Fashion photographer in Bilbao: Eneko, the new talent from Bilbao who takes fashion photos
Eneko, the new talent from Bilbao who takes fashion photos.
This 25-year-old, who captures new Basque faces and designers with his camera, is immersed in his most personal and ambitious project: NAD MAGAZINE, a digital magazine to share his work and the creations of other artists
He discovered the exciting world of photography by chance two years ago. It was thanks to her grandfather, who one day gave her a camera from the 70s that he kept in a drawer. That same afternoon, Eneko Pérez Arnaiz directed his steps to the nearest store in order to buy his first reel, an Ilford HP5400, which he premiered while taking a pleasant walk in the Zorrozaurre area. Who was going to tell him that that walk would end up marking his personal and professional career. Today he cannot conceive of his life without this art, which he defines as “a constant aesthetic search.” “It’s a mental exercise that forces me to pay attention to what’s going on around me, as well as helping me connect with other people and learn about their realities,” he says. With a very personal vision and leading figures such as Alberto García Alix, Robert Mapplethorpe and Richard Avedon, this 25-year-old from Bilbao is looking for his niche in the world of fashion photography, a demanding sector reserved for a privileged few where only the creatives have a place.
Aware from the outset that entering this photographic ‘Olympus’ requires time, effort and sacrifice, Eneko has made a strong commitment to its future. After having completed the introductory, intermediate and advanced courses taught by Josu Zaldibar at the Black Kamera school in Bilbao, this year he has begun an internship at the studio of the well-known photographer Asier Gómez. “Right now I’m also working in the hospitality industry to be able to pay for studios and photographic equipment,” he explains. The images of him, in which he uses the resource of black and white, capture a more poetic and nostalgic vision of the timelessness of fashion. But why focus on her? «Fashion allows me to create ephemeral sculptures that only exist for an instant, materializing them in a physical format. Specifically, I am interested in capturing the movement and the forms that the garments take on the models”, says the young man, who played in different music groups in his adolescence such as ‘Purple Vellocet’ and ‘sad’.
Eneko has decided to go all out and fulfill her dream. He has always been interested in capturing the emerging ideas of his own city, in addition to getting involved and learning first-hand about the local art movement. He enjoys his work because it allows him to “reflect the diversity of bodies and identities.” Through their Instagram profiles
‘Elegant Chaos’ Y
‘Nad Magazine’, we immediately perceive his desire to look for emotional faces and gestures, as well as striking garments and contrasts between traditional and modern elements. A walk through his accounts opens our eyes to new designers in the territory who, like him, are ambitious and are serious about bringing out novelties and being up to date.
Since last May, this young man who lives in Leioa has been working on different photo sessions for his online magazine, which he hopes will one day come to print. He remembers with special affection a job with the designer Valeria Irisarri, when she was moved to see how the models arrived by taxi at her studio, already dressed and made up. “All the sessions are different, and they are usually a lot of fun. With Yuka Wet we were discovered to cover the studio with pieces of plastic to take photos of the models on a motorcycle and not stain the floor. But it turned out that the wheels were non-marking and we ended up using the plastic as a see-through dress,” he recalls.
‘Nad Magazine’ is, without a doubt, his most ambitious project, and in which he commits all his free hours to create a web page before December in which to upload all his photography and fashion content. “My goal is to release two numbers a year and that they be collectible editions,” he says, excited about his project. Eneko has a longer-term dream of setting up his own photography studio one day, and he recognizes that to achieve this he will be open to any collaboration that may arise along the way. And although it is still early to reveal anything, he will soon announce an exhibition that he has carried out with 15 new designers that can be visited in different spaces in Bilbao.