Blog | Editorial & Humanitarian Photographer, Heber Vega.

This last Monday, I put together a blog post about connecting the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ for a story or project. I was basically outlining the creativity process that goes from a concept, idea or vision, through the tools or elements that are needed to transform that concept into a final product. Well, I want to continue with this idea for a bit longer.

About inspiration: it is an important element for creativity, but as others have stated, it doesn’t come to us while we lay down on the couch and we just wait for it. No, more often than not it comes when we are in a process of pursuing it, in a process of cultivating of ideas. Inspiration usually comes when our souls are stimulated by something that’s meaningful to us.

The following video is a good example of how successful artists have trained their minds and their creativity, to start flowing based on prompts. In this case Moby, the singer, had been given certain images and later certain words, to compose and record a whole song within 48 hours.

I think this is a very good training method for photographers (I will talk on this later next week). Imagine having the challenge of composing a photography project based on certain assigned words or music or images. Let’s force creativity, therefore inspiration and our art.

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January 30, 2012 by heber vega

Connecting the ‘Why’ and the ‘How’

Two weeks ago I submitted a story for a guest post, called “Haunted Memories”. It was published in this place. Today I want to talk about the process behind those images, not just the ‘how’ but also the ‘why’. What distinguishes an artist and photographer is the ‘why’, or his/her vision behind the work. That is what sets apart the great photographers that you and I admire. Throughout this entire assignment, I felt connected to the story in a way that I’ve rarely experienced before, and I think that one of the reasons is that I was able to successfully merge the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of this story.

The ‘Why’:
First, I must admit that this story represents a real milestone in my personal life. It marks an ending, as well as the beginning of a new Heber. So one of my motivations was to create a visually strong story, because I experienced the story in such a strongly visually way. What I saw in my mind during that time has stayed with me in such a powerful way, that it forever changed my perspective on life. It pierced my soul, so I had to put emphasis on that in the images.

I had that clear concept fixed in my mind, and then began to write the story in a way that would strike a cord with my readers. I wanted the illustrating images to add to the experience, to evoke the feelings of repression and hopeless that I felt in childhood. Because I had this powerful experience while reading a book, most of the images I associate with the story I created in my mind. To illustrate my own story, I wanted to create images that would evoke the feeling of being in a dream.

So that’s basically the ‘Why’, the concept… the way I envisioned this work.

The ‘How’:
There are two main elements in the illustration of this story: the location I chose for the images, and the way I post-processed them. I decided to use my iPhone instead of my DSLR because of the post-processing technique I wanted to use. When I started this project, it was only available as an iOS app that I was using on my iPhone. Now it’s also available for Mac, but I’ll say more about that in a minute.

Element One: The Red Prison (location). Choosing this location is totally related to the ‘Why’ of this story. I have been in the Red Prison more than 10 times, and am still impacted by that place every time I go. I normally end up being really quiet, full of thoughts. Now that I think about it, I guess I’ve been connecting the Red Prison with those difficult thoughts from my past, and that’s why this story became so moving for me. Once I was able to connect contemporary elements with the emotional theme of the main story (the ‘why’), I was able to “get into the zone”. I know that sounds really zen, but once you make the connection between your vision and concept for a story, with the visual elements around you, you are ready to portray a story.

Element Two: Post-processing. Last December I began to use an app on my iPhone call Snapseed, and I fell in love with it because of several of its features. One of them is a filter called “grunge”. When I was thinking about illustrating ‘Haunted Memories’, I couldn’t stop thinking about this grunge look. It is edgy, dreamy, and has a lot of texture; ideal for what I wanted to convey in these images. The best part is that by the time I was ready to process the images, this app had become available for Mac. This meant that I could use it on my computer as well. Without that, I would have used the iPhone exclusively to capture and post-process the images.

Well, that’s the process behind “Haunted Memories”. The most important lessons?

1. Identify a concept or a vision before you even start to work on a project. Think about how you want this story to make your reader feel. Know in your own mind why you want to work on this story. Close your eyes, and become aware of the visual images that come to mind when you think about the story. Pre-visualize.

2. Look for the elements that can best represent your story. Think in terms of what kind of reaction you want to provoke in the readers; think of elements that will generate that kind of emotional response.

3. Finally, think about how you can use those elements in the best way possible, so they become the interpreter of your story. In this example, visually. But it can also be through another type of sense, like using sound in a multi-media piece.

I hope this post will be useful for your stories as well. Have a great week.

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January 17, 2012 by heber vega

Guest Blogging – “Haunted Memories”

Today I’m guest blogging at a friend’s Blog. The special thing about this post is that it isn’t just another Blog post for me. This is a very intimate, deep and difficult story of my childhood that I had to put into words and photographs. I’m really thankful for this challenge, thanks to Jose Martinez. This is a great idea. The whole project made me a better and a more sensitive artist.

Here are some of the images I used for this self-assignment. I will be probably blogging about these images as most of them were taken with my iPhone and post processed with a new software available for mac. Stay tuned for that.

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December 12, 2011 by heber vega

This is just the beginning!

For the last couple of months, I’ve been involved in the most ambitious project ever in my life. And that also involves my family as well. I once blogged about it here, Photography for Good!, and today I want to share with all of you the very first fruits of our work at The ONE-SHOT Project. Enjoy it!
Thanks for all your support specially to the ones that have helped, donated and volunteered for this cause.

See the following video.

