Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Joel Torres.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My background is actually in fine arts. Painting, drawing and sketching. I went to art school for graphic design and illustration, and later fell onto photography on my own. I freelanced as a designer for a bit and then purchased both film and digital cameras so I could take my own images to manipulate in my design work. Clients and friends started noticing my work and asked me if I had ever thought about doing photography professionally. I laughed it off and said not at all. I’m colorblind and have “Photophobia” which is light sensitivity in my eyes apparently so it seems really silly for me to do professional photography work. Yet the more I shot the more I learned and fell in love with photography. I finally quit my job, told my clients I wasn’t doing design work anymore, only photography and so I got forwarded some projects right away because of that. Social media was starting to bloom at the time. So I constantly posted my work on Tumblr, Flickr and Facebook. I got published on a few web articles, blogs and print magazines and later got paid work by word of mouth because of it. I then fell onto wedding photography since many of my friends were getting married and having destination weddings. My personal love are portraits though. It’s much slower paced giving me more time to build a relationship with my subject, which allows me to capture better emotions in my images I think. It’s been about 10 years that I’ve been shooting full time now.
Please tell us about your art.
For some reason I’ve always loved dramatic chiaroscuro lighting from looking at Rembrandt and a few other painters. I love the drama and mood that it creates. Portraits were my favorite thing to draw growing up so I think it’s only natural I love photographing portraits. As mentioned earlier, I have color vision deficiency so it always made things seem like a bit of a handicap at first yet it forced me to concentrate on light and shadows versus color I think. I also try to capture vivid colors so that I can see them.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
Artists have always held an important role in helping the world see the beauty and tragedy of life. Yet right now more than in previous years, I think we as artists have a bigger responsibility in regards to communicating and promoting unity, empathy and love. We’re all different colors yet if we were to be colorblind, we’d see people for who they are and not for how they look. I try to capture the beauty I see in every one I meet no matter the nationality or color.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can see some of my work on my site:
www.Kolorblind.net
Instagram: @kolorblindisaac
Contact Info:
- Address: Chicago & Everywhere
- Website: www.Kolorblind.net
- Phone: 708.921.7521
- Email: itorres@kolorblind.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/kolorblindisaac
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kolorblind.net/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kolorblindisaac
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/kolorblindlove/
Image Credit:
Profile photo taken by Photographer: Jan Salazar IG: @JanSalaz
Models: Hattie Watson, Cristina Navarrete, Maddin Rodman, Stephanie A., Catherine McGregor, Scott Kawamoto
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
