Andrés Gallego is a Spanish photographer who approaches photography in 2017. For Andrés, photography is a form of personal expression that allows him to recreate, in his projects, parallel worlds in the style of the great masters. He is the winner of numerous awards including Gold Winner at MUSE Photography Awards, London Photography, European, France and Germany Photography Awards, 1 st Place at Fine Art Photography Awards and selected on the BBA Photography Prize -Berlin- shortlist. Andrés' most famous project, "Hopper Essence" is a photographic tribute to the American painter, Edward Hopper.
Hello, Andrés,
First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to tell us about you and your work in this interview.
Thanks to you for the opportunity to be interviewed, and to be able to share my passion, photography, with your community.
To begin, where are you from? Please tell us about yourself and your passions.
I was born in Melilla, which is a small Spanish city in North Africa.
For work reasons, I have had to live in different parts of the Iberian Peninsula, finally settling in the province of Castellón, where I met my wife and have settled permanently, at least for the time being.
What inspired you to approach photography? How did this journey start?
My first steps with photography began in 2017 and, although I was previously attracted to classical painting, I never took the step to give shape to my artistic interests until I found in photography the way to develop my work.
I have always felt a special attraction to photography and the many possibilities it offers. Each image offers me a challenge and infinite possibilities for other projects and that, above all, is what keeps me going.
Of all the genres, why were you drawn to this type of photography?
Can a non-photographer remember all the pictures he or she takes - with or without a camera - throughout the day? We live over-saturated with images that surround us everywhere. Most of them are photomontages and often photographs presented with excessive retouching. This has led me to mix the craftsmanship of scenography; painting and portraiture, to build an image with an atmosphere that makes each person who reads it stop, breathe, read, and meditate.
This style of photography allows me to control all aspects of it, for better or for worse, I am the director of each and every decision and the elements that appear in each image.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
If I make an effort and try to explain briefly how I arrive at these ideas, I would say that once I know what personal feeling I want to express in an image, with the knowledge I have, I start to come up with different stories or scenes with which to develop the ideas.
During this process, a documentation phase begins through different artistic disciplines, such as painting, film, or photography, to develop the basis of the future image to be created.
The "Hopper Essence" project is a photographic tribute to the American painter Edward Hopper. What made you choose his paintings as the theme for your project? What drew you to the work of Edward Hopper?
The work of Edward Hopper has fascinated me since I was a child and has always had a direct influence on the way I interpret social relationships. I feel identified with many of the situations depicted by Hopper throughout his works and therefore, he has had a direct influence on many aspects of my life and hence on my artistic vision.
Because of this, I had the personal need to interpret some of his works by introducing a very personal component, my wife. In most of the images made, my wife is the main model, just as Hopper used Josephine as a model for his paintings. On the other hand, I wanted to approach his work via photography but through the creative process of painting.
I watched some making-of sequences of this project and noticed that you paint easily. Have you considered turning your attention to painting?
Definitely not! Thank you for being so kind, but my painting techniques are far from skillful. I am currently learning to paint so that I can apply the techniques I am learning to my own photographic style.
Your works from "Untitled #1" intrigues through the subject matter and dark atmosphere. Please tell us something about this project.
This series of images is inspired by the work of Jan Saudek. I had the personal need to externalize a series of feelings through this theme, which I like to leave open to the interpretation of the viewer.
They indeed have a darker point than the rest of my work, but it was an enriching experience that I wouldn't mind exploring again.
What advice would you give to a beginner who wants to experiment with portrait photography?
Curiously, in my early days, I thought I would never do portrait photography. With time I discovered that this discipline is so wide and complicated that it allows you infinite possibilities.
For those who are starting, I would tell them to experiment without fear, to take references from other photographers or painters, and try to make interpretations. And in the process, find your own style and therefore your own path.
Please tell us what equipment and accessories you use in your portrait photography.
I am currently working with Sony equipment (A7RIV and A7IV), but what I really ask from photographic equipment is that it is able to work in low light conditions and at the same time be able to capture the essence of the scene.
Where do you look for your characters?
Most of the people who appear in my projects are people from my environment, family, friends, and even myself. I rarely contact outsiders to appear in my work.
What can you tell us about the "Twelve Brothers" project? How did you come up with the idea?
The Grim Stories is based on a personal interpretation of the classic fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Cinema and the course of time have transformed these stories into something far removed from their original message. Therefore, I have felt motivated to show in a visual way the original purpose of their authors, introducing hidden messages and social criticism, all this influenced by the visual beauty of the old masters of classical painting.
In relation to the image "Twelve Brothers", I represent the final scene of the story, when the princess is about to be burnt alive at the stake. For this moment I was inspired by Caravaggio's The Flagellation of Christ.
Can you tell us how a photo shoot goes and how you manage to work with several models? Do you have a team you work with... makeup artist, stylist?
The session really begins from the moment that the initial idea becomes a reality and materialises in a work that takes weeks or even months to prepare. In the preparation phases, it is usually just me who does the preparations, with occasional help from my wife or a colleague.
On the day of the photo shoot, my make-up artist is usually my wife, and sometimes I make use of another artist, as well as stylists who can fit in with the project to be carried out.
Your characters seem to be waiting for something or someone. What is waiting for Photographer Andrés Gallego? What is the essence of your work, the message you want to convey to the viewer?
That's a good question and it's the first time I've been asked it. The answer is complicated, I don't think I know it myself. I think I'm trying to find that answer through my work with photography and I hope I can find it eventually.
Although the message of each photograph I create is very personal, I like to leave interpretations open to the viewer, so that it is the audience who completes the story and makes it their own.
Do you have a favorite photographer that you appreciate and who has influenced your photographic journey?
The creative impulse led me to look for photographers with who I could identify with and to revisit some names in classical painting that I had left aside due to different personal circumstances. I was struck by the narrative intentionality of the work of Eugenio Recuenco which is and will be one of the main references worldwide in this photographic style.
Are you working on a new project? How do you imagine the evolution of your artistic work and your figure as an artist in the future?
I would like to go deeper into the union of painting and photography in order to be able to capture my own experiences and way of seeing the world through this approach.
I currently have two major projects in mind that I am still working on, one of them will be a work that will take me several years to complete and is oriented toward the interpretation of one of the greatest literary works of all time.