Interview with Delfina Carmona
Delfina Carmona. Buenos Aires, Argentina. 11/22/1987
Delfina is a photographer, art director and content creator for social networks.
From his work, we were hooked by his high degree of sensitivity.
The play he plays with shadows, natural light, colors (always vivid and very powerful), as well as the body expression he always uses to transmit movement and a message that is Art in itself.
Each photograph is a piece worthy of framing.
Instagram is an inexhaustible source of content (this is nothing new), and it is also a very useful tool to discover new artists, design trends, fashion, trends, food, places... and endless references that enrich.
That's how we met@delfinacarmona and today we have the opportunity to convey what we were able to talk to her about.
1_ Before starting, we would love for you to tell us how you came to discover that the world of photography is your passion and decided to make it your source of work. Was it difficult to make the leap?
The visual has always been a great element in my life, it has been present for as long as I know or at least as long as I can remember. I always marveled at “the image”, in theater, in cinema, in photography, the possibility of creating scenes as a way of expression without needing words. And being able to freeze them for a moment to keep them for myself or share them with other people almost without thinking about it became an essential necessity for me. I am passionate about the possibility of creating with different elements and objects, also putting the body to transmit an idea or thought in a portrait or self-portrait.
I always marveled at “the image”, in theater, in cinema, in photography, the possibility of creating scenes as a way of expression without needing words.
My relationship with photography was a love that grew over the years, from adolescence to the present day and I feel that it still continues to grow as I do it and encounter new challenges. I think that the jump between “I like taking photos” and “I work taking photos (which is what I like the most!)” is something that was made with a lot of work and dedication, with a lot of passion and putting the focus on doing it. daily more than in the goal I wanted to reach. And the rest happened naturally.
2_The artistic world shows a lot of beauty but also hides an eternal struggle to value the work that is done. What do you value about your work and what challenges does it present?
What I value about my work and what I also believe about art in general (and life, why not?) is honesty. I value honest work, with myself and with others, understanding, sincerity and dedication. Everything I do I do with a lot of passion and a lot of freedom from prejudices, with total freedom. That's why I learned over the years to assert myself for who I am, for what I can offer, and I try to ensure that on the other side, on the receiving side, there is a response according to what my work implies and means. It is very difficult nowadays to put value on what an artist does, there are many inequalities, differences and lack of judgment in general as well as different arrangements depending on who and each one.
Surely the same thing that I do there are people who are willing to do it for more money or for less, just as there are shoes of different value for each pocket and possibility.
The important thing is to achieve personal awareness of what the work itself, the process itself, costs and to be faithful to that.
I think that we artists are a little more awake than before and we don't let ourselves be easily fooled by the market either.
Photography by @delfinacarmona
3_ If something characterizes your photography and artistic expression, it is the play with lights and shadows, becoming your hallmark.
What led you to make these resources a must in your work?
I always really liked photography with natural light, but at the beginning I worked with much more even and less contrasted light. The scenes in my first images were even more desaturated and with ocher or less vivid colors. Until one day I began to fall in love with the sun and its possibilities. I think this has a lot to do with my home and the space I live in because it is very bright, also with how sunny the city is. One day I began to observe and study his contact with objects, his warmth when editing the images later, his hardness at certain times of the day and the possibility of filtering and channeling it to soften it a little. I began to play with my own shadow, with the shadows that an object casts in a space, I began to perceive the vibration that this type of light has in the eye of the observer and its way of reflecting and giving prominence to the great spectrum of colors, etc And there a forever relationship was born, I think. I still really like even light and I even really like artificial and colored night light to work with, but the love with the lights and shadows of the sun is incomparable.
Photography by @delfinacarmona
4_ Body expression is also present. Sometimes, it reminds us of the world of dance. What does the introduction of the body in your photographs mean to you?
Ugh, the body is a very important channel of expression for me and also a source of inspiration and admiration in its entirety. I marvel at the human figure. I was never a person obsessed with sports or figure but I was always fascinated by the possibilities of movement that dance, body expression, etc. pose. My younger sister is a dancer and a lot of this I think came from watching her move. Nowadays I take a lot of photographs with her when I want to take advantage of the gestural resource that she proposes. The hands are also always very present in my photography and also the strangeness in the postures, the twists, the fact of showing some part and hiding another, trying to build small silent visual dances in order to be able to tell something, transmit some message or sensation.
5_ You are the clear example that Art knows no borders, since you have a wide spectrum of Spanish audiences that follow you on social networks, know your work and echo your content.
What role do social networks play in your work today?
Social networks helped a lot in the dissemination of my work and that of many artists that I greatly admire from my generation. I think that thanks to platforms like Instagram we can make our work known and reach places previously unthinkable because we have much more visibility than in the past.
Personally, I think it opened many doors for me and made me grow and generated great opportunities for me personally and professionally.
That is why I believe that social networks are our CV today, it is our letter of introduction, where we show everything we do and if we use them wisely they can help us and reward us for a lot of the time we spend creating as well.
6_Is there any assignment or job that has made you especially excited? Could you tell us about him?
