Have you ever seen a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing, photo of a place and wondered where in the world could that be located because it is like nothing you have ever seen before? Now what if I tell you that a local photographer was taking these photos at FIUs very own Modesto Maidique campus. Sounds crazy right, yet you take a very close look at the picture and there it is, the very building you pass by all the time.
Remy Valdez, also known as @of_rheims, is a senior marketing student who has managed to capture our campus in such unique ways for over a year now. He is the co-founder of an artist organization called The Ovrwrkd Artist Collective, and currently works as a freelance photographer. In an interview, we got to know the following about him:
1. What or who would you say, influenced you the most to seek photography and kept you going?
- “I’m here trying to think of what it was that made me first want a camera but I honestly cannot remember. I didn’t grow up wanting to be a photographer or anything; all I know is that when I got my first camera, I was able to capture images that felt the way I was feeling at the time I took them. From then, my best friend Edoardo Villanueva and I haven’t put our cameras down. Since high school, we’ve been pushing each other to improve as artists and we only really compare ourselves to each other. Challenging myself against my closest friends and family is what has been keeping my momentum going since I started.”
2. Do you have a theme you try to keep to?
- “I try to disappear from behind the lens of the shots I care most about. I prefer my audience to be most invested in the content of my photos, not be wondering about the model in the photos or about what lens I used to take them. The less a photo feels like a photo to me, the happier I tend to be with it. This attitude I have for photography is relatively fresh, but the general theme I try to keep for my work is just trying to encapsulate as much visually-stimulated emotion as possible without being blatant about the emotion I’m attempting to portray. These days, I usually try to achieve this through my use of color and perspective.”
3. Besides capturing FIU’s campus, what other types of work do you currently do?
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“Being a Marketing student at FIU, my professional and creative careers have developed by intertwining with each other. For a while, I was doing competition and program advertising at FIU’s Global Sales Program. There, I was capturing photo and video content and utilizing them for brand exposure. I have been able to apply the experience I’ve gained from that, and from Marketing internships I’ve done, to help other artists market and promote themselves. I do so whether it’s by being commissioned to take photos of someone and/or producing videos for their distribution, helping run social media campaigns, or by giving advice to those I consider part of my team. I’m really always on the job as a developing marketer, though. I came to school for this so I could help guide my fellow artists that aren’t familiar with the technicalities within the world of business. Whether I am taking photos of your event or producing your music video, I always try to do so with both the eyes of a cameraman and those of a Marketing professional.”
Remy’s work shows how something so simple, that you would normally just take a quick glance at, can become something beautiful through a different point of view. If you would like to take a look at his work, please visit: https://www.remy.gallery/ or his Instagram: @of_rheims.