Gino Ricardo
1. Can you introduce yourself and talk about how you got into photography?
Hi my name is Gino Ricardo, a photographer from the Netherlands. At first my journey started with video. In 2018 I went to South Africa and wanted a "serious" camera (Panasonic Gh5) to document my 3 week travel. After my travels the camera was just sitting on a shelf waiting for the next holiday. At the end of 2019 after my second trip I started to take my camera to work. In the beginning I didn't take the camera out of the bag, after a couple of weeks/months I decided to take my camera out and started photographing during my 1 hour lunch break. At first I wanted to begin with street photography but noticed that this was very daunting. One day the sun was shinning on a building and the light hitting it in combination with the pattern of the building was very fascinating and I decided to take a picture.
2. Where did you study photography?
I am an autodidact
3. Do you remember your first shot? What was it?
Yes. A building or more specifically a garage in the city of Rotterdam during my 1 hour lunch break
4. What equipment do you use?
Panasonic GH5 and since 2021 I also use a Fujix100V with a fixed lens
5. What do you hope to achieve?
To get my work featured in galleries and hopefully in museums
6. What compliment inspired/touched you the most?
That my architecture work sometimes looks like a work of Escher.
7. What inspires your unique storytelling?
A combination of different things. Museums/art, animation, movies, music, design, other photographers, my environment etc etc
8. What THREE (3) words describe your photography style?
Abstract, minimal, graphical
9. Congratulations! As the winner of the European Photography Awards, what does it mean for you and your team to receive this distinction?
Thank you very much for this honor! It gives me validation and means that I am going in the right direction with my work and I hope that this brings me one step closer to my goals.
10. Can you explain a bit about the winning work you entered into the 2022 European Photography Awards, and why you chose to enter this project?
Concrete and Steel (Architecture series)
With this work I wanted to pay tribute to architecture. Showing people the beauty of the places they live in but never see or pay attention to.
Partially Glass (Architecture series)
With this series I wanted to show how glass plays a big part in building. How it breaks a building up and adds elegance and vulnerability to it.
Re-flected (Street photography series)
With reflected I wanted to show people that within a split second there is a hidden world/ extra dimension in reflective surfaces.
Social Media (Street single)
With social media I wanted to show people how our lives are being affected by technology. A beach that was once for relaxation and fun turns into a place where we sit on our phones and forget to enjoy what is in front of us.
11. How has winning an award developed your career?
To be honest, in terms of developing a career I haven't noticed much yet. What I can say is thanks to competing in these competitions I got to know a lot of like minded people and got introduced to many other works that I would have never discovered. For me the most valuable thing that I have gotten from these competitions are meeting with like minded people and the connections that I have made with them.
12. Name 1-3 photographers who have inspired you.
Sebastiao Salgado
Sean Tucker
Jeremy Paige and many more
13. What was the best piece of advice you were given starting out, by a mentor or your role model?
The best images are not at the end of an expensive flight but right around the corner if you just go out and look.
14. What advice would you give someone who would like to become a photographer today?
Follow your heart and instincts. Don't let social media dictate your style or pace. Shoot for yourself and the rest will follow.
15. What is your key to success? Any parting words of wisdom?
Showing up every single day. Just go out and photograph. Be afraid to fail over and over again.
16. How do you stay in that space of being receptive to new information and knowledge?
I think that in everything you do you need to be open for other people or inspiration. Just be open, whats the worst that can happen? Next to that I love getting feedback from people who has nothing to do with photography. The insights you tend to get from these people are very valuable.
17. Anything else you would like to add to the interview?
I wanted to say thank you again to all the judges and organization.
