Miqui Brightside is a 20 something from Spain and shooting primarily with film. We noticed his photostream on Flickr and subsequently read many featured post on him on various websites. Miqui has not uploaded hundreds of images but all his photos catch our attention for their maturity, craft, composition, and raw beauty mostly associated with film photography. As with his name, the bright glow and grain of his photos is very captivating as is his individual style, creativity and ability to capture the moment in a masterly manner. There is a youthful exuberance prominent in his images with moments of fun, frolic and sport. Before moving onto our question section, we’d like this opportunity to request him to delve deeper into photography and bring to us more of his fantastic images more often. Now, the interview:

Hello Miqui, introduce yourself to our readers:

I was born in Madrid, Spain. Actually I’m living in Paris but all the years before I was still in Madrid finishing my studies in advertising, nothing related with photography but despite of it