Ines Thomsen | Project "EWAKA": how photos make children's eyes light up
as part of our online Fototage
Ines Thomsen is an Austrian photographer and was born in Linz in 1984. She has been working internationally for several years, searching for unique, unseen and spectacular images for her clients in advertising, fashion and fine art. Since 2016, Ines Thomsen has also been part of the select circle of "FUJIFILM X-Photographers". She justifies her switch to the compact camera from FUJIFILM with the ideal combination of professionalism, quality and lightness. In this video, she talks about the "EWAKA" project.
Ines Thomsen - Fujifilm X-T2About Ines Thomsen
Ines Thomsen is not only concerned with technique, but much more with a positive, interpersonal "crackling" that arises between her, her subjects and her models. From this special field of tension, she succeeds in creating images that express the natural, unaffected & often unnoticed, profound beauty of a subject. Her motto: Everything has its beauty, but not everyone can see. Ines began her career for a deeply personal reason: A tumor diagnosis at the age of 23. The former flight attendant decided to give her life a new meaning and only do what she really enjoys. After her recovery, she attended the Prague School of Photography and international workshops with renowned photographers such as portrait guru Peter Hurley from New York. In addition to portrait, beauty, lifestyle and fashion photography, her specialties include working with children, which she describes as one of the supreme disciplines of people photography. Because anyone who manages to win a child's heart and capture their emotions and joy is up to the task, no matter how challenging the shoot. Listening, patience, understanding, fun and the highest standards are the values that characterize working with Ines.
Ines ThomsenNew perspectives with the Fujifilm system
"Thanks to the professional compact system from FUJIFILM, I take photos differently - much more freely and with less preconceptions - and gain new perspectives. This efficient technology with a lightweight, very stylish camera, the first-class sensor and electronic viewfinder also makes photography much more fun for me."
FOCUS ON THE ESSENTIALS!
This is one of the important lessons that Ines Thomsen would like to pass on in her presentation. Her tumor diagnosis at the age of 23 and the turbulent years that followed led Ines Thomsen to photography. "Photography saved me," is how she repeatedly and drastically puts it. So it's easy to understand why her heart and soul is always in projects where she can make a difference. One of these social responsibility projects is her work for EWAKA. At the beginning of 2019, she visited an EWAKA Foundation children's home in Uganda. Ewaka is an association that strives for social change and sustainable development through education, sport, dance, music and art. The association runs a children's home and an educational center in Jinja, Uganda. It supports disadvantaged children by working to improve their quality of life and health and by fulfilling educational and social tasks.
Ines ThomsenThe right equipment for the best results
In this lecture, Ines Thomsen shows a photo series of the children living in the home. She explains her approach from a photographic, technical and interpersonal point of view. It's about choosing the right location, selecting the right focal length and using the right flashes. And much more is about dealing with the children in front of the camera and the basic idea behind the project. The result is pictures that make children's eyes light up. And not just through the use of the flash, which creates a sparkle in their eyes, but also through the joy and pride that the children experience as a result.
