Netherlands based photographer Carmen Gonzalez has a beautiful body of work on display on Flickr, and recently held an exhibition in the town of Hoogeveen. I particularly like her diptyches, and wanted to find out some more about her. Here’s the interview:

How would you describe your photographic vision? What kind of look/atmosphere/feel do you try and create in your photos?

I try to create a world as if we are looking through the looking glass. It is somewhat dreamy and mystical. I always post process my photos in photoshop as I do not want to capture the realistic moment how it is at that point in time but how it is at that moment in my mind… my vision.

When did you start taking photos and why? What made you decide to explore photography as a means of artistic expression?

I started taking photos seriously approximately 5 years ago. Of course I had experimented with analogue photography before but I was not so extensively engaged with the passion as I have been in the last five years. When I discovered photoshop a whole new world opened to me. I could finally express myself by creating the images I have in my head.

Colour or black & white…which do you prefer and why?

I do not have a preference.  I like both. It depends on the photograph which form I choose. If you have a photograph with flat lighting for example, black and white just is not that expressive so you have to take that into consideration. And sometimes you take the power away of a photograph if you desaturate it or vice versa.

What is your favourite place for taking photos?

Depends on what I have in my head. I usually love to take photos from nature. But I also like old buildings or photographing people (or myself) in classy furnished rooms (this can be a hotel room or an atelier or whatever). I also like photographing under water a lot. But that is very difficult for me as I do not have the proper equipment (yet).

Your work is very creative. Where do you get your ideas and inspiration from? What are the biggest influences on your work?

I get inspired by everyday life.. when I see the splendid nature of earth but also when I walk on the street and I see people who have interesting features. I also get inspired by other photographs or when I hear a beautiful song or read a book that touches me. Art inspires!

One thing I really like about your work is the blend between photography and art. I like the way you use textures in Photoshop. Talk us through the processes you use. What are your favourite techniques?

It is quite simple. You copy an old texture as a new layer on a photograph and then merge it with the filter you want. For the rest you can adjust the result however you want with for example the tool curves in photoshop. For the rest I have a lot of actions which I have created so that I can use it on lots of photographs at once to create the same atmosphere.

You’ve just had your first exhibition. Tell us a little about it. How much work went into obtaining and preparing the exhibition? How rewarding was it? What advice can you give a photographer or artist who wants to break into exhibiting?

It was such a fantastic experience. The exhibition went very well. I had only positive reactions. On the opening there were like 100 visitors coming to see my work. I was really flattered. The most exciting thing was that I worked together with a VJ and a musical specialist. So my photos were projected on three different screens accompanied with some awesome trance music.

The preparations were difficult as I was working with other (artistic) people but I was the one who needed to organize everything and who was guarding the time-schedule. Kind of frustrating sometimes if you have to constantly mail/phone/sms people to get them to do things as agreed upon in time. Also I was the one who needed to visit possible sponsors for the show, had meetings with the director of the gallery etc. But at the end, if you see the result and it is going like you planned or even better, the feeling you get is priceless.

A tip for people who want to do an exhibition of their work:

Just be sure that you have a time schedule/to do list and work in systematically; this will give you an overview otherwise you will get lost!

Stay cool and stay focused and you will do fine!

You deal with the themes of the nude and self-portraiture a lot in your work. What ideas are you exploring with these themes? Why are you drawn to them so much?

I love the human body and especially the round female forms. I used myself as a model because it is practical mostly. You always have a model around. Also I am a little vain. It is a nice remembrance how you look like when you are young when you are (hopefully) an old lady all wrinkled and schrunk. But first mentioned reason is the main reason.

I am a little bit bored now with using myself as a model though. I am more and more into photographing other people/models. Directing people to model how you have in mind is quite difficult. I see this as a new challenge in photography for me. I need challenges in my life otherwise I get bored.

I am drawn to the human nudity in photography cause I can be touched by the beauty of the body which is so ingeniously built. I would love to photograph a real overweight person one day and also a body which has experienced a lot; nude. I am exploring more and more in this field and I like this progression I am making.

Name three photographers or artists you like and why.