ONE-SHOT – 2011 Workshop Iraq from Heber Vega on Vimeo.

What do you get when you mix Iraqi students and volunteers from four continents with donated digital cameras, classes and photo walks? You get a set of remarkable images, three months of fun, and a lifetime of memories.

The ONE-SHOT Project staged it’s first workshop in the fall of 2011, in Sulaymaniyah, northern Iraq. The volunteers brought instruction in photography. The students brought an incredible eagerness to learn. And together they all learned a different way to see the world.
http://www.theoneshotproject.com

Credits:
Photography: Heber Vega and ONE-SHOT Students.
Production: Oscar Leon.
Music:
Ukelele Smile
By Robert Critchley and Brent Robitaille
Copyright 2011
Used by permission.

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October 27, 2011 by heber vega

Assignment: The Other Iraq (And the other Me)

© Heber Vega 2011 | Neanderthal Cave Gallery - Erbil, northern Iraq.

A couple months ago, I contacted one of the main newspapers in Chile, called La Tercera. It publishes a Sunday magazine that has a very unique approach to storytelling. This magazine, El Semanal, is not based on documentaries, reports, analysis or interviews, which is the norm for a publication like that in Chile. Instead, El Semanal features people telling their own stories, speaking in first person, talking about what they have experienced or what they have witnessed around certain issues, places and life in general.
From the very beginning I really liked their editorial work and approach to storytelling, because it identifies with the way I personally feel related to stories. For example, in most cases, my role is to tell the story of someone else and make it visual. At the same time, that person’s story, more often that not, begins to influence my own personal views and my experience as photographer. In most cases, I am touched, moved, or changed by either the subject’s life or the lessons hidden within their stories.
As you can see, my approach isn’t that of a photojournalist, but from someone who wants to relate and make a personal contact with his subject. I am someone who wants to get involved and be part of the story.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Family Mall, central dome - Erbil, northern Iraq.

Back to my assignment, I talked several times with one of the editors of El Semanal, and we agreed on the story that we wanted to cover. The story was about the part of Iraq where I live, where life is so much different than what you have seen on the news. We wanted to talk about the story of progress and the economical renaissance that northern Iraq is going through, looking at the city of Erbil, the capital of the area best known as Kurdistan Iraq. The bottom line is the whole assignment produced 20 useable images and a chronicle of 8000 characters (two full Word pages).

The premise was to capture scenes that would show a different Iraq, so in the end, it was more like a travel photography assignment than a story about a specific person. Because of this, it was a totally new thing for me. I had never done a story about a place before, so I wasn’t totally sure how to approach it. I did not photograph people, except in few frames, but learned by the end of the assignment that if you are covering a story, no matter what it is, people always have to be included. Somehow people give “life” to a story and without them the story of that place is incomplete.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Shanadar Park, cable car - Erbil, northern Iraq.

TIP: If you are working on an editorial shoot, always take a lot of photographs of people. You are going to need them, and those images will probably end up being picked by your editors over other images.
From the moment I started shooting this assignment, two things were on my mind: I had to shoot everything I needed within 48 hours, and I had to write as well as the images I photographed. I was nervous… here was another assignment based on my fears and doubts, wondering why in the word I had accepted entirely something new. Why didn’t I stay with what I already knew? Why not stay in my safe zone? Why?

These thoughts can play in your favor sometimes (I will explain more in another post). But more often than not, they will play against you. So you’d better shut those doubts off quickly once you start working… if not, you will miss something. In my case, I was grumpy during the whole assignment, a little bit tense, and I ended up missing some photographs that could have made this a much better visual story. Don’t bring your fears to work, please. Besides, you’ll miss enjoying the company of wonderful people during this assignment.

TIP: Whatever fear you have, use it for good. Work harder, and don’t listen to the voices of fear. They are the worse kind of advisors.

© Heber Vega 2011 | Assignment for La Tercera, magazine El Semanal - Chile.

This was a very rushed assignment. As I said, I only had 48 hours total to shoot what I needed, which I don’t recommend to anybody. I was running for two days straight and because of that, I did not have those pauses that allows you to sit back and reflect on what you are actually doing. This is something crucial when you have the goal of telling a story. This time, trusting my gut worked well, but I can’t rely on that. It’s not good for my body or the story. Make sure you have those “time outs” to review what you have done and what else needs to be accomplished before finishing your work.

TIP: Build in time to think throughout your assignment. Check your lists, goals, editorial aims, and story. Confirm everything you need to bring back with you.

Now let me show you some images from this assignment. And let me tell you that my favorite photograph did not make the cut! Why? Because it was not part of the main body of the story. The editors chose images that were related to my writing. So if you want your favorite images to be part of the published story, then make sure to talk about them in your story.

During the assignment I thought that shooting from a higher place would give a better perspective, so I tried to find places with a high vantage point. The only thing at hand was a cable car – the poor man’s alternative to a helicopter. We jumped in, and I made my best shots from there. Because we couldn’t shoot through the windows, my local fixer decided that the best solution was to open the doors. I cannot tell you how terrified I was shooting with the doors open, but in the end it turned out to be a great solution.

Here are the final printed images from this article. I hope to have the time to translate it into English so that one day you can understand what I said here. So once again… the story about someone else, in the end, changed my own story. Right now I find myself loving creating photographs for magazines and writing. Perhaps this will take me on a new path in photography, but for now I can see a small shift. We’ll see if that’s enough.