First Friday Features: Regina Leah
I came across Regina's work on Flickr a couple months ago, and it is fitting that I am featuring her this week, with the theme of "ME & Color", because that is the first thing that struck me about her work! She uses color in her images in such a gorgeous way. Her work is so captivating, and she is so talented at such a young age (21, I think? Correct me if I got that wrong, Regina!) I am thrilled to feature her today. You can find more of her inspiring images on Facebook HERE or Flickr HERE.
You: The Person
How would your family and friends describe you?
Among plenty of other attributes, they would describe me as emotional - I feel every emotion with all the cells of my body and all my soul. That makes life so intense to me and also affects the people around me.
2. Are you married or single? Do you have any children?
- Single, no children
3. What makes you laugh? What makes you cry?
My incredibly funny friends, a beautiful summer day and other uncountable occasions make me laugh. Injustice, disappointments by people I love, or my own mistakes make me cry.
4. What is your best physical feature? What is one that you would like to change?
My best feature is my smile, I guess. At least it is something that many different people have pointed out, although I needed all my life to accept and embrace my tooth gap.
If I could change something, I would love to have a bright eye-color. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than darker skin tones combined with bright and shining eyes.
5. If you could change one thing about yourself or your life, what would it be?
About myself I would like to change my often too harsh self-criticism. Mostly, I am my worst enemy because I expect way too high standards.
In my life I would like to change a better time management. It seems like I fail to balance all the different aspects in life that are important to me so that I neglect other important areas.
6. Where/How did you meet your closest friends?
- I met my closest friends in school, one of them in the 9th grade in a situation where a new class was formed and I had nobody to turn to. One girl had to take the same train home as me, so she actually took the time to talk and actually listen to me. Eventually, we developed a really deep friendship.
7. What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
I have done quite a few crazy things in past months. The most striking one was probably participating in a Carnival parade with a Mas band on an extremely cold day last May (about 13° Celsius while it was usually about 30° in the years before) with a costume inspired by the Caribbean carnival parades. I can’t wait to get on the road next year again!
8. What is the one thing about yourself that you are really proud of?
My ability to put effort into the things that are important to me. This made it possible for me to get such good results in school, university or in my dance class. And this is what keeps me working harder and striving to develop and improve myself more and more.
You: The Photographer
9. How did you become interested in photography?
- When I was 14 my parents got me simple point-and-shoot camera as a present in order to take photos at concerts. Soon I started shooting nature, self-portraits or even my friends in different settings and with increasingly thought-out concepts. Almost six years ago, I got my DSLR and since then photography has become a major part of my life and my identity.
10. If you’re in business, how long have you been in business, and what job did you have before becoming a photographer?
- No
11. What camera/lenses/camera bag do you use?
- Canon EOS 1000D, 50mm f/1.8
12. Do you use Lightroom, Photoshop or both?
- At the moment I only use Lightroom, but normally I use both.
13. Do you take pictures everyday?
- No, at the moment I even touch my camera very rarely except when I am travelling.
14. What is your biggest struggle as a photographer?
- The struggle of originality which is accompanied by the rising pressure of keeping up with social media. It can be a blessing and a curse at the same time to be influenced much work of other photographers online. Sometimes it causes the unnecessary pressure of comparing myself with other artists who have a completely different story and journey in photography.
15. How difficult would it be for you to go without screens (no phone/ iPad/ computer/ TV) for one week? One month?
- For me it would be rather hard to imagine because the internet has become a space that is involved in many parts of my life. I use it to gain inspiration, to keep contact with my family and friends all over the world, to listen to music and practice for my dance classes and to organize my university assignments.
16. How do you promote your photography?
I would not even call it promoting, but I use my blog and my Facebook page as spaces where I can share my work and interact with other people.
17. Whose work are you most influenced or inspired by?
There are several photographers I love but the one who influenced me the most in past couple of months was Taya Iv, beside some of my all time favorites Ines Rehberger and Nishe.
18.. Have you done any personal projects? Is there anything new you are working on right now or plan to start soon?
Four years ago I started a very personal project called „road to self-discovery“. I was sixteen years old and concerned with many questions about my identity. I struggled with self-confidence and the acceptance of who I was on the outside and on the inside. So I started taking photos of my face or my body in everyday environments that were often simple and not original, but opened an honest and fragile window to my deepest thoughts, emotions and my soul.
At the moment, I have no special project in mind but I want to use my summer vacation to get back into photography again, so a project will be a good first step.
