Portrait of an Artist Interview with Ginger Lucero by Jennifer Bracewell
We are delighted to publish our second Portrait of an Artist interview to this very special column, edited by Jennifer Bracewell. This is an outstanding interview with Ginger Lucero with fabulous images too.
(We also have a dedicated Facebook group set up for this Column too – please join us here. Jennifer regularly adds and contributes to this. In addition we have set up a Flickr Group dedicated to this column. We would like you to send all your portraiture here and we will select images for curation and showcases as well as commentary – this is the Flickr Group link).
Don’t miss this fabulous interview, over to you Jen, (foreword by Joanne Carter).
“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Ginger via social media for a couple of years now. I adore her art. She is a wonderful experimenter, mastering all kinds of apps and styles. She does beautiful, moody self-portraits, landscapes and abstracts. I really admire her ability to change it up while still maintaining a recognizable style. She succeeds in touching the viewer with the raw emotion in her images, pain, happiness, humor, and angst. She is also one of the sweetest, most down-to-earth people in this community I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I’m happy that she agreed to answer some questions for me. Here’s Ginger!”
Key:
J: Jennifer
G: Ginger
‘Degenerate’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: What are your earliest memories of photography and/or art?
G: My earliest memory of photography was seeing a box of pictures my mom kept of my siblings. I loved seeing that thick photo paper and staring at those images. It seemed like if you stared at them long enough, you could be in that time and moment. It was nice to be able to thumb through all those memories that she kept of them when they were growing up.
‘Freak of nature’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: What have you sacrificed for your art?
G: I can’t say that I have sacrificed anything for my art. It has helped me to open up and discover myself in a way I never thought possible. If I had to give an answer though, I would probably say time. I have spent countless hours editing or taking photos. Time that I could spend with my family is sometimes lost to the work that I put into an image. But I don’t necessarily see this as time lost, rather than time that’s therapeutic to my soul.
J: What is it that appeals so much to you about portraiture?
G: I think what appeals to me most about portraiture is the human emotion. We rely on memory to see a face, smile, glance or even times of sadness. And while you may keep that image tucked away in your mind, at times it begins to fade. You start to forget the very thing, or rather look, which you tried so desperately to hold on to. It’s nice to have something concrete to go to, to see with your own eyes and hold in your hand.
‘Ignore the ignorant for they blur the mind and make us weak’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: Why do you think mobile photography and portraiture work so well together?
G: To me this answer is obvious. It’s convenient. Almost everyone nowadays has a smartphone. We see images on the Internet all the time. Whether they were taken for artistic reasons or just to share a moment. It’s so easy to pull it out and snap a shot. I recently just got my first DSLR (a Nikon D5200) and I couldn’t be happier with it. But the truth is, is that I don’t always take this with me everywhere I go. I always have my phone in my back pocket. It’s just easy that way .
J: Tell me about awards and recognition you’ve received.
G: I had my work displayed at the LAMAF. I had an honorable mention in 2012 in the MPAs abstract category. I’ve also been artist of the day on iPhoneart.com, been explored on Flickr, had work and interviews on various sites and had an image published in Baron Magazine.
‘The tears I hide’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: Which of your own images are you most proud of and why?
G: I think that would have to be one called, “The Tears I Hide”. The image represents the sadness that only a woman knows, the kind of sadness that we keep to ourselves and seldom share. It reminded me of the tears that we hold back until no one is watching, tears we don’t share with anyone. This was the first time I felt vulnerable and exposed myself in way I hadn’t done before, for that reason alone I am proud.
J: What have been the high points and low points of your career so far?
G: I can’t say I’ve had any low points unless you count the artistic rut at times. My high point would be recognition of self and expressing myself in a whole new light. This had also brought back my love for poetry that I like to dabble in.
‘Untitled’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: What would you say the biggest myth is about mobile photography?
G: I think the biggest myth is good images can’t be taken with a mobile device. Mobile devices have come along way from the standard phone we all used to know. Many feel shocked when they find out a photo I took is coming from a mobile phone, but it is. Mobile phones and technology have had some huge developments through the years. Those that have fallen behind the times are usually the ones that look at this art form in shock and disbelief. But mobile photography is here to stay, and we’re only moving forward.
J: What/whose work of art would you most like to own?
G: Ansel Adams or Jerry Uelsmann
‘Vulnerable’ – ©Ginger Lucero
J: What song would work as the soundtrack to your life?
Jennifer Bracewell
Jennifer Bracewell is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, she is a mother, an artist, a photographer, an iPhoneographer, and music lover. Much of Jennifer’s work is an exploration of self and image: the manipulation of self-portraits to bring out elements of humor, angst and beauty. Jennifer’s other works are an eclectic mix of country shots, animals, and captures of ephemeral moments in everyday life. Her images have been featured and displayed at Pixels at an Exhibition where she was featured artist for July, 2011 as well as other sites like Mashable , featured artist on iPhoneogenic in September, 2011, and major iPhoneographic blogs. Her work was recently featured in an article about iPhoneography in the Sydney Morning Herald. her work has been exhibited at the Adobe Shop in San Francisco, the Giorgi Gallery in Berkeley (September 22 – October 30, 2011), ArtsEye Gallery in Tucson in October-November 2011 and was featured at the Stephane Vereecken Gallery in Belgium in November, 2011 through January, 2012, a solo show with another scheduled for July, 2012, and at the SoHo Digital Art Gallery in New York City in December of 2011. Jennifer’s work was included in the iPhoneography Miami 2012 show in January, 2012. Five of Jennifer’s images were selected for display at Miami’s cutting-edge Lunchbox Gallery in their “iPhoneography: Updated Visual Dialogs” show, hanging from March 8 to April 7, 2012. Jennifer also has pieces in gallery shows this April at Orange County Center for Contemporary Arts and a three-month show this spring in San Francisco at the prestigious ArtHaus gallery, and these were recently featured in the San Francisco Examiner and the local CBS News 7.
5 Comments
Maria
Wonderful to get to know you more Ginger.. well done Jen xx
gina costa
Great interview! Thanks Jennifer and Ginger
Elaine Taylor (@sunflowerof21)
Great interview. Fabulous images!
Michelle Robinson
What a wonderful interview. I have come to know Ginger. She is one of those people we come across who combines mobile photography and artistry so well. I came across Ginger very early on and am so honoured to call her one of my friends. It’s the early work she did (and even images she does today) that inspired me to start app-ing. Ginger and artists like Maria aka @muzbanger I count as my earliest influences on Instagram and the world of IPhoneography.
Great job Jen!
Tracy Mitchell Griggs
Great interview – always liked Ginger’s images.
My only suggestion is to run the apps used under each image and talk a bit more about workflow, tips etc