Rodolfo Choperena
Rodolfo Choperena does not consider himself a photographer. Rather, he says, "I consider myself an artist that uses the camera as a tool." The path he took to his current work began when he first started taking pictures - on a safari to Tanzania. It was here that Choperena initially experimented with long exposures and moving subjects, subsequently shifting his focus to people, colours and textures.
While he still takes pictures when he travels, Choperena considers those photos his personal work and has never sold any of those images, focusing 100% on light abstractions for galleries and clients. The latter, in conjunction with his "day job" as a financial manager for Morgan Stanley, creates the "perfect equilibrium between left and right brain."
After seeing artist Olafur Eliasson's installation in 2007 and how Eliasson manipulated light sources, Choperena "was inspired to experiment using light to provoke the abstraction process…instead of capturing moving subjects, I began to manipulate the camera in relation to my subject."
The winning image was shot with his H4D-50 and an 80 mm lens, a camera he purchased after his first solo show when he realized that he needed a camera with the resolution to make very large prints. The image is of a garden overlooking the ocean in Mexico on a cloudy day but since the scene produced a rather "dull" shot (only greys and greens), Choperena decided to take another shot, adding bright fabric for colour. In an age where so many photographers rely heavily on post-processing, Choperena does everything in camera with the exception of digitally reducing noise or removing a dust spot when necessary.
Choperena's light abstractions continue to evolve and a new series of images involves shooting various light sources, "with positive and negative space" as the protagonists. This new work will be introduced as part of a group show in January.
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