Isaias Faragoza


Isaias Faragoza

Artist Statement

personal logoArt is an expression of oneself. For me, that would be photography and graphic design. Back in middle school, I wanted to be an engineer. In high school, I took college classes at South Texas College for mechanical engineering. It was in my senior year that I questioned if engineering was the career path I truly wanted. Throughout high school, I would doodle sketches in my free time and did “commissions” for friends of mine who were impressed with my drawings. And so, in my time of questioning, an alternative path was revealed: a career in the art field. Graphic Design made the most sense as a degree that would have the highest chance at commercial application. Toward the latter half of my time here at UTRGV, I took a class labeled ARTS-2358, Analog Photography I, a course introducing B&W film photography and the manual operation of an analog camera to students. We learned how to use a light meter to measure illuminance (light being reflected off an object) to expose the film and get an “exposure.” With the film exposed, we develop it to get our negatives that we can then place into an enlarger and use it to create a photographic print in the darkroom. This whole process felt natural to me, and I instantly fell in love with the photographic prints I was creating. It was at that moment that I truly found my calling in the art world. I became so involved I began to research and found inspirations like Ansel Adams and Brett Weston, notable names in photographic history, whose prints stood out and appealed to me. I now aim to create richly dark prints with a diverse range of tones, creating an interpreted visual of a scene. My earliest work began in the garden of my grandmother’s house. I’ve always admired her green thumb and beautiful plants that were a result of her hard work. That was the birth of my main subject, Botanicals. Over time, that grew to simply focusing on nature, the world not touched by man. I by no means refer to myself as an Environmentalist, officially at least, but I do believe in the importance of displaying the natural world around us so that we may not forget about it, and so I’ve made it my goal, my intention, in my photographic work, to present the beauty found in the ordinary. I also eventually began digital photographic work using my phone and Adobe Lightroom, which provides many tools and settings, granting even more possibilities to create stunning images. Utilizing my skills in photography and knowledge of graphic design, I intend to create visually appealing combinations of the two mediums, for both personal and professional work.

 

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