidence, charm and elegance.
The photosession lasted approximately 2.5 hours. We did as you can see a diverse type of pictures, from some casual portrait to some provocative. I hope you like these portraits.