International Spotlight: Garcia de Marina

To keep you in the know with what photographers are exploring around the world, we search the globe for interesting and inspiring photographers to feature in our International Spotlight series. This time around, we talk to Spain’s Garcia de Marina.

Garcia de Marina started in the world of photography fairly recently — it was in 2010 when he bought his first SLR camera. He spent time learning the fundamentals utilizing online courses, and thanks to practice and perseverance he continued to improve. He started out by using his family and his city (Gijon) as subjects, as well as taking many photographs of landscapes in his region, and since 2012, he says he has started to use the subject in his images as a ‘means of expression’.

Prior to his introduction to photography, he worked in a completely unrelated field, but the world of photography caught him and he found himself hooked.

“I never had a relationship with art, but for some years I was very interested in painting and sculpture. I think that other art forms can enrich my work; my life [now] revolves around photography. Now I participate in different events imparting talks and workshops about creativity and how to develop it,” de Marina explains.

Describing his photographic styles as minimalist, conceptual, and visual poetry, de Marina says, “A style comes into play [using] the viewer’s perception, and where people can play with imagination. In this game I create, the viewer can be discovering messages that are hidden in pictures. Sometimes I’m amazed at the things people see.”

When he first started out, de Marina was using a Nikon D90. However he is currently using a Nikon D800 and Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens.

“Sometimes, when the object is very small, I use a Tamron 90mm — I also use a tripod. And … I use natural light, using the light coming through a window. I like to use natural light to generate soft shadows,” de Marina explains.

On the horizon are exciting events for de Marina and his work. He is currently working on generating new ideas and new concepts with objects.

“I am also preparing new workshops and lectures for photographers, to explain that we can all be more creative, and we can all improve our photographs by practising creativity. Soon I’m going to start working with two art galleries: one in Canada and the other in Switzerland.

If you’re interested in seeing more of de Marina’s work, visit his website, garciademarina.net. He has recently published his first book, Nimius, with a publisher in Spain, and you can find out more about it here.