by Yvette Depaepe 
Published the 10th of January 2022

Iván Ferrero's work focuses on urban and rural day and night landscapes. He dedicates all his free time to his passion for photography. It has become a way of life to him.  He never stops learning to improve his photographic technique and digital workflow skills.  He wants the best results possible and take the viewers on a journey just as if they were there too.  Let's listen to what Iván tells us about the man behind his images through this interview.

'A different Skogafoss'

Dear, Iván, please briefly tell us about yourself, your hobbies and other jobs.
I am an amateur photographer living in Toledo (Spain). Photography started as a hobby back in 2014 and since then my life has completely changed. Given that I have my real job and am the father of two children, the truth that today the only and scarce free time I have is photography and the creation of content on my YouTube channels and Twitch for a few months.

'The future Chicago'

How has your history and life experiences affected your photography?

More than my experiences having influenced my photographs, it is rather the other way.  Photography has changed my way of seeing life. I was a person completely alien to nature, I had never worried about taking leisure trips to forests, mountains, or enjoying night skies ... photography opened my sight to a new world that until not long ago, was almost unknown to me and I discovered my true hidden passion. Photography has allowed me to live unique moments and enjoy places that, otherwise, I would never have seen.

'Discovering Dolomiti'

I believe that the first night outings and the very first time I photographed the Milky Way marked me the most ... Seeing how hidden landscapes at night were illuminated in the camera amazed me and I will never be able to forget those first outings. Nowadays I can say that nevertheless and although I have been practising photography for years, each photographic session teach me something new.  I also always learn something new when shooting with another person. Learning in photography never ever stops.  The only problem is the lack of free time.

'Giant'

What first attracted you to photography? 

The truth is that photography always attracted me ... but I never considered learning seriously, until - I don't really know why -  in 2014 when admiring some photographs of Serge Ramelli.  I than saw how he was working with light, with the dodge and burn features in lightroom. I found those techniques so  amazing that I decided to try learning about post processing.  That's when all this started for me.

'The dock'

Can you describe your overall photographic vision.

Well, my style is a mix of many styles from photographers who inspired me. I am very influenced both by the legion of great Spanish and Italian landscape photographers, as well as by the American school which is incredible. However, for me, the absolute favourites are Ryan Dyar, Marc Adamus and Daniel Kordan, due to the light in their images. In the beginning my images were more dramatic and dark, but over time it became a more luminous type of photography.  Even for night shots, I used much contrasts than today. In any case, I really like to play with light and shadows to create somewhat painterly works.

'Panorama in Trecime II'

Why are you so drawn by both - Landscape and Architecture photography?

The truth is that there are many photographic disciplines that I like ... I love to look at  portraits, macro ... but in real life, there are things you are less good and some you excel in.  I found my true passion was landscapes, being able to discover incredible places and taking those photographs of somewhat unreal and pictorial environments. The city always fascinated me too.  When travelling abroad, the combination of landscapes/cityscapes is just perfect to me.

'Underground lights'

What is more important to you, the mood,/story behind your images or the technical perfection?

Without any doubt, the most important thing is the moment, the mood, the magic of the light, the mystery. If the details are not the best or there is too much noise etc.  It doesn't worry me too much if there is a story behind the image.

'A village of La Mancha'

What generally is your relationship to your subject matter beyond being an observer?

My objective is twofold: first of all I want to enjoy the place myself and second, I will try to get a photograph that will make the viewers thinking that they were there.

Do you prepare carefully the locations where you are intending to photograph?

Yes, as I am a person who cannot go out much since this is just a hobby, I always try to plan everything when going on a photo trip. I like to know all the possibilities the location  offers as well as the places which give me the most photographic variety. However, if I go to a well-known site, I always try to look for something new.  I want to avoid to make the typical postcard  shot.  I always try to find something different but in my own style.

'Spiral tower'

What gear do you use (camera, lenses, bag)?

I always have been a mirror-less lover.  I had an Olympus, a Fuji, but years ago I bought the old Sony A7R and I was absolutely in love with the image power of that camera and its size. Nowadays my main camera it´s a sony a7rIII and the lenses I most use are sigma 14-24 and sony 24-105, also a little nisi 15mm f4 when I want to go light or use ND filters. For my  youtube videos and twitch streams I Use a sony 6400 with sigma 16mm 1.4 (and recently a Insta 360 action camera for vlogs). About the bag: I always used a lowepro 400 AW, but one year ago I was given a Mindshift 36L (brand collab) and the lowepro remains at home since then.

'Lighthouse in Blue'

What software do you use to process your images?

For my post processing, I just use Photoshop and Camera Raw plugin. I don´t need anything more (no need for LR or Capture 1 etc.) My workflow consists of basic adjustments in camera raw and then,  the real post processing begins in PS with luminosity masks (TK panel its mandatory for me!!). Beside photoshop, I really need PTGUI for stitching and masking my panoramas (I´m a pano lover!!) and recently I have started using Pure Raw to reduce the noise and increase the sharpness of some low light images.

'Teno's Lighthouse'

Can you tell us something more about your work flow?

I must say that I never do the same in any picture..I think that photography is not maths...It´s art and art and art involves a creative process that cannot be replicated from photo to photo with exactitude. However, my post processing always involves contrast and colour adjustments with luminosity masks, some dodge and burn and colour efex plugin in photoshop.

'Chrysler in blue'

What is your most important advice to a beginner in landscape and/or architecture photography and how do you get started?

First of all, be patient and enjoy photography.  Don't be in a rush because, don't try to progress too fast, don't make a profit too soon while you are still learning the basics. I think that when you start with photography because you find it interesting and really like it, you will automatically become passionate and that's when everything flows correctly. And of course, don´t worry too much about the gear, the most important thing is to improve your composition skills and post processing workflow. Don´t hesitate to invest in training videos and trips instead of new lenses or cameras if you already have a decent camera. And the most important, don´t let anyone tell you what you have to do. Just do what you really like.

 'Iglesia en el Cabo de Gata'

Who are your favourite photographers and more importantly, how has your appreciation of their work affected how you approach your own photography?  

Without any doubt, my style was influenced by the first “fine art” photographers I discovered when I started with photography around 2014, mainly Marc Adamus (marcadamus), Ryan Dyar (ryandiar) and  Ted Gore.  The light, the shadows, the glow and details in their images is out of this world. Then I discovered Enrico Fossati (fox79), Daniel Kordan (kordan), Shainblum, Juan Pablo de Miguel (demiguel). All the images of these incredible photographers made me want to learn how to emulate that style.

Is there any specific photo taken by another photographer that has inspired you a lot and why? 

I remember years ago how astonished I was when I saw the first time, this image from Marc Adamus. I remember watching it carefully and trying to figure how to achieve something like that.

'Cool the flames' by Marc Adamus

Are there any specific directions that you would like to take your photography in the future or any specific goals that you wish to achieve?

Just enjoy photography. Sincerely, sometimes I thought about leaving my work to become a professional photographer, but I think that perhaps if I did, I wouldn´t love photography as much as now, because it wouldn´t be my passion or my hobby, but my work. It wouldn´t be the same. Nowadays I really enjoy when I have the chance to go out and photography with my friends.  I also enjoy the incredible community I have been able to create through my youtube and twtich channels. I´m very lucky about that. I prefer not to think about incredible trips to exotic places.  My family and my job makes it really hard to do something like that. I can´t be away for two weeks, so I prefer to seek realistic goals. Right now I would like to spent some days in the French Pyrenees, especially in springtime. Maybe in 2022, I will be able to achieve it.

Describe your favourite photograph taken by you and why it is special to you?

Impossible to choose.  There are too many pictures in my portfolio that I love. There are too many images that remind me of incredible moments in my life.  But exceptionally, I'm going to choose one of my pictures on 1x. It's not my best but it 's probably the most dramatic sunset I have seen in my life and I was lucky to shoot it on a very special location in the city where I live: Toledo.

'In flames'

Is there anything else you wish to add  and what do you think about 1X as a home base for your work?

I would like to see more classic landscape photographs on the 1x home page. Unfortunately, landscape photography seems to be less and less visible if we compare to other more commercial photographic modalities today, such as modernist, abstract, social, street photography, but for me there is no greater beauty than that of a landscape image.

'Fireworks in the fog'

'Night in the Old Castle'

'Meandro del Melero'

'The hidden gem'

RRSS LINKS:

https://ivanferrerophoto.com/ 

https://twitter.com/Ivanf_foto

https://www.youtube.com/c/ivanferrerofotografia

https://www.instagram.com/ivanferrerofotografia/

https://www.facebook.com/ivanferrerophoto/

https://500px.com/p/ivanferu?view=photos

https://www.twitch.tv/ivan_ferrero