Today, we’d like to introduce you to Felipe Correa.
Hi Felipe, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Necessity is the mother of invention. I needed photos for my new tour business website, so I got a little Nikon camera; I took some photos, and it changed my life.
This happened sometime in 2007; I wasn’t ever really into photography, but I understood its value and purpose as an art medium. Photography reveals. Shortly after I started shooting, I began to get positive attention; several of my new captures were serendipitously skillful. Alligator close-ups, airborne powerboats, jumping dolphins, and tarpons- the shots were coming easily and nicely!
I traveled to Bar Harbor, Maine in the fall of 2009, exploring Acadia National Park with my newfound skill helped me to see more than what I came to see. This is where photography became my medium of connection to the natural world. Now, my desire to shoot extends beyond good photos, and now I get to participate in the beauty of the world.
At the end of 2012, I finally decided on photography. I bought my first ever DSLR and eagerly proceeded to learn all of it. To this day, I continue to passionately pursue this art medium; it has taught me to pay a type of fierce attention, and I get to live my life with a daily-renewed sense of wonder.
We all face challenges, but would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am a photographer. I may be in the most saturated field of art there is. Anyone with an iPhone is, in a way, parallel to the next “Ansel Adams,” according to the metrics of pop culture in social media. That might be the greatest challenge: how can one stand out high enough to be seen?
I can only worry about myself, though; my angles set me apart. I often risk equipment, limb, and life to get that special shot. I am particularly proud of my alligator close-ups. I love how my images help people change their minds about the nature of this hard-faced apex predator.
The road has been bumpy indeed, and I welcome it. The path to heaven does not lie down in flat miles, as the great poet Mary Oliver said. I welcome the challenge. May the obstacles be sources of courage and creativity.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I mainly focus on wildlife and landscape photography. My keys and Everglades landscapes, plus my alligator close-ups, have piqued quite a bit of attention.
I am particularly proud to have one of my alligator photos on two billboards along the historic highway US 41 and to be in the prestigious Keys Artist List from the Florida Keys Council of the Arts. I made the list in 2018 with one of my pelican photos and with a tiny mangrove landscape of the old Seven Mile Bridge. I was also fortunate to finish in the top 2 and top 3 in the Key West Photography Festival.
“Your photos look like paintings!” This is a regularly bestowed compliment. I pay extreme attention to the symmetry of the image, I use all of the composition guidelines there are, from the rule of thirds to the golden spiral.
I do not move on unless my eye is willing to accept the placement of things within the frame. I love it when people can figure out easily which image is mine.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
“Talent is insignificant. I know a lot of talented ruins. Beyond talent lie all the usual words: discipline, love, luck, but most of all, endurance.” – James Baldwin
This is it, basically. I know I am good at photography, but that’s not enough. I make sure to study the medium and practice practice practice every single day.
The body of work of great photographers such as Ansel Adams, Eddie Adams, Vivian Maier, and Berenice Abbott are invaluable resources for learning composition and daring angles. I treasure their lessons.
Language is also a huge part of my process. I feel that poetry perfectly complements photography. Poetry is a simple and nuanced art medium. Good poetry depends on and consists of a ferocious attention to the world.
I consume it daily, I particularly love the works of Rumi, Walt Whitman, Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tourstoyou.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tourstoyou/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felipe.correa.503
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ToursToYou
