Montse Zamorano. Woman Photographer
24/10/2018.
Architecture Women Photographers in Spain Serie. 11/11
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
We finished this excellent series about architecture photographers in Spain with Montse Zamorano, a brilliant photographer already known by our readers, and in a short time a classic with a career full of excellent personal and professional proposals. Her last name always puts it at the end, an unbeatable brooch for this series.
SERIE. Nueva York. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
SERIE. Nueva York. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
SERIE. Nueva York. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Magazzino Italian Art by Miguel Quismondo in New York. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Faculty of Cellular and Genetic Biology by Héctor F Elorza in Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Faculty of Cellular and Genetic Biology by Héctor F Elorza in Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Ibernergi Headquarters by Taller Abierto in Toledo, Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
CEPSA Flaghip Station by Malka+Portus, Saffron Brands and Aureolighting in Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Impluvium by RAW_deAbajoGarcía in Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Old Chapel Of The Holy Sepulchre by Héctor F Elorza in Spain. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Sake Warehouse by Jorge Almazán + Keio University Almazán Lab in Japan. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Grace Farms by Sanaa in Connecticut, USA. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Noodles Slurp Restaurant by New Practice Studio in New York. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Spanish Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo by EMBT, China. Photograph by © Montse Zamorano
Montse Zamorano was selected four years ago by a group of excellent Spanish photographers. During this time her career has continued to grow and consolidate even more becoming one of the benchmarks of photography in Madrid (although her work is divided between the US and Spain). Recently several of the projects awarded by the College of Architects of Madrid had her signature as a photographer.
Her passion for the image comes from afar, as he tells us, her training in photography began much earlier than with architecture, at age 13 years old. We knew her first works even before finishing her architecture studies. Some excellent photographs of some bridges under construction in Shanghai (Xidaynggang Twin Bridges Construction, CA GROUP.) of almost ten years ago.
In it, architectural photography was an almost natural step. I find her idea of collecting places, translated into his photographic shots, especially interesting. Her photography exudes freshness and a new vision, different from the world that is within reach of his camera, with surprising images of familiar places, with which her eyes catch us again, as it was in the report of the storm Jonah in New York.
Her passion for the image comes from afar, as he tells us, her training in photography began much earlier than with architecture, at age 13 years old. We knew her first works even before finishing her architecture studies. Some excellent photographs of some bridges under construction in Shanghai (Xidaynggang Twin Bridges Construction, CA GROUP.) of almost ten years ago.
In it, architectural photography was an almost natural step. I find her idea of collecting places, translated into his photographic shots, especially interesting. Her photography exudes freshness and a new vision, different from the world that is within reach of his camera, with surprising images of familiar places, with which her eyes catch us again, as it was in the report of the storm Jonah in New York.
It's strange not to hear noise in New York. However, on Saturday Jonas silenced the bustle of the city, the shouting in the streets, the sound of cars and sirens, only the blizzard was heard instead.
Her training as an architect can be seen in her images, in her classic and extraordinary referents, Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman. Her rigor in her way of seeing architectural photography took her to New York a few years ago, where she continued to form and since then she combines these two venues as platforms to photograph the rest of the world.
Her more personal photographs allow her to be emotionally dragged, and that vision catchs the observer of her shots. As many other photographers understand the new technological media as natural tools: "video, 3Ds, virtual tours, accessibility to new technologies or the importance of Internet, enrich and democratize the way that architecture is explained, spread and showed to society."
As we have seen in the series, generationally she is already a reference for younger photographers, a classic. We believe that her impressive career has only just begun and will surely surprise us even more with time.
What led you to the photograph?
My interest in photography first arose from a curiosity to understand the mechanism of the camera and the ability to create compositions that were visually interesting. Then he evolved to the ability to tell stories and ideas through images.
With 10 years and during family trips I learned how to focus and measure light, and at the age of 13 I completed my first photography course where, in addition to photographic technique, I learned to reveal in black and white.
