Cláudia Baúto

“…a good image is the one that makes you feel something, doesn’t matter what, but has to catch your eye and make you fall in love with it, even if only for 5 seconds.” says Cláudia Baúto and shows us a selection of her images that you may fall in love with…

Tell us a bit about you, where are you from, age and what are you up to?

I’m a 26 years old photography lover from Lisbon, Portugal. I don’t consider myself a photographer yet, I still have a lot to learn and to evolve before I get there. But photography is something that really moves and challenges me, and that I want to take seriously in time.

A good image is?

This question should be easy, and when I think right away I know the answer. But it really depends on the photo’s propose. A photojournalism image has a different goal than a fashion one, so what makes a good image in the first case, surely it doesn’t make a good shot on the second one. It’s kinda like music and its different genres. But overall, I would say that a good image is the one that makes you feel something, doesn’t matter what, but has to catch your eye and make you fall in love with it, even if only for 5 seconds.

What is your inspiration?

My biggest inspiration comes from music. I usually tend to create video-clips in my head when I listen to music, especially on the bus, ahah. So that’s what I do, when I create images with a concept, I try to carry the music to the photograph. And also along with it, because I can’t dissociate one thing from the other, I’m inspired by fashion editorials (which I love), emotions, people, nature (there’s nothing like outdoor shooting) and other photographers/artists.

Which camera/ equipment do you use?

I shoot mostly with a digital camera, Canon 450D with a 50mm/1.8 lens. When it comes to film I just love my Canon IXUS Z70.

Why does the human want to capture things that he can anyway see with his eyes?

Once again we have to think on what context an image is taken. If we take the example of family-friends-personal photographs I think deep down it’s a memory matter; you want to have a proof that moment really happened, because we all know that memory is going to betray us one day, and so an image is a memory helper, you can look at and remember almost everything of that moment. Other times it’s simply because we see something we find beautiful, funny, unusual that probably won’t see again and want to keep that image “in mind”. But photography is also a form of communication/information and a great one. It’s because of the human want to capture and document things that we are aware of what’s going on around the world. And an image sometimes is way more powerful than words, we all know that.

5 things you cannot live without?

Love in all its forms, friends, family, music and sleeping.

The best life lesson so far?

Life most of the time is not only black or white; there are a lot of grey shades in between. And sooner you get this, sooner you have less drama in your life.

www.flickr.com/photos/aclaudine
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