Featured Photographer – Fernando Leon
1. Tell us a bit about the image?
The “Catrina” or “Calavera” born by Guadalupe Posadas, he’s a Mexican artist who creates the “Calavera” as a critic of the lower class Mexican society that, by improving their economic income, denied their indigenous roots and believed they were of a European or foreign race. The purpose of his work is to say “we are all the same inside. Today, we add this idea to our traditions as an essential part of the celebration as part of the same idea of the premise of “Posadas”. This piece is a new proposal of the “Calavera”, a woman coming of “Mictlan” (underworld of aztecs) that at some point he lived on our earthly plane, and I love life so much that he can’t leave it entirely, romantic and soft, who loved the smell of cempasuchil and the magic of sunset.
2. What inspired you to take the shot?
What inspires me to create these works almost every year is the same thing that drives our traditions. We Mexicans do not celebrate death, we celebrate life, that is why on the altars of “Día de muertos” we put the food or the objects that our loved ones liked in life. We are celebrating his life and remembering him with the belief that on November 1 and 2 they visit our plane to reunite as a family. “life, family, and love for the land where I was born” is my inspiration totally. I like to imagine and indicate to my actress or actor a life with certain essential characteristics that they will have to interpret, “romance, courage, passion, love, fragility, disdain, or even, why not? arrogance.
3. What gear did you use for the shot including lighting?
All photos except 1 placed in the album are taken with natural light. To do this, use the following equipment: NIkon D7200 + AF-Nikkor 85mm 1.8D, Sony A7 Mk1 + Tamron 24mm 2.8 and an Amazon Basics polarized filter. The Yongnuo YN560iii Flash Speedlite
4. Tell us about the editing process?
My favorite part, I process the raw image in Adobe Lightroom and work with colorimetry, lights, and shadows, I use this as the base for work later in Adobe Photoshop, where I work with special effects, correction of makeup, and other errors arising the moment the model moves, she sweats or pinks with her dress. Also, i accentuate the colors previously prepared into LR, add filters and opacity, taking care not to dirty the Makeup.
5. How does this piece reflect you as an artist?
The effort, when I started in the wonderful world of photography, like many others, I received extremely negative and deplorable comments, but my desire to learn and my ideas always drove me, and the support of my partner, family, and friends, always kept me from cake. I longed to have the ability to one day capture the ideas in my head in my photographs, and 10 years later I can say that I am on one of the steps that I saw far away back then. Today, I know that the sky is the limit, and I want to conquer it, not because of arrogance, but because of my heart.
My name is “Efraín Peñaloza” but my brand is “FERNANDO LEON”, this name emerges from a fictional character from my book “into the rocks” and I used it for my artistic proposals
Social Media Pages
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fernandoleonphoto/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fernandoLeonPhotography