During the first years of studying architecture, I started using digital photography to photograph models and buildings during field trips. I also loved photographing people in the countries where I traveled, the popular festivals, the cities and the landscapes I visited.
Before finishing the degree I started making my first collaborations with architecture studios and magazines. The year I lived in Shanghai just finished the degree allowed me to become aware of my abilities as a photographer and develop a greater interest to dedicate myself professionally to photography. When I returned to Madrid, I spent a few years working as an architect and photographer, until finally I focused exclusively on architectural photography.
With 10 years and during family trips I learned how to focus and measure light, and at the age of 13 I completed my first photography course where, in addition to photographic technique, I learned to reveal in black and white.
During the first years of studying architecture, I started using digital photography to photograph models and buildings during field trips. I also loved photographing people in the countries where I traveled, the popular festivals, the cities and the landscapes I visited.
Before finishing the degree I started making my first collaborations with architecture studios and magazines. The year I lived in Shanghai just finished the degree allowed me to become aware of my abilities as a photographer and develop a greater interest to dedicate myself professionally to photography. When I returned to Madrid, I spent a few years working as an architect and photographer, until finally I focused exclusively on architectural photography.
Why architectural photography?
Being an architect and passionate about photography, it was a very natural evolution. I also recognize the teaching character; want to portray and freeze realities to share with more people.
A photographer that you consider a reference?
I love Ezra Stoller. My thesis in the Master of Advanced Projects of the ETSAM was a comparison between the work of Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman. Both are the maximum exponents of twentieth-century photography, but Stoller identifies a greater capacity for deep understanding of architecture and the ideas of the architect, and his way of solving it visually is through very careful compositions and with a maximum visual containment and abstraction.
Build photography, ideas, inspiration? What do you prefer to capture spaces or create places?
Inspiration depends a lot on each project. There are times when he comes to speak with the architect, sometimes when visiting the work and sometimes when he sees the work through the landscape.
It is difficult to position yourself between capturing spaces or creating places because it depends on many factors: the type of work, the architect's idea or the part of the building that is being photographed. When photographing the same project there may be images that focus on capturing the space (for example to tell the relationship between a dwelling in the landscape) and others that require creating places or recreating environments (such as wanting to explain the feeling of home that same house in its interior).
My purpose is always to visually translate the ideas of the architect, and for that I always look for the balance between portraying the strictly special and the most environmental and human part. The ideal is to capture spaces that create places.
It is difficult to position yourself between capturing spaces or creating places because it depends on many factors: the type of work, the architect's idea or the part of the building that is being photographed. When photographing the same project there may be images that focus on capturing the space (for example to tell the relationship between a dwelling in the landscape) and others that require creating places or recreating environments (such as wanting to explain the feeling of home that same house in its interior).
My purpose is always to visually translate the ideas of the architect, and for that I always look for the balance between portraying the strictly special and the most environmental and human part. The ideal is to capture spaces that create places.
Your first camera? And now?
Nikon FM2 (first). Canon 5DS (now)
Is there a photograph that you would have or would like to make?
I would love to photograph the work of Peter Zumpthor and would have loved to photograph the Chrysler gargoyle as Berenice Abbott.
More information
MONTSE ZAMORANO
Montse Zamorano Gañán (Madrid, 1985) is an architect specialized in architecture photography, always looking to integrate new strategies, tools and methods of marketing and branding for the outreach and support to architecture and design.
She has photographed for architects such as Foster and Partners, Álvaro Siza or Héctor Fernández Elorza and published in architecture media such as Metalocus, TASCHEN, Casabella, Architectural Record, Arquitectura Viva or Detail. Her visual work has been finalist and selected in international awards and festivals and her pictures displayed in exhibitions in Madrid, Valencia, Milan and Shanghai. She greatly enjoys teaching and has lectured and conducted workshops in Harvard-GSD, Keio, Pratt, NJIT and ETSAM.
She studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Madrid and IIT Chicago, and she holds a Master in Branding at SVA and a Master in Integrated Marketing from NYU as a Fulbright and LaCaixa Scholar.
