The Art of Natural Light – Portraits by Gabriela Mester

• By: Christopher O'Donnell

I recently stumbled upon the stunning portrait photography of Gabriela Mester, an incredibly talented artist from Romania. She has a unique ability to combine soft, natural light with her talent of evoking profound expressions from her models. Her work is extremely inspirational, and I expect we will be hearing a lot more about her in the near future.

How and when did you start photography?

G: I started photography in 2010′s summer.
I can still remember the day, I was with my best friend and model, Renata.
We were taking pictures in a lovely park.
I used my sister’s Fujifilm (: until I got my personal camera in 2011.
It was a lovely gift from my love.

How do you find inspiration?

G: I find inspiration in songs I listen on my way to everywhere, in movies, people.. in everything.
but sometimes it just comes from nowhere (:

What kind of light do you use?

G: I prefer to use natural light.
Nothing’s better than a picture with natural light!

How long does it take to edit one photograph?

G: It depends. From 5 to 10 min to 1 hour or so.
Sometimes I just “prepare” the pictures for editing, I “clean” them and make everything as I want.
Later, I can start with colors and all kind of details.
Ideas may come in a longer period of time I don’t like to be in a hurry.

Do you allow your pictures to be published as books covers, CD covers, posters, etc?

G: Yes, I do allow. In 2010 I was published for the first time in a French magazine.
Then in 2012 I sold my first pictures for a German company. (I still sell my pictures to them).
E-mail me for questions and details.

You can find more of Gabriela’s outstanding work at her deviantART page, where she has a wide collection of natural light portraits, as well as other subjects. You can also follow her work on Facebook and Twitter.

• Category: Photographers
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