One of the most recent jobs I did that I really enjoyed was one that came about through the Fisheye agency in Paris and it was for a very well-known and very old French champagne brand called Ruinart. The wonderful thing about the experience was that before creating the photographic content required by the brand and as a brief, I had to travel together with two other artists who would also participate in the work and whom I admire for what they do to visit the Reims region in France. for two days and in addition to staying in a beautiful place, walking through vineyards, eating delicious food and drinking delicious champagne, we were able to get to know each other and get to know the region, the house where all the magic happens and is created, the factory, the place where they are stored. bottles, etc. I think that these types of experiences greatly enrich the artist's work since we all left there completely inspired by the experience and wanting to capture everything we had experienced in our images.
In art everything has some chaos and madness, of course! But that is the richness of the whole game, the juice of the matter and I am always willing to give myself without fear of it.
7_ It is well known that the creative process can lead to complete madness. It is one of the most complicated parts, the germ from which everything arises.
What usually inspires you or what work methodology do you usually use when developing an assignment for a brand or your own project?
I am a very active person and very restless and anxious in general. I'm always pushing myself to create something new and I usually take new photos almost every day of my life. It is an exercise that I acquired over time and that keeps me alive and recharges me with energy. If I have to create images for myself, sometimes I try to get inspiration from the light I want to work with and from that start looking for elements, think if it is going to be a composition and then I figure out what things I want to use, or if It's going to be a self-portrait, how I'm going to dress, what pose I'm going to perform, what I want to convey. Or many times I start from an image that I already formulated in my head and say “ok, yes, I want to do this” and then I just have to reproduce it in space. Other times I just want to do something and I have no idea what I want to work on but I start trying things just because, to do something, and then in doing something new comes up.
When I work with brands, perhaps the process is different because by having a product or an element from which to start, it is easier for the entire universe to accommodate itself around what I have to photograph and the idea starts from the product itself.
In art everything has some chaos and madness, of course! But that is the richness of the whole game, the juice of the matter and I am always willing to give myself without fear of it.
Photography by @delfinacarmona
8_ What aspirations or achievements do you consider/want to unlock?
I don't know if it's an aspiration or an achievement, but it's something I've been thinking about and wanting for quite some time.
This year I am going through a rather large process that involves temporarily uprooting myself or not from Argentina, the country where I was born and raised since then.
I am planning to take a flight in June and settle for an indefinite period in Europe, initially in the city of Berlin where other Argentine friends also live and then we will see what fate will say, but I think it is a step that I must take to be able to continue growing in my work and in my profession.
I feel like it's time to change space, air, perspective, inspiration. It's something quite intense because I feel like I'm going to miss a lot of things here and in some way I experience it as a small mourning of many things, but I want to throw myself into the abyss of the unknown and see what new things can surprise me and what I can do there. with all that uncertainty.
9_ We are very struck by the colors you use and their strength. Blue, red and yellow. A primary palette of colors that you can make the most of.
What do these colors say about you?
They are my favorite colors, they are pure energy and I really like working with them. I love the shine they have, the power, the strength. I like to use them separately or compose with all of them together. I like them in objects, in clothing, in spaces, in painting.
I think red speaks of my insatiable desire to create, the energy I have, the wildness, my deepest feminine side. Yellow is a channel of thought, it is light, it stabilizes me, it sustains me, it helps me visualize and think clearly, and then manifest. Blue is my most emotional side, the darkness, the shadow, the silent side that inhabits me.
Photography by @delfinacarmona
10 _ In The Living City (our new collection) we talk about the importance of exploring, discovering and enjoying the city (both everyday life and unknown places).
Make some spaces our own because of the memories we hold of each of them.
We would like you to tell us which three favorite corners/spaces/places (in any city) are special to you and why (if it is confessable!)
- My house in Buenos Aires: It is the home where we live with Momo and our cat Cley, but it is also a creative space for exploration and personal connection. Many ideas for my photos come from there and they are even the perfect setting to photograph them.
- Cefalù in Italy. Because there I simply felt like the protagonist of a movie or a novel. It was my first contact with Italy and although after being there I saw many wonderful places within the country, I think that one had a profound impact on me. On the same evening on the beach I was able to witness a filming of a movie based on the 1960s with all its actors characterized in that way and it was like traveling back in time, also a few meters away you could see a wedding and further away a funeral procession. All at the same time! Everything has something cinematic, wonderful and magical, surreal.
- Paris in its entirety, any of its streets and corners, the Seine, the walks along the shore, the talks, the bottles of rosé wine while the sun goes down, a magical concert at the Opera. I don't have a single memory of all my experiences in Paris that hasn't been special and beautiful for me.
11_ Finally, the required questions:
A woman who inspires you?
I am inspired by WOMEN in general, the feminine, the feminist struggle of all women, those known from yesteryear, the new voices and those who fight daily from anonymity to build a more equal and fair world for all of us.
Your guilty pleasure?
Romantic movies.
If you had to listen to one album for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
In Rainbows by Radiohead or any other of their albums… ok, except Pablo Honey :)
