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| All images have been
used with permission. All images are copyrighted
and strictly for educational and viewing purposes. |
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Air |
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Tell us a little
bit about your background? Where are you from originally?
I was born in Philadelphia and then moved back and
forth between the USA and my native country, Colombia,
between 1974 and 1987. Then, I stayed in Colombia
for the next 14 years. My last few years in Bogota
were spent completing my BA in advertising. In 2001,
I came to San Francisco to continue my photography
career and to attend the Academy of Art University's
MFA photo program. |
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Elevation |
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Who were your
main influences growing up?
On a personal level, strong influences were my mother,
a profound artist, my father's photography, surrealist
art, Latin American magic realism, music, and, definitely,
movies. The fantasy of cinema has always been very
inspiring to me.
There are many many many other influences. And not
just photographers, musicians, painters, film makers
– all art forms. As for photographers, John
Paul Caponigro, Andreas Gursky, Bill Henson,
Gregory Crewdson, Dan Holdsworth, Richard Misrach
to name a few. It's hard to describe how they inspire/influence
my work.
Storm Thorgerson, album cover designer, is my greatest
influence. All of these have a very interesting
relationship with reality and human perception,
which is a lot of what my own work is about; the
relationship between reality and perception. Their
imagery has a dreamlike feel to it. They challenge
the way we perceive things in our everyday life
and show the viewer questions through the use
of real physical things (not fantasy). Music
also has a tremendous influence on my work.
I am constantly searching for parallels between
sound and images, music and visual art. |
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Facing |
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How did you
become a photographer?
It's a combination of several things. My mother
is an artist. I somehow have always been involved
in her work in some way. My father on the other
hand, had a very cool Pentax Spotmatic that he shot
with extensively in the past. He actually photographed
my entire birth with that camera. And along with
that camera was (and still is) a wonderful collection
of Time-Life books about photography. So there was
the camera, the information, and the inspiration.
I felt right at home expressing myself through images.
I guess my first attraction to it was that I could
say something without saying (verbally) anything.
By the end of high school I was shooting plenty
of film. Before completing my BA in Advertising
in Bogota, Colombia, I was shooting extensively
for many national magazines. Advertising was not
for me; photography was and still is. |
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Inner Light |
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Where do you
get your inspirational/creative ideas?
I am open to inspiration in everyday life events,
film, dreams, world events, world conditions, music,
other visual artists, etc. Light is a tremendous
source of inspiration, especially when shooting
at night. Light is what I look for. My images are
about the relationship between reality and perception.
When an image has completed its journey from my
head onto a photographic print, it will then be
perceived by a viewer. My hope is that the nature
of the image will then make the person question
their own perception of certain things. Those "things"
don't necessarily have to be those found in my images.
The "things" can be anything that the
viewer has experienced in their own lifetime. What
I'm trying to say is, "what is in a person's
head can be, or already is". What is in my
head and can be. I see my work as stream of
consciousness imaging. It's all just photographic
proof of what's in my head. In some way it could
be called "documentary photography". |
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The View is Nice |
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What has been
the most rewarding and challenging project you have
worked on?
My most challenging and rewarding project has probably
been my work in Surface Magazine's 2002 Avant Guardian
contest. Challenging, because I had never done a
real fashion photo shoot for such a high profile
magazine. Plus the Avant Guardian is such a big
deal. There were very high expectations from the
editors, the audience, and myself. The pressure
was high knowing that this was going to be a huge
"break" for me. Rewarding because I got
tons of exposure. Being featured in Surface really
put me on the map. The exposure that I got from
Surface has led to many more opportunities in my
career. |
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Untech |
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From your portfolio,
what is your favorite piece? Why?
It really depends a lot on the weather. Some days
it'll be one from the light ray series, another
day it will be one from the airplane series, and
some other day it can be one from the floating fabric
series. It could tell you which one I fancy today,
but tomorrow it'll be a different one. However,
all of my #1s have one thing in common. They all
represent and/or exceed how I had previsualized
the idea in my head. It's when I feel I have accomplished
with great fidelity in showing the viewer what is
in my mind. Those are my #1s. |
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Santiago and his son Calder |
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To see more of Santiago's
work, please visit:
www.santiagovanegas.com
www.photobistro.com/SantiagoVanegas |
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