Anton Corbijn; he is the master of cross processing in photography. He used it and turned it into his trademark. I adore the cinematic vision in his work. I also admire his guts.. how he experiments and how he is not afraid to fall on his face.

Andy Julia - fantastic fashion photography. Just like the ambience he creates with his work a lot.

Mark Sink; makes fantastic nude photographs with toy cameras .

Where is your photography going? What future photographic project or projects are you excited about?

Like I said before; it is more focus on photographing people/models instead of myself. I also want to focus more on photographing people while I travel. So far I only did that a few times as I was always more interested in landscapes or buildings. But it is kind of scary to ask a stranger if you may photograph him/her. I am not so good in taking rejection

Bonus Question: Your dream assignment. What is it?

To be able to travel and make photographs of my journey the way I see it. And to publish it in a book.

Links

website: http://www.carmengonzalez.org/
flickr: www.flickr.com/solea
deviant art: http://indospan.deviantart.com/
ipernity: www.ipernity.com/carmengonzalez

E-mail: cg [at] hotmail [dot] com (I am available for freelance work)

All photographs Copyright © Carmen Gonzalez. Please contact the photographer for permission to use in any way.

Nearly everybody has heard of Flickr, but what other photo sharing sites are there specifically aimed at photographers? Here I look at some and examine their good and bad points, taking into consideration ease of use, design, the quality of the photography, social networking aspects, cost, promotional potential and additional photography resources.

onexposure.net

Onexposure is a photo sharing site aimed at photographers run by two Swedish advanced amateur photographers. Membership is completely free and the standard of photography on the site is extremely high. The operators of the site have come up with a simple system of ensuring the high standard of photography. Before a user can display a photo on the site, it is screened to see if the photo comes up to the required standard. If they aren’t sure, they will post it for a day on the site and ask members to vote. The number of photos a member can upload is dependent on on their acceptance rate, the more photos that are accepted the more one can post.

This is a great idea for ensuring the quality of the photos on the site, and means that visitors can enjoy browsing the photos without having to sift through poor quality work. There’s a wide variety of work to see, organised in categories such as Abstract, Landscape, Fine Art Nude, Portrait and Urban.

As a user however, I found the submission process a little frustrating. My first two photos were accepted, and the second two rejected. In light of the time spent choosing and preparing the photos to upload, I was asking myself the question ‘Why did I bother?’ But if you like a challenge, it’s a good feeling to see your photos displayed alongside the work of some very accomplished photographers.

The site is very easy to navigate and use, and is very well designed, displaying the photos against a black background, with minimal distraction. The social networking element is emphasised, members are encouraged to comment (with appreciation or gently constructive criticism) on photos that they like and to reply to any comments they receive. All members have a profile, with a link to their website if they have one, and as a promotional tool, it’s an excellent way to bring visitors to your website as long as you make the effort to post photos regularly.

The emphasis of the site is on the photographs, with a forum being the only additional photography resource.

Verdict: An excellent site for browsing extremely high quality photography with links to the photographers websites. Free membership encourages new members. The site is easy to use and beautifully designed without any advertising. However, the submission process can be frustrating when photos are rejected, which means submissions are for advanced photographers, not for beginners. I also disliked that the number of photos a member can upload depends on their acceptance rate. A great resource for learning by example and inspiration by looking at the displayed photos.

photo.net

Started in 1993 as the home page of Philip Greenspan, Photo.net has grown into a network of over 100,000 photographers. Initial membership is free and allows the user to post a portfolio of up to six photos, and full membership (required to take full advantage of the site) costs $US25 a year.

Unlike Onexposure, members can post whatever photos they like. Once posted, they can submit photos for critique and they are given scores out of seven on aesthetics and originality by other members.

Visitors have several options for viewing photos, searching by category, ranking or most recently posted. It’s also possible to see recently submitted photos in order of ranking. This system encourages visitors to view the highest ranked photos and means the standard of photography is very high. Due to the high level of membership there’s a wide variety of talent and photography, and the best portfolios are simply breathtaking and awe-inspiring.

Social networking is heavily emphasised, with members leaving lots of encouraging comments on each other’s work. Each photographer has a profile page with a link to their website. As a promotional tool, like Onexposure it has excellent potential, as long as you regularly post photos.

