HELLO CLAUDIA CHÁVEZ, WELCOME TO ABOUT INSIDER! CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF?
I am a fashion photographer born and raised in El Salvador. I began my creative journey at the age of thirteen which opened many opportunities. At the age of nineteen moved to Los Angeles to grow professionally and completed my bachelor of fine arts in photography at the Photo Arts
Conservatory by New York Film Academy. In less than three years I got to practice and learn a lot from people within the industry.
WHAT IS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY STYLE?
My preference in photography is to focus on beauty, fashion and portraiture so I work around those areas. I am open to different kinds of concepts since especially for fashion there are no boundaries but creativity. However I can say that my editing style is different from other photographers. I am more into cool tones and pastel colors. When there is blue involved there is a specific shade that most of the time like to use.
HOW DO YOU GET MODELS?
There are different ways to contact models, it can be through their agencies or directly. Personally, I still have not tried through the agencies but directly to the person. Most of the time I find people on instagram through hashtags and then I send them a message with a pitch for a potential photoshoot.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS WHEN PREPPING FOR A PROJECT?
The most important thing to do is creating a mood board about the ideas for your session. That way it will be easier for the model and creative team to understand more of your vision. Once it is done, I am ready to contact everyone needed. For me it is important to plan ahead so that on shoot day everything goes smoothly. Later on, it is just coordinating with everyone about the time and location.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT YOUR WORK?
There are many things that come to my mind but forsure witnessing the process of how everything slowly connects and turns a vision into reality. It is always so fascinating how you can think of an idea and later seeing it developing into something much better than initially imagined
DO YOU USE ANY SPECIFIC SOFTWARE FOR POST-PROCESSING? WHAT’S YOUR WORKFLOW LIKE?
Lightroom and Photoshop are my best friends. I cannot choose between the two, both of them are essential to me. Lightroom is used for the general adjustments such as color, contrast, HSL and split toning. Then comes the fun part which is doing retouching specially when it is beauty retouching. I am a detail-oriented person so I concentrate a lot on the photoshop process.
HOW DO YOU OVERCOME CREATIVE BLOCK?
It is a tough question to answer since recently I was going through a creative block. I could say that finding inspiration from others but sometimes when that does not work you have to look back at everything that you have done so far that got you to where you are now. That is the moment you see your process and realize that you can still do it.
Sometimes you become your own enemy, so what should you do? stand up and keep moving forward.
WHY PHOTOGRAPHY?
It is a special media that can freeze an idea forever. There is much more than just seeing the pictures but the stories behind.
WHAT IS ONE MESSAGE THAT YOU WOULD GIVE TO SOMEONE WHO JUST STARTED PHOTOGRAPHY?
Nothing comes easy and photography is not the exception. Know your worth and do not let anybody judge your art.
WHERE CAN OUR READERS FIND YOU ONLINE?
The best platforms to see my work are on Instagram @claudiasphotograph and website claudiasphotograph.com
