Day 38: First Friday Feature - Giulia Rosada
Welcome to the second First Friday Feature post. This month is all about the fine art photography Giulia Rosada, an artist I discovered on Instagram who creates beautiful stories with her dark and emotive work. After reading the interview below, be sure to check her out on social media through the links at the bottom of the page.
1. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Hi! My name is Giulia and I was born in Venice, Italy. I’m 30 years old and at the moment I try to dedicate myself to photography every time I can.
2. What got you started in photography?
I think it has been a natural process for me (to get involved in photography) as I have always seen my mother and my uncle shooting around with their analog SLR since I was a kid. However, it’s been in my teen age years that photography became my deepest passion.
3. Describe your workflow, what is unique about your process?
My workflow starts way before I turn on my camera, I usually start sketching random ideas on a notebook or on my note app then I start studying the details, it can be a long process sometimes. I prefer shootingmy photos in the morning and it usually takes me from 30 minutes to a hour, I then spend the rest of the day editing on Lightroom and Photoshop, combining and blending various frames until I get a big composed photo.
Recently, I also discovered the love for instant photography and mixed media (that is something I used to do in the past and that I set aside for too many years), so you could find these techniques among my last works.
4. What do you enjoy most about creating an image?
The process, definitely. Seeing something that was only in my mind coming to life is still magic to me.
5. What camera equipment do you use? What have you used in the past?
For my digital works I use my trusty Canon EOS60d with a 24mm (f/2.8) lens. I used a Canon EOS1000d in the past, which lasted up until its very end. For my instant photography projects I use a Polaroid one step 2 and anInstax square SQ6. It also happens that I use my iPhone and a mirrorless camera to shoot my backgrounds occasionally.
6. Is there a certain theme you try to express in your work? Why do you feel a need to share that?
My photos are self portraits not only because my body is portrayed in the picture, but also because my emotions are in it. They represent mostly my life with anxiety and sharing them helps me to let my negative thoughts flow out of my head. For a moment I can avoid to go through my anxiety, encase it to an image that can represent something meaningful. I hope that sharing my work could help people feeling the same, letting them know they’re not alone.
7. Where do you find inspiration?
An embarrassing amount of my photos are named after the songs I like, so I guess music is my main inspiration actually. But I wouldn’t say it has an active role on my workflow, I’d rather say that it helps me to translate my thoughts in words that can fit the images.
8. Out of your images, which is your personal favorite and why?
I could say “Closed eyes, open soul”, because it’s been the first digital composition I made after several months of stop. In those months I spent a good amount of time dedicating myself to instant photography, mostly because of a sort of “artist block”. I felt like I was able to create again.
9. What is the biggest piece of advice you have ever been given? What advice would you give your younger self, the you who has just started creating?
Honestly, I don’t remember a specific advice I’ve been told in the past. As someone born in a small community, though, I grew up surrounded by people thinking about me as "the strange one with a camera" (it was before digital photography became as popular as today), and this has been somehow not properly an advice but a lesson for me. In fact I learned that I just have to think with my own mind and mostly that I can’t be discouraged by others. If I could give my younger self an advice it would be to start to create sooner, avoiding spending years of my life just dreaming about art.
10. What do you hope people will take away from your images?
I hope that people struggling with anxiety and mental illness will feel they’re not alone, by watching my photos. I believe that photography can help people to exorcise their demons, as it does to me.
You can find Giulia through Instagram or her website.
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt