The 2022 500px International Pictures Awards serves creatives working with images and gives them an opportunity to showcase their talent and be rewarded for it. The second version of the competitors consisted of six classes: Technical, Storytelling, Industrial Content material, Documentary, Advantageous Artwork, and Panorama. In the present day on the weblog we’re speaking with the winner of the Fine Art class, Elena Paraskeva, as she tells us extra in regards to the picture.
Hello Elena, please introduce your self.
Consider it or not, my masters was in finance, and my profession within the US was first as a Director of Analytics after which as a Advertising Government for Nestle Waters.
I’m utterly self-taught, by no means attended a single workshop, and fast-forward a decade later, my work is presently on exhibition on the European Parliament in Brussels.
I’m a devoted Adobe Teacher, educating hundreds on my course of, and I’m a decide for among the world’s most esteemed images competitions together with for the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.
The profitable picture: “Maintaining the Distance”
What made you gravitate to this model of images—pushing the boundaries of illustration and creating work extra conceptual in nature?
I contemplate myself to be a fancy individual, and as such, I would like my interplay with the viewer to happen in a extra advanced, contextual house the place the that means and intention is just not immediately out there to understand. A extra concerned dialog of the minds must occur for the unraveling of the unique thought to be attained.
Are you able to inform us the way you deliberate and executed the shoot for the “Maintaining the Distance” picture?
The actual picture is a part of an 8-image sequence that has been featured extensively in magazines around the globe. The mission was really created proper after our lockdowns ended. It was a surreal time if you concentrate on it, the concern, and the necessity to distance ourselves was so intense, all of us went by means of a never-before-seen stage of social deprivation. The mission explores society’s awkward makes an attempt at re-integration, utilizing humor and coloration.
There are such a lot of components inside this picture. Was it a problem working with so many components of coloration, props, and fashions?
I’ve a course of once I create a sequence, and all of it begins with me writing down the storyline and the message. I then scout for areas and take footage of every body inside this location. As soon as I’ve honed in on the precise frames, I elaborate on the composition, writing down the poses, the props, the clothes, and, in fact, the precise lighting for use. Every little thing is predetermined approach earlier than the day of the shoot, nothing is left to likelihood. In that sense, it’s straightforward on the day of the shoot, I do know precisely what I’m going for.
Do you could have a favourite picture in your 500px Profile and why?
I’m at all times extra emotionally linked to a sequence slightly than particular person photos, due to the intrinsic message behind them and the time funding. However If I had to decide on a picture or two, I’d say the “Cubist” (I & II) as a result of they’re so consultant of my conceptual model and sensibility.
All photographers have their most well-liked gear. What’s yours, and what instruments did you employ to create “Keeping the Distance”?
I’m a Nikon photographer, so all my gear (digicam and lenses) is Nikon. I don’t have a favourite lens to be sincere, as a result of I discover that every lens has its personal worth relying on the kind of shoot concerned. If I’m doing a wonderful artwork portrait, I exploit an extended lens, but when I’m doing a style shoot, I exploit a wide-angle one, and I really love the distortion.
This specific sequence was environmentally primarily based and all the weather within the body wanted to be in focus, so I used a wide-angle lens mounted on my tripod. Lighting was the identical for each picture within the sequence, as I prefer to have light-cohesiveness, and because it was a harsh and really vibrant day, the aim was to make use of the solar as the primary supply, and the strobes because the secondary supply that removed the cruel shadows. Because of this, I used massive octaboxes for even protection.
Framing and taking the shot is simply a sliver of what it takes to make a robust picture. The opposite equally vital half is enhancing, how did you employ enhancing instruments to raise your picture?
That is very true, enhancing performs a big function in my work. For this specific sequence, I used Photoshop to merge all of the completely different exposures I created for every scene since I used to be working with a single mannequin. I additionally performed with coloration to make it possible for the color-blocking I envisioned can be the identical for every picture. Colour grading for me is the final step of the method and it’s what separates picture from an incredible picture!
When submitting your work to the awards, how did you choose out of your numerous portfolio and resolve on the very best photos? Curation could be a battle for creatives so do you could have any tips about find out how to be selective and intentional on the subject of submitting your work to competitions?
All of it comes right down to which competitors you’re submitting to. Analysis previous winners to see what the competitors gravitates in the direction of. Is it realism, rawness, documentary-style images, or very stylized, pop, colourful, or surreal imagery?
For instance, the Lensculture and Sony competitions require very completely different imagery from say the ICA, Chromatica Awards, IPA, FAPA and many others. The primary competitions love and admire extra documentary model images and present issue-based imagery, whereas the latter award the surprising and the extra technically primarily based.
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