by Yvette Depaepe 
Published the 31st of January 2022

To Gabrielle Halperin, photography is essential to express and share her feelings and emotions. Her work is diversified and lately she tend to create great composites.  She is more an emotional person rather than a technical artist but appreciate techniques as well.  She continuously strives to improve her skills.

Gaby has a warm and sensitive character.  I'm proud to present her to the readers through this interview and want to thank her personally for sharing her heartwarming vulnerability and honest answers.

'Summer Drive'

I was born in Brussels, Belgium, where I spent my 20 first years. At the age of 20, I emigrated to Tel-Aviv, Israel, where I got married and founded a family. I used to help in the family business -  import of office equipment. Now I am retired, I enjoy my family, especially my 8 grandchildren, and my hobby – photography - which is more of a passion now.

My history and life experiences were not always easy; I grew up with parents who were holocaust survivors and lost all their family members during WWII. It certainly has some impact on some of my photographs. Five years ago, I lost my eldest son from cancer, and this has certainly influenced my work, as it has influenced my whole vision of life. But life goes on and I never lost my sense of humour and my love for people and for nature.

'The Flood'

I always liked to take photos, since I got my first camera as a teenager. By then I used to document my school friends and my family mostly. Then I documented my children for the photo albums. Only about 15 years ago, when I got my first digital camera, I did start looking around me and taking pictures of other subjects, nature mostly. I had my 'flower' period, my 'beach' period, my 'macro' period, and many others…

'Happy Bath'

I attended a few short photo classes where I learned about the basics of photography.  I bought a reflex camera and got more and more interested. Until now,  I am reading and watching as much as I can on the internet, trying to learn from the great professionals, to learn new techniques and to improve my skills.

I think that nature is the greatest artist in the world.  In my nature photos; I am trying to sanctify its beauty and show my love for it.

'Twilight rain'

'A walk in the forest' 

'Here comes the sun'

'The cranes'

Portraits are also one of my favourite subjects, especially children and very old people. I love photographing children because of their innocence and their purity. The bond between mother and child never ceases to move me. On the other hand, old people are wearing their whole life into their wrinkled faces, like some open history book that fascinates me. Even poverty and misery are subjects that attract me.

'There is always some light in the darkness of life'

'Twins'

My overall photographic vision : first and most important is my intention to share my own feelings with the viewer. For me, photography is very essential to communicate with people. I am more an emotional than a technical person (although I am not disregarding good techniques).

In the beginning, I edited and processed my photos just to improve them.  But after a while, I felt that I wanted to do something more, I wanted to tell stories, to send some messages or thoughts or states of mind…

I took an excellent class with Noam Mymon about photo manipulation in order to learn the creative editing techniques.
Now, I do both: documenting and creating, and I do enjoy a lot both.

'Flying over Chicago

'Towards a better future'

'Loulou in the sky'

When I am shooting people, I am completely interacting with them if it is a planned session. Then I also plan the location. But I also like to take candid street shots.

'Memories'

'Street life'

Until last year I used my Canon 7D camera only. Now I got a Sony A7 III mirror less camera which I like very much. I still use the Canon sometime if I need some special lens that I don’t have for my Sony. My favourite lenses are the 24-105 mm f/4 Sony, and the 85mm f/1.2 Canon.

To process my images, I use Bridge, ACR, and mainly Photoshop.

About my workflow for the creative photography, I first think about an idea, it can be a story or a message I wish to transmit. Then I draw a sketch on paper, and then I am looking among my photos for assets that could fit and put them into a new folder. I use my own photos for the composites. Then I start working with Photoshop, first the background, the sky, main subject, etc…. and try to compose something step by step until I am happy with it. The idea, photography and post processing are all connected.

My advice to a beginner would be : let your imagination fly freely, don’t be afraid to try new styles, new techniques, watch tutorials from professionals and learn from them, but always be yourself.

My favourite photographer and visual artist is Eric Johanson (https://www.erikjo.com/work). I love and admire his work. I also like very much Katerina Plotnikova and Ronen Goldman. My favourite photographers on 1X are Ben Goossens, Yvette Depaepe, Peter Cakovsky, Martin Marcisovsky, and many others…

For the moment, I do find a lot of interest and pleasure in my photography. What direction will I take in the future? I don’t know yet. I am constantly trying to improve and to learn. I do find a lot of inspiration on 1X.

'Dancing in the sunset'

It is quite difficult for me to pick up one favourite photo of mine because I do like them all (well, at least most of them…), but if I must chose one, I would chose the photograph called “ I miss you”. In this photo, I show a mother trying to reach out to her dead child. The ladder doesn’t reach the ground; she tells him how much she misses him. This of course is related to my own personal loss.

'I miss you'

I wish to thank 1X for giving me this opportunity to show my work and for being a great source of inspiration to me.  And thank you so much dear Yvette for choosing me and my photos!

Gabrielle Halperin.