All images by Ronny Garcia. Used with permission.
Ronny Garcia is 26 years old, currently studying graphic and multimedia design, born in Barranquilla, Colombia. He’s self taught, and spends hours on the computer searching for inspiration and ideas.
Part of his artistic endeavors stems from the fact the he started drawing at a young age. At age 24 he bought his first DSLR on a trip through Europe and the rest, as they say, is history. Last year, he made the shortlist for the EyeEm awards; and this is because of his surreal photography.
A common element in the Ronny’s style is tell fantastic stories in which uses the human body as a basic element to create.
Phoblographer: Talk to us about how you got into photography.
Ronny: Well, photography came into my life in a moment I wasn’t expecting.
In late 2013 I found some image on internet that took my breath away, those picture were incredible for me, something that I never saw before and from that moment I knew this is what I wanted to do. So that month I decided I wanted to buy a camera and believe me–since that moment I’ve never stopped shooting.
Phoblographer: What made you get into fine art/conceptual portraiture?
Ronny: Well there was a lot things, but one of the principals is that I always have being connected with art, since I was a child I used to draw many hours and spend my time doing it. I found in photography a way to express the same I did with painting, express feeling that I have though people and even through me with my self-portrait.
Phoblographer: Lots of conceptual photographers try to creatively express feelings of theirs through images. What do you feel you’re typically trying to convey?
Ronny: I think for me there is not just a typical feeling in all my pictures, but I think I’ve passed from different periods. I remember I had a time where everything was dark and melancholy and I think now I’m more into something more ethereal, something that can stay in time to speak to people and tell them a story
Phoblographer: Where do you typically draw your inspiration from for your images? Many photographers cite either movies, books or insomnia.
Ronny: Well I think for me a lot of my inspiration come from the internet, I pass a lot of hours in front of my computer because of my work so I see a lot of things like illustrations, paintings, photographs so I think this is one of the things that most influences my work. Also I can mention some photographers that are a big inspiration for me in the recent: Alessio Albi, Laura Zalenga, David Uzochukwu, Dmitry Rogozhkin
Phoblographer: So walk us through your process. Do you storyboard? How do you explain your work to the model? It looks no there is no photoshopping involved.
Ronny: Yes, most of my ideas are made first on papers, I try to plan as many things as possible in my pictures, from the clothes to the poses, thinking also in the atmosphere that the picture should have. Those details are so important for me to complete the final picture. After I complete all that stuff comes the post processing, this is and step that is very important for me, because here is where I make that the main idea gets the power it needs to show what I want.
Phoblographer: Talk to us about the gear that you use.
Ronny: Well I use now a Canon 6D, the Canon 50mm f1,4 (is my preferred), the Canon 100mm f/2, and a Tamron 24-70mm f2.8.
Phoblographer: How do you feel EyeEm and social media has changed you as a photographer?
Ronny: Social media in general has been a positive thing for me, different of what may be other people can say about this, I feel that for me social media gave me more confidence in myself and in what I was doing, to know that there’s people that like your work inspires you to create even more, and keep giving the best of you, not just for yourself, but also for them.
In the case of EyeEm after I made into the Shortlist on the EyeEm award 2015, they gave me a lot of exposure. I’m so thankful with them because they believed in my work and what I was doing and gave me such incredible opportunity.