Photographer Edgar Garcés

Edgar Garcés is an internationally renowned, award-winning creative photographer who has been working in advertising, artistic and editorial photography for over 25 years. His huge experience now serves him well in the field of conceptual photography which he has been specialising in for the past 10 years, shooting campaigns for numerous international brands, personal clients and agencies. We have conducted a short interview with him.

Which do you prefer most, black and white or color?

It all depends on the final result, having in mind which are the parameters of creative creation.

Do you consider your final artistic and commercial work influenced by your background with advertising, artistic and editorial photography? How long have you been in these industries and how did you discover your strengths in conceptual photography?

Over the last 25 years, I have been shooting all kind of subjects in photo advertising and editorial assignments. I always try to include my personal vision into the final result when shooting an advertising picture if its permitted by the agency creatives At the same time my personal conceptual work receive an huge influence of commercial photo field, as you can see, its a both way feeding. Conceptual photography is a game, just start playing with concepts!

Which is your first branding campaign? Which award(s) have you won? Why this is first work important that leads to more accomplishments as part of your career as a creative conceptual photographer/artist?

My first branding campaign was for a big German airliner Company (Lufthansa), in Bogotá, Colombia. I had to portrait a big 737 in the middle of a runway as a top model in a set. From that moment on I can not stop feeling the same adrenaline rush when you are in front of a new challenge whether its a model, a fruit or a big flying dame. As a creative photo-designer you got the power to transform any object into another one through merely a particular point of view. That's the power of conceptual photography. In 2008 I received the Canon Award of Photography by the french PHOTO magazine in the category of “Beauté et Charme” with this picture. Later on this image was used in Spain for an advertising campaing. This achievement was a great support to my confidence as creative artist.

What is one thing you would like to say about "creative lighting" techniques?

As a photographer, your prime matter of expressing yourself is through the light factor. You have to produce your own scheme of light. In my case, I usually make my own lightshapers, or produce my own type of ligh source. This supports my particular, unique and original way of illumination, which is my signed creative vision.

Take a look to this particular images: each one of them require a very different way of lighting. Some more difficult than the other, but at the end of the day whats counts is that that lighting scheme gives the perfect force to the final image.

In which ways do you solve a problem with your approach?

Pre-visualization, that mental process its the key. From there on, the steps of image construction itself gives you the answers.

This is going to be a difficult question for you, which is your MOST favorite piece of work?

I have some, but this might be one of my very favorite pieces work This picture is part of a series called “Infabularium”which depicts some aspects of Caribbean identity and other cultural and racial factors around the place where I live. Later this same images was used for an advertising campaign against racism. This picture was shot in studio, with only two flash light sources. One spotlight for the background and one another for the model with a snoot lightshaper frabicated by myself.