Gabriela Vasconcellos: Analog Photography That Makes Us Feel
Through a welcoming and intimate perspective, Gabriela Vasconcellos captures the trivial, creating compositions that intend to make us face inner feelings and sensations. Her work serves as an attempt to connect us to our essence using an intuitive approach. The photographs present themselves as a calm energy, and it is through mastering texture and tone that Gabriela manages to free herself from the obvious. She carefully applies elements of everyday life, adding a layer of delicacy and tenderness combined with the nostalgic aesthetics of analogue photography. The result is incredibly sensitive photos that the artist believes can be a way to rediscover hidden parts of ourselves.
Born in Brazil, Gabriela works as a journalist and art therapist, in addition to capturing her surroundings with a 35mm camera. Shooting on film means experiencing the passage of time differently and she is interested in capturing the small moments of everyday life, feeling time in its entirety and allowing yourself to slow down. In times of digital acceleration and productivity, it's radical to take the opposite approach when it comes to work. Gabriela's photographs help us reflect on the way we move through life, offering a chance to simply pause.
Gabriela shared with us some important tips about film shooting and what helped her the most when she started experimenting with analogue photography.
Ways to take better pictures with your analog camera according to Gabriella Vasconcelos
1) Develop your photos
This tip may seem extremely obvious, but it is very common for people to buy an analog camera, hoping to take beautiful pictures, but never to develop the film. Gabriella says it's important to develop the film to see what kind of pictures we're getting and what can be improved. So don't hoard endless rolls of undeveloped film, go develop!
Gabriela says, “The other reason why it's important to develop your film is because it will allow the analogue process to really enter into your creative practice. Many people are reluctant to start shooting film because they think it takes too much effort, but that's because they haven't incorporated the habit of developing film into their work routine yet. I used to take pictures all the time using a film camera, but I never took the time to actually develop the film, so I didn't even know what kind of work I was producing.”
2) Always have extra footage with you
You never know when you're going to run out of film, so here's your reminder to always have an extra roll of film on hand. So you never miss that opportunity to photograph something special you found.
3) Be aware of your surroundings
When shooting on film, you never know what the result will be. Gabriella thinks it's important to be more attentive when you go for a walk. “Look up, look down, explore every angle around you and experiment. You never know what's going to come out - and that's a good thing! Take your time with this too, it adds layers of thought to your photos.”
4) Keep in mind that the analog process follows its own time
It is worth noting that taking pictures with a film camera implies that the whole process develops differently than digitally. Analogue photography has its own time constraints and specificities and Gabriella believes it is imperative to immerse yourself in the process and get used to it.
“It takes time to develop the film, to digitize the photos (if that's something you'd like to do) and understand that time not as a problem, but as a process that allows you to be much more present while you're shooting. It's a totally different experience to take a photograph of something using your phone and film camera. Even if I'm photographing the exact same subject – it's important to feel comfortable with the process itself.”
Gabriela's photographs are available for purchase in our store.