All Snapped Up .13 ~ oO-Rein-Oo

~ An interview of a talented artist in our General Photography Community

Tell us a bit about yourself, oO-Rein-Oo!

Hi, I am Carlos Henrique Reinesch, from Brazil, photographer, life lover, globe-trotter and cloud watcher!

How did you find deviantART and what keeps you here?

I found deviantART through a friend I met on the internet. He were always pointing me out some links of great art on the site and after a while I did think that I needed to create a profile to make a gallery with my favorites and maybe post some pictures as well. After that, I found it a very friendly community with loads of people with the same interests, willing to improve their art and to chat with fellow artists, and a place where I would give and receive feedback. These are the things that kept me in the website and still keep me rolling!

What got you into photography? What do you most like and dislike about it?

What got me into photography was the same thing that makes me love it, which is the ability to freeze and to keep a moment forever, to be able to use the world around me as canvas to produce images and to express myself. By just using a small black box, I am able to capture images that can be kept forever, transcending the barrier of time and of memories. About the dislikes, I really don’t think that there is anything that I dislike about photography at all. For me, it is fascinating in every way and continues to be, no matter how much I practice and do it.

What type of photography do you most like to do and why?

My favorite genres of photography are conceptual and street. There is something that attracts me deeply into street photography, I love to feel the thrill of going out of home with nothing and perhaps be able to make an image that I will keep for my entire life, and that can happen just in the next corner. Every aspect of photography is challenged here, technical skills are mandatory and a must; composition changes every second, the “decisive moment” is something to look after and the dynamism and the action cannot be controlled. That aspect is what excites me the most in street photography and, however, it is the opposite in conceptual photography.

In conceptual photography, I have total control over my subjects and I choose everything. That means I can make the images basically the way I want them, analogically I like to think that I am making paintings, photos that look like paintings, as if I could put everything at the place I want in the composition to depict my ideas. With my conceptual work, I am able to express my ideas and thoughts through my images and that is what it is all about, expression.

Do you use a specific technique when shooting? What setting on your camera do you most like to use?

I always shoot on manual mode and try to expose with my eye, so I never use the light metering of the camera nor any external meters. My way of shooting is very spontaneous, so my techniques are kind of hard to be noticed by someone who is seeing me in action, but in general I like to get close all the time and work with perspective. I also leave the white balance of my camera on the cloudy setting all the time, this way I get a color boost right in-camera, but nothing that I couldn’t fix afterwards because I shoot in RAW.

When is a photograph ready for upload, for you? Are there key things you look out for that say to you the piece is finished?

I usually edit my pictures naturally, I mean, I don’t invent anything and I only work on the colors, shadows and highlights, so a photograph is ready to upload when I think the colors are already right and setting the mood I want it to, not to forget that I try to make the photos look like they were taken by the same person, so the photos also need to be edited according to what I have been doing lately in therms of photographic series and subjects.

In quite a lot of photographs, you post-process. Are there things that you always post-process and why do you post-process?

I use my post-processing to achieve the impact I want, to achieve punchy colors and to enhance the mood and the feelings on my photographs. There is no defined setting I use, it depends and varies according to these factors, but I can say that I have a tendency to use bold, vivid colors and to use yellow layers to warm up the mood and specially the sun, an almost omnipresent element of my work.

You have received a lot of DDs. How do you feel about them? What was your first DD like for you?

I feel very honored to have been accepted and embraced by the deviantART community, and to have received all of these DDs is a great honor to me. My first DD was something I could not believe at the time I received it, it was a great motivation to me. I was just starting out to mess around with the camera and I was interacting a lot with people in deviantART, seeking advices and information, seeking ways to learn and to improve my photography, and it was a milestone that I was very proud of, to have my picture featured on the Daily Deviations section. Nowadays, it is still a great honor and I am very proud to have a few DDs over the past few years I have been posting and being active on deviantART, and it is a community that I am very thankful to be part of.

What do you find is the most hardest thing when photographing something? Do you try to resolve it at all?

For me, what is the most difficult thing is to photograph people that are not models and that I don’t know. It is the job of the photographer to be able to create the image and he cannot blame the people for not getting the images; it is the photographers fault, so I have to be very careful and skilled to be able to extract great images from people that are not professional models.

What do you most like to work with when it comes to shooting something and why?

I like to work with props and with external light. So, for me it is perfect when I am able to shoot around sunset or sunrise, which is the best and clearer light I can get. I love to convey the feeling of summer on my photographs, and these times help me with the golden tint they give to the ambience. About the props, I like working with colorful stuff, to be able to use the props to convey the concepts I am intending to, and when combining the colors with the adequate light, it is the perfect setting to me.

How often do you go out to shoot?

Well, when I am traveling I do that everyday, and I think I make two huge trips every year to shoot, so whenever I am on the move I shoot literally hundreds of images everyday... And normally, when I am not traveling I usually shoot three times a week or more.

Do you plan your trips or is it more spontaneous?

When it is a huge trip, for other countries and stuff, I do plan the places I want to go but that's pretty much it, I don't like planning, I usually go with the flow and let the situations lead me to the unexpected. I am a spontaneous person so I prefer to have planned just the essential parts of my trips and let the randomness take place!

What has been your favourite place/thing to shoot?

As I shoot a lot of travel photography, I have my favorite photogenic cities! I like shooting big cities, as Paris, London, Prague... As when I am not traveling, I always go to the mountains near my home to have the sunlight shining bright and clear for my camera, I normally only shoot in natural light. I like shooting conceptual photography so the things I shoot may vary a lot, but I usually always try to include an human element to my work, so I like shooting people!

What is your equipment list? What made you choose your equipment there? Do you have a favourite lens at all?

I have a Nikon camera, and the choice for Nikon was just that I had a good opportunity to buy my first camera and it was a Nikon. Since then, I only shoot with Nikon cameras and I am currently using a D7000, though I used a lot my previous D90. As of lenses, I am a fan of simplicity in photography, so I don’t like carrying heavy equipment and big lenses. My favorite lenses used to me my fixed 35mm and my fixed 50mm, but after I got myself a fisheye, it has become my standard lens, with which my camera is all the time equipped. The fisheye is my favorite lens and has changed forever the way I shoot and the way I see the world.

What is your favourite piece?

I wish I could answer this, but my favorite piece is not always the same, it changes within time! As an artist, I am my worst critic so I tend not to like a single piece for a long time.

Are you doing any projects at the moment, photography wise or not? Offline and online?

I am always doing photographic projects, and even my past ones are always receiving new additions, as I am faced by new shooting opportunities to add to them. So I don’t have any closed projects, my camera and I are a walking photographic project, so that I am aiming to create new photos for old projects or also going for new ones, like the Europe travel photography project I am currently working in.

What advice would you give to aspiring photographers?

I have a few friends that come to me for inspiration and advice, and I always tell them to shoot with the heart. It is important to know the technical aspects and all the theory involved, but that is nothing without feeling. So, for me, in photography the key is to practice a lot, shoot whenever you can, and with passion. Find your favored genres and go shooting!

Finally, is there anything else you would like to add?

I would like to thank deviantART for being a source of inspiration and an open community for me throughout the past 5 years, and also say a thank you for this interview & sorry for taking a bit long to answer it!

Thank you oO-Rein-Oo!

3wyl, posting on behalf of CRPhotography