Rising Light is an article series highlighting promising photography students from all over the world. This month we introduce Angelique Ambrosio at School of Visual Arts in NYC.
Part of making it as a photographer is finding a style that sets you apart from the rest of the pack. Some photographers find their stylistic niche early on, some later, and some never. Angelique Ambrosio is the first kind.
True, she’s been taking pictures since her high school days back in Wisconsin, including a stint in a local commercial photo studio, but when she graduates from the School of Visual Arts in NYC she will be leaving with a portfolio of photographs that individually and collectively share a unique signature style.
Angelique chose SVA partly because of its location. After all, if you’re going to make it as a professional photographer with a specialty in post-production, you need to be where the work is. The fact SVA has a terrific faculty doesn’t hurt either.
Her photographs are graphically bold with few, if any, extraneous visual elements within the frame lines. The boundaries between positive and negative spaces are clearly defined and the influence of Eastern design esthetics is evident throughout her work.
For influence, Angelique Ambrosio studies paintings and is also a big fan of the work of photographer Jill Greenberg and Graeme Montgomery, who serves as her teacher and advisor at SVA.
Angelique loves light and her work clearly reflects the relationship between highlights and shadows. Equally proficient in both color and black-and-white, Angelique prefers lighting her subjects with what she refers to as “real life light”.
Angelique has been able to greatly expand her lighting skills while attending SVA and has grown particularly fond of Profoto Pro-7a Studio Generator and ProHead Plus to light her studio work.
“Lighting is the language of light. Light is what gives the image its ‘voice’. It provides a sense of emotion – it allows you to express your vision.”
She makes good use of hard shadows in many of her still life photographs, often relying on Zoom Reflectors with or without Grid 180mm. As for her favorite Light Shaping Tool, the jury is still out. She claims she hasn’t exhausted the possibilities of the Profoto gear in the school’s equipment locker yet. No doubt, Profoto Softlight Reflector, WideZoom Reflector and TeleZoom Reflector, RFi Softboxes, and ProRing Plus will be finding their way into her toolbox.
Even on set, Angelique works methodically. Her still life setups are meticulously assembled one piece at a time and lit one light a time. Even her more complex still life photos have a simplistic feel about them. Though simple isn’t quite the word you would use to describe them.
A longtime Canon shooter, Angelique recently switched to a Sony A7II system. As for lenses, she’s most at home with a 24-70mm/f2.8 – a very capable lens that’s available for just about every pro camera system made.
Looking forward Angelique Ambrosio is open to most any and all creative opportunities. The only qualifier is that anybody she works with better be as fastidious and detail oriented as she is.
Photographer: Angelique Ambrosio
School: School of Visual Arts, NYC
Profoto gear of choice: Pro-7a Studio Generator
Visit her website: www.angeliqueambrosio.com
