Interview
Emma Brahas
Emma is a Romanian photographer, who began her artistic journey in 2000, using Pentax on film. After working on her skills, she was soon recognized by having a photo mentioned in the Graphism section of the International Amateur Photography Contest in 2005. This was also when she switched to using a Canon 350D DSLR camera, creating digital photography.
In 2006, Emma began an internship in Paris, working both in studio and in the streets. Soon after, she had another photograph mentioned in the monochrome section at the International Salon of Photographic Art Brasov.
More recently, in 2021, Emma was accepted into the Photo Workshop within the ‘Humans/Bodies/Images’ project, with the theme ‘Body shaming’. The project was led by Adrian Bulboaca. She went on to show her work in a group exhibition with the same theme at the French Institute in Bucharest.
Emma has also participated in the photography festival of the second edition of ‘Walk & Shoot’ - workshops and thematic discussions on Zoom. Some of the workshops included: theater performance by Adrian Bulboaca, portrait photography by Cristian Crisbasan and urban landscape photography coordinated by Cornel Lazia.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I am an amateur photographer who started to self-study photography 22 years ago. In 2000 I lived in Provence (France) and subscribed to PHOTO and Chasseur d'Image magazines. In the same year, I had the first PENTAX MZ-50 camera, with film. Very quickly I started participating in amateur photography competitions. In 2005, in the PHOTO magazine at the International Amateur Photography Contest I had a photo mentioned in the GRAPHISM section. In the early 2000s, photographs were printed on photographic paper. In 2005 I switched to DSLR: Canon 350D. For documentation I bought the book: ‘Toute photographier en numérique' (Jean Marie Sepulchre).”
What inspires you most?
“For me, photography is a mood. It's more than just a push of the shutter button. I'm not in the ‘holiday photography’ area, as I say. I also paint in watercolor and create handmade jewelry, so creativity is a constant quality. For my photos, I can be inspired by a light on the portrait of a dog or a leaf, even series directed outdoors with people for portraits, or details of architecture and street photography. Recently I fell in love with the ICM technique, because when it comes to all things art, I am attracted to the abstract. ICM to me is a poetic universe where I feel like I am flying. I dream of the frames I want to make.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I would liken my theme to watching poetry and painting with the camera, using the ICM technique. My message is this: art is a vitamin for the soul. Life is short. Art can save our souls - I can personally attest to this, having had brain surgery in 2017. After radiotherapy and chemotherapy I understood how quickly our life can end. Surround yourself with all that is beautiful and live in the moment! You don't know what tomorrow will bring! I left home to go to work and woke up at the Emergency Hospital.”
“My work is based on capturing emotion, and transmitting this to the viewer.”
What artists influence you most?
“I can modestly say that I have been developing my own photographic ‘language’ every day for 22 years. This started with the classic Cartier Bresson, Willard Van Dyke and more recently Olga Karlovac.”
What is your creative process like?
"For the ICM technique, I use the camera that I have been using for 3 years, more precisely CANON EOS M3 and with an 85 mm 1:1.8 lens. In manual mode the aperture is F22, ISO 200 and exposure at 1/15 second. I took my first frames in a leafless forest (during winter). After that, I went into urban areas and, in two series with pre-selected places, I worked with a good friend who was my model.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The role of the artist is to produce emotion. We live in a materialistic world and forget to ‘live’. For us artists, if we bring a splash of color and an emotion to the public, it means, from my point of view, a gain for them. We did our job.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I had two exhibitions in June 2021: a personal one at the ArtRoman gallery in my hometown and a group exhibition in Bucharest on Body Shaming. See more here.”
Instagram: @emmabrahas
