EWW: Several artists have some difficulty in discerning between photography and fine art photography. What are your thoughts about the two types or is there really no distinction?
JORGE: For me Fine art photography is a work that was thought of, there was a special care in the creative process, from the conception, the shooting and post-production. It’s about an artist vision, a message, an emotion we want to transmit to the viewer.
EWW: I am curious to know what qualities of your work would others comment on first?
JORGE: I get a lot of comments on my work, Usually people love my compositions, the attractive scenes, dramatic lighting, brilliant colors, shutter speed techniques and the dream like effect the images have.
EWW: Excluding subject matter, are there themes that consistently run from one work to the other such as colors, perspective, lighting, movement, style, etc.?
JORGE: I tend to spend some time perfecting compositions, I like them with strong leading lines so it can lead the viewers throughout the scene. Also I tend to favor skies with clouds in my scenes (I’m a cloud lover). I’m always trying to evolve my work, I do a lot of search for new techniques, new approaches, in a way that I can refine my work and grow up as an artist and as a person.
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EWW: What are the challenges you encounter in doing your work?
JORGE: The most dificult thing to control, the weather! I remember my first visit to Iceland, after all the travel to get there and beeing there for a week, I only got 2 good days of weather, it is something we need to take account of, because it’s something out of our control. Another thing is people, sometimes I go to a spot really early to prepare everything and then later on starts to arrive other photographers, but even most of them respect my viewing angle, some just don’t care and step in front of my camera without any consideration for those already there.
EWW: What are your opinions of what makes a good black & white image?
JORGE: First of all and this is for all kinds of photography is Composition, it’s what drives the eye of the viewer in a scene. Second and one of my favorites is contrast, B&W need good contrast and a balanced gray scale throughout the image, also the black’s must have a some detail and the white’s can’t be burned out. Third, the way you use light/shadows in the scene.
EWW: Do you think it is important for photographic artists to have their own website, in addition to another gallery they appear on?
JORGE: In today’s world if you don´t have your one website you don’t exist. It’s also good to have a place where you are in control, where you can show people who you are, what you do. Also if you like to blog, your own blog can bring extra traffic to your website.
EWW: Do you use social media platforms to market and promote your work? If you do use social media platforms, which one(s) work the best for you?
JORGE: There is so many now a days, that somethimes it’s hard to know which one to choose, but yes I use mainely Instagram and Facebook, I don’t use them as much as I should, I tend to use more Instagram, because it’s more about images than Facebook.
EWW: Just to wrap up this interview, do you have any final thoughts about you and your work that you think would be important for others to know about?
JORGE: I’m really passionate behind the camera, when i’m shooting is like time stops and it’s only me and the subject i’m photographing. My main goal is that viewers can feel what I experience in each image I take, all the emotions, feelings that I put in every work I do.
Website(s): https://www.jorgemaiaphotographer.com
https://jorge-maia.pixels.com/
