Little talks: Isis Piña

Last weekend, I had the chance to meet the super-duper incredible and amazing photographer, Isis Piña. She's 17 years old. When I discovered her, it was totally crazy. Her photos and her writing started to inspire me very quickly.

We have the same love for visual arts and music, so that means we could talk for hours about those things!

Her work is so fascinating, that I wanted to ask her a few questions to get to know her even better.

• How did you start? 

It is a coincidence that out of all the areas in the 'visual arts world', I fell specificly into photography. I've always had an enormous love and interest for art. I would gaze at fashion magazines for hours, watch movies and wonder how everything was put together to create such awesomeness... Suddenly I felt and urge to capture the beauty surrounding me; so for my 15th birthday I asked for a camera and since then, I never thought I'd be so obsessed in my life!

• Can you tell us a little bit about where you live?

I live in San Francisco de Macoris, a small town in the Dominican Republic. I was born here and raised for the majority of my life. There's not much to say about it... it's not so modern (which I like, someway), there's not much diversity here; no sports, no art and no science. So of course there's not much stereotypes to see... which is sad for me, one of the things I enjoy the most is going out and seeing all types of things and people. But people are friendly to each other, since it's such a small town, everyone treats the others like family. I'm so thankful that I have art... it's like my getaway, like escaping without leaving.

• What did you want to be when you were growing up?

As a child, I'd play every profession with my dolls; a teacher, a stylist, a mama, a doctor... Once I even wanted to be an astronaut and I even owned a telescope!! Oh how I miss those days up there on the clouds. But what I remember being the most obsessed with for years, was being a writer. I used to write lots of short stories for my old elementary school back in Florida and even little books illustrated by myself.

• When did you discover that you had deep feelings for photography?

When you can't go a day without thinking about something, then there's definitely some passion! I guess everything just flowed together to become a big part of me.

• At the beginning, did you have help or you just started by yourself?

I started everything by myself, I spent most of my time watching tutorials on Youtube and reading books about photography. I like to believe that after you know all the technical details, it's time for imagination, and nobody can teach you how to imagine.

• Can you describe why is sunlight so important for your pictures?

For me, it's the most beautiful light. Sunlight is a perfect gift from nature and we should all take advantage of that. Besides, lighting is just way out of my budget right now hehe.

• How do you feel about modifying your own pictures?

It's something that comes very natural. Eventually you stop liking your own pictures so it's time to change, try new things, lose yourself for a while and find what makes you the happiest... for me, it was going from just regular portraits to conceptual art.

• Do you have a favorite subject to shoot? Why?

Of course, the human. Especially my brother. It's such an extraordinary  relationship that you have while you're shooting other people! I like creating characters and capturing them in their own world. I also love shooting self-portraits, it's like therapy for the soul.

• Where do you find inspiration?

Everywhere. Right now I am in a bus full of people sleeping, everything is so quiet. There's a bug golden sun rising behind the mountains outside my window. The gorgeus golden light is hitting my beautiful redhead friend's hair and it looks like flames (SO inspiring!). I find inspiration in slience, sadness, the feeling of infinity you get while listening to your favorite song, books, kids, long car rides, colors... Life in general is just inspiring, art is everywhere, you just have to seek for it! Although I love all those things I just mentioned, most of my inspiration comes from the low times, I love recycling all sadness into pictures. It's also a lot more productive than just crying.

• Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Living in another country with my babies and my love. Capturing and creating beauty, traveling and making life an art

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Inspiring, isn't it? She's such a great person and I'm really thankful that she let me took these pictures. If you want to know more about her work, just go to her Flickr page!