For my 4^th class exercise, I have decided to complete an informational interview with a professional in a field of media arts that I find very interesting.

I have always been interested in photography, and this is what has drawn me to taking the ‘Intro to Media Arts’ class this term. Therefore, I appropriately elected to nominate a photographer from my hometown to participate in my interview; Claudia Albuquerque.

I have known this photographer for a long while as she has previously taken photos of my family and I, in the form of portraits or even group family photos in various environments. Having known her made the process of requesting the interview more manageable. The most difficult obstacle to my interview was the fact that she lives overseas, but was gracious enough to agree to a Skype video call in order to accomplish this task.

Due to the fact that we were familiar with each other, the interview started out very comfortably, simply catching up with each other. Once that initial stage was done, we were ready to begin the real questions.

I proceeded to asking her more detailed questions about her involvement in photography throughout her life, and what lead her to that point of deciding to become a full time photographer. Funnily enough, she reported to me that at a younger age she was not as interested as one might have thought. She confessed that she had, in fact, not taken many photography or media arts classes throughout her schooling life; being much more involved in the business world initially, going for a business degree. Although, in her words, she “was constantly drawn to the more creative side of life, there was always something that caught my eye, leaving me with a feeling of awe, and a desire to capture that moment forever”. I suppose through that feeling, she always somehow felt incomplete because she was more focused on something else. Interestingly, that sparked a feeling for me as well, as I have always been interested in the arts but never took the time to pursue it until now.

We discussed these ideas and similarities that I felt we have. She did confirm for me, however, that her business education was “invaluable” for her photography career as it enabled her to actually create her own photography company and work as a freelancer, giving her more freedom than she would have had anywhere else. She urged me to continue taking business classes as well, as they would serve me very well no matter what field I decided to pursue.

We conversed about various aspects of her style of photography and the different tools she used to complete her work. However, the fact that I knew her meant that I was familiar with her style of work and therefore did not need to go into too much detail into that. Once I realized the similarities between us, I felt very interested in her mental process leading up to that point and how she went about modifying her mindset; this is because of my similar state of mind, a feeling of being at a cross road in life and needing to chose a path.

I found this exercise to be surprisingly enlightening. I was not expecting the interview to prompt a feeling that allowed me to properly question my own mindset and path that I am pursuing in life. I was slightly astonished at myself, but was happy to see that I started thinking in a different way following this interview.

I would like to thank Claudia Albuquerque for her agreement in participating in this interview and enabling me to view things in a way that I had not been able to before.

*(THE PICTURES INCLUDED ARE EXAMPLES OF WORK DONE BY CLAUDIA ALBUQUERQUE)*