Featured Photographer #43: Mariana Gomes
What do you do when you don’t have a camera in your hand? I would say I’m probably sketching something in my notebook, looking at the sky or searching for opportunities for a good shot! Or sleeping too, ahah.
What did you want to become in your childhood and are you that person today? The only thing I know for sure is that I loved drawing when I was a child. It was early in middle school that I figured out that what I loved doing was art. Throughout the years I discovered architecture and grew passionate about it, and now I’m studying at FAUP, in Porto, which is what I always wanted.
Where did you meet photography or where did photography meet you? I think it happened when me and my parents first bought a dSLR camera (a Nikon D3100), only then I started experimenting and discovering what I could do with photography, which made my passion grow.
Your personal story with photography in 12 words. Self-taught, enthusiastic and passionate and always asking more of myself.
What attracts you to the work you shoot? Being really attracted by symmetry and centered photographs, I always try to look for that around me and in my city mostly, because it’s where I pass most of my time. I also love taking photos of people, portraits mostly, street photography, those details. And quick and brief moments that we are so used to, like a bird passing or a person walking by to catch the train, I feel like they cease being just mundane when captured.
For now photography is just a hobby, but it will always be an important part of my work (possibly as a future architect). Right now, I’m trying to join the photography group of an university newspaper in order to capture other opportunities, like photographing events and concerts, which I would also like to do in the future.
What are your superpowers and weakness (and how do you overcome them)? I think I’m yet to discover what my superpowers are but I know one of my greatest weaknesses is being disorganized when it comes to my schedule and time management, which I try to overcome by making daily lists including everything important and less important I have to do that day. I’ve been told I’m very organized for keeping an agenda like this but I find it funny because it is for the exact opposite reason.
The craziest thing you ever did as a photographer? Nothing crazy yet, but a funny story happened when I was first trying out my Minolta around Bolhão (a market in Porto) with a friend and a butcher approached us asking to take his picture. So, one of my first analog photographs is of a smiley man holding a dead pig. The funny part — my friend is a vegetarian and almost couldn’t handle that moment of disgust.
What’s in your camera bag? A Nikon D3100 with a 18-55mm and a 55-200mm lens, a Minolta Dynax 303si with af zoom 0.38m/1.3ft macro 35-80mm lens, a Praktica BX20 with a Carl Zeiss Jena DDR p 50mm 1.8, and two compact cameras: a Premier PC-480 and a Kodak S series. Plus my phone, which is a Samsung Galaxy S6.
I don’t usually carry all my gear together. When I’m shooting with film, I take one of my film cameras, or if it’s a good day I carry the dSLR in my backpack. But normally it’s just me and my phone, it’s much more practical and its camera results are great too.
If you could carry only 4 pieces of equipment to a parallel universe for a year, what would you choose? Definitely my phone and the dSLR with the two lenses (and chargers)!
Pearls of wisdom for fellow photographers to be? Try everything, take a lot of different photographs, in different styles and editing, find out what you love doing the most and work to be the best you can! But never forget to do it just for the fun too!
Links or anything else you would like to share:
My personal photography blog, call-it-a-photodiary.tumblr.com