Photo.net is another easy to use and navigate site, with a simple, non-confusing design. It’s also an excellent photography resource, with lots of articles on learning photography, equipment reviews, interviews, news, extensive forums and classified adverts.

Verdict: Another excellent photo sharing site aimed at photographers. There’s lots of inspiration with some simply amazing portfolios. It’s also a great learning resource with a large selection of useful articles and forums. The $US25 annual membership fee may put off some users, but for anyone that uses the site a lot it’s very good value for money.

trekearth.com

Trekearth is a website aimed at travellers. Photos are organised by country and subdivided into cities and regions. As a way of finding out what a place looks like by browsing photos taken there, it’s an excellent resource. Membership is free and users can post as many photos as they like, but not more than one every 24 hours. Trekearth asks for a lot of information, including place, country, date and technical details (it’s not compulsory to provide them all). However, the overall standard of photography is low and I found it a little frustrating to research a location and to see lots of boring photos amongst the few good ones.

Social networking is an integral part of the site, members have a profile (although it’s not easy to include a link to a website) and comment heavily on each other’s work. Posted photos receive a lot of views in the first few days they’re online. As a promotional tool it’s very limited, I posted a lot of photos and not one person followed the link to my personal website. The emphasis is on travel photography, not the photographer. A nice feature is a world map on photographer’s profiles that highlights the countries their photos were taken in. There’s also a forum for photography and travel questions.

Trekearth also has two sister sites, www.treknature.com (aimed at nature photographers) and www.treklens.com (aimed at all types of photography not just travel). A quick browse of the sister sites reveals the same strengths and weakness of trekearth.

Verdict: A great site for travellers and travel photographers who want to research the visual potential of a location. The emphasis however is on the photos and the places not the photographer. Membership is free and it’s a great site to meet other travellers and photographers that like the same places. The overall standard of photography is low, and the site seems to be aimed at travellers who take photos, rather than travel photographers.

jpgmag.com

Did you know that there is an online photography magazine where anyone can upload their photos and photo essays and post their profiles?

JPGmag is a photo sharing site for photographers with a difference. Members upload photos and articles which are voted on by other members. The best of the best are published in a magazine and the authors paid $US100 and given a free subscription. The magazine is available for download in PDF format and also for purchase in print form.

The standard of the photography in the published magazine is inspirationally high. That’s not surprising, consider the following statistics for JPG Magazine Issue 10: 10,743 photos submitted by 6,771 people, 1,057,974 votes cast by 21,024 people in 147 countries.

Membership is free, and members can submit articles, photos and photo essays. Single photos can be submitted to themes; recent themes include ‘America’, ‘Dreamscapes’, ‘Are You Ready to Rock’ and ‘Fashion’.

The site is easy to use and navigate with a modern design fitting a cutting edge photography magazine. Visitors can view photos, photo essays, articles, stories and contributor profiles. Photos can be voted in or out of the next edition of the magazine, but no comments can be left.

Verdict: An excellent site for aspiring photographers who take on the challenge to see if their work is good enough to publish in the magazine. The photos, articles and photo essays are very interesting to explore. The potential of publication is a great incentive to use the site. The standard of the best work is extremely high.

Conclusion

Four different photo sharing sites for photographers, all with different strengths that suit different types of user. Trekearth is a great website for travellers, Photo.net is the best for resources such as articles, interviews and forums, Onexposure is great to browse for inspiration, and JPGmag offers the incentive of publication in a cutting edge photography magazine.

Photographers Portfolios

Four talented photographers that I found on these photo sharing sites:

Rarinda Prakarsa on Photo.net

Rarinda Prakarsa is an Indonesian photographer based in Jakarta. This is a portfolio of beautiful, atmospheric colour photos from his country.

Nicole Mabry at JPGMag

Nicole Mabry has some beautiful figure and portrait work and has been experimenting with a very interesting process of cross processsing black and white film.

Todd Adams at Trekearth

Todd Adams is a photographer and writer from the United States, with a fascinating portfolio of high quality travel photography.

Johan Lundberg at OnExposure

Johan Lundberg is a Swedish photographer with a beautiful collection of black and white documentary photos from Romania.