An Interview With Spanish Photographer Gemma Albors

 

Gemma Albors is a Spanish photographer who specialises in creative and personal photography and has been working in both Barcelona and London in recent years.

She is currently based in Barcelona after returning from traveling in India and Nepal for two months on a personal journey where she explored different cultures.

Gemma studied photography in Barcelona, and since a young age has always been interested in the artistic world. She chose to express this creativity through her art in which her oneiric, dreamlike, landscapes mix with reality. Her work is both profound and mesmerising, her ability to capture beauty with minimal editing produces sublime results. Here Lucía Vázquez Bonome interviews the artist about her work, influence and artistic practices.

 

 

TSOTA: How did you develop an interest in photography?
GA: Since I was very young I’ve always loved taking pictures. I used tons of reels in every trip I went on. Then, when I was in high school, I decided to study image and sound, where I started to learn more about analog photography and black and white developing in the lab.

 

TSOTA: Your pictures have very minimal photographic alterations, do you look for a natural result when you take a picture?
GA: Yes, I love naturalness – in portraits especially – I love to catch the natural essence of people. I’m not a very big fan of digital art to be honest.

 

TSOTA: Pictures nowadays often have many alterations, especially in movies and advertising. Do you think this is the right thing to do?
GA: From my point of view this is not correct. You can edit your pictures after you’ve taken them without generating any fictional result.

 

 

TSOTA: When you take a picture, do you look for a commercial result or do you look for something more personal?
GA: I don’t like commercial photography for my projects. But if I have been commissioned for commercial work, I accept it but I always try to add my essence to it.

 

TSOTA: When you work, do you prefer to have a person who tells you what the final result should be or would you rather choose how the project is going to develop?
GA: I like to plan and direct my own projects, I am very demanding with myself and I am also very careful with the final result, although I accept and appreciate external opinions, especially when I work as part of a team; everybody has to bring their own vision to the project.

 

TSOTA: What kind of projects do you most like working on?
GA: I love to have my personal projects when I travel i.e. artistic and conceptual photography or portraits of people and their whereabouts.

 

 

TSOA – You’ve been living in London, do you see it as a creative city that encourages creativity?
GA: It is a very hard and competitive city, but it is true that it is a city where art is much promoted. As for me, I personally see it as a city that doesn’t inspire me very much.

 

TSOA – You’ve recently travelled to India and Nepal. What was the thing that impressed you the most during this trip?
GA: Although I know this may sound like a cliché I think that the cultural crash is brutal, especially when you see how people can live in such a different way and be happy with so few things.

 

TSOTA – A photographer is always willing to travel in order to get inspiration from different places and cultures. Where’s the next place you’d like to visit?
GA: Asia again, as there are lots more places I’d like to explore.

 

Interviewed by: Lucía Vázquez Bonome

Further  information about Gemma’s work can be found by visiting the artist’s website