Anatomy of a photograph by Zuzu Valla

The series ''In The Bath'' came into my mind one day when I was walking home from town, feeling weary of life and the weather.
Anatomy of a photograph | Zuzu Valla

Magazine

Our printed editions, circulating throughout various galleries, festivals and agencies are dipped in creativity.

The spirit of DODHO’s printed edition is first and foremost an opportunity to connect with a photographic audience that values the beauty of print and those photographers exhibited within the pages of this magazine.

We invite professional and amateur photographers from all around the world to share their work in our printed edition.

https://www.dodho.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/ban28.jpg

I came to photography almost by accident in my late twenties, and in the few years since that time, it has transformed my life.

My grandfather was a keen amateur photographer, shooting in black and white, and growing up I always enjoyed his pictures, without knowing it would one day become my passion. My grandmother also created colour paintings from his photos, which I helped her with as a child. Yet despite this early introduction to photography, I thought of it as something where I admired other people’s work, never thinking that one day l would follow in my grandparents’ footsteps.

For most of my young adult life, I enjoyed taking pictures of everyday moments using a mobile phone. Because I couldn’t find a phone with good quality at that time, I decided to buy a camera and from that day, my 29th birthday, I was born again.For the first month I felt intimidated by the camera and its complex functions, so I hid it under my bed, only sometimes taking it out to open the box, look at it, and put it away again. Luckily my house mate, also a photographer, pushed me to try. So I began, and since then I have never stopped.From that day photography has taken over my life. I think about it all the time, and am continually finding new inspiration all around me. Often this comes from the people I meet through my daily life, many of whom have become models for me.

For me the main driver of my photography is my own melancholic personality, which I try to keep hidden in public.This is reflected in the subdued, subtle and tender atmosphere of my favorite pictures. I want to celebrate womanhood and the less obvious aspects of feminine beauty, the calm between the smiles. I have a special fascination with photographing the female back, allowing the posture and body language to tell its own story. In my pictures, the face is often unseen or only partially visible, meaning the observer can only guess the mood of the subject. I like catching the atmosphere of a moment which will never happen again, where beauty and softness meets pain and sadness.My work is gaining an increasing audience both online and in physical galleries, and I am excited to keep growing and developing my craft in the years to come. I aim to be published regularly in quality magazines, while continuing my own personal creative projects. [Official Website]

Can you explain us the idea or the story behind this image?

The series ”In The Bath” came into my mind one day when I was walking home from town, feeling weary of life and the weather.

It was one of those occasional days when I fall deep down into a melancholy mood, and everything felt cloudy and sad. All I wanted was a nice hot bath, with lavender oil. As I walked down the street I started to imagine how it would be deeply breathing in and enjoying that beautiful aroma giving a little relief to my spirit.

An idea started growing when I passed my favourite cherry tree. In my head I started choosing models, flowers, poses. I was so excited about bringing together my love for flowers with my passion for women photography into the bath.

This combination is perfect, allowing me to express the similarity between women and flowers. Flowers can be tender, soft and sweet-smelling, sometimes untouchable like roses with their thorns. Women can be just like flowers. Some women are wild like roses, bold and sensual, soft and gentle, but sometimes dangerous at the same time. Like women’s emotions, bathing can be functional or more deeply layered and complex.

Specifically, this photo was created when my friend, called me and asked if I can do some marketing photos for her hand made jewellery. I was planning to do this photoshoot and I decided to combine it and see what happen.

Can you explain us what equipment you used for its realization?

For this photo l used my old camera Canon 500D, and 50mm 1.8 lens. I used natural light.

Tell us how it is taken from the most technical aspect.

I used natural light which was going from the right side. The window was quite small, so it was a bit difficult with another people in the very small room, so they have to move to one corner, so I had enough light. I used special Cleopatraís powder and milk to change the water colour. Flower in this shoot I hand picked with my husband night before near to our house in the rain. We had a fun, I am glad he is crazy as me and helping me with everything.

What problems and challenges did you face when you took the shot of this image?

The biggest problem is that 50mm lens with my old 500D camera cut everything around and give you very little space to take a picture in the small space. I’ve had to be standing on the edge of the bath. The model canít go any deeper as the picture would look completely different. Plus the light was bit dark in the small room and was very hot there too. Laugh.

We are talking about the postproduction process. How do you get the final result?

Believe me or not, I am not using Photoshop or Lightroom and I never did. Only for changing sizes and small things like that. I am using online Photo Editors, where I just sharp pictures as I need, brush what I donít need and add filters.

Other Stories

stay in touch
Join our mailing list and we'll keep you up to date with all the latest stories, opportunities, calls and more.
We use Sendinblue as our marketing platform. By Clicking below to submit this form, you acknowledge that the information you provided will be transferred to Sendinblue for processing in accordance with their terms of use
We’d love to
Thank you for subscribing!
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted.
- Between 10/30 images of your best images, in case your project contains a greater number of images which are part of the same indivisible body of work will also be accepted. You must send the images in jpg format to 1200px and 72dpi and quality 9. (No borders or watermarks)
- A short biography along with your photograph. (It must be written in the third person)
- Title and full text of the project with a minimum length of 300 words. (Texts with lesser number of words will not be accepted)
This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Contact
How can we help? Got an idea or something you'd like share? Please use the adjacent form, or contact contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.
Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
Get in Touch
How can we help? Do you have an idea or something you'd like to share? Please use the form provided, or contact us at contact@dodho.com
Thank You. We will contact you as soon as possible.