Eerie edits Creative collaboration
Carla DLM tells us about the fantastical feeling she created in these images, captured by her collaborator Aidan Sartin Conte
For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed creating unusual things in my mind. This is particularly true when it comes to my photography. I like to perceive what surrounds me through the filter of my imagination. I am amazed by the limitless inspiration that the world can offer, but what seduces me is the possibility of transforming it. Through photography and digital editing, I aim to deconstruct the world around us to create a new reality.
This picture belongs to a series called Capture, which I’m working on with Aidan Sartin Conte, an Italian photographer based in Washington DC. Aidan took the original photography, which is of the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy. I then used Aidan’s images as a springboard for my imagination.
Together, we are collaborating on two different series: Suburban Reminiscences and Capture. We are both artists who love to create unusual things, so joining our ideas felt natural.
Capture is a beautiful series that was born spontaneously, without any prior planning. In this series, Aidan takes the pictures and I transform them using my signature style. Aidan becomes the eye, and I turn into the mind or soul. The pictures in this series were taken throughout Italy, but the idea is to extend the concept to cities in Spain, USA and beyond.
When I see something that calls my attention, I start working on it and let my imagination fly. I don’t stop until I obtain the desired result. Because of this, this type of processing can take me days or even weeks to finish a single image.
I am on a constant quest for new photographic techniques, and I have a wide range of styles. I experiment with surrealism and abstraction, and am passionate about their interplay with detail. The pervasive tension between these two elements underlies many of my works and transmits an exquisite dreamy and eerie balance between chaos and beauty.
When you do something with love, passion and dedication, everything is possible; even the most impossible idea can become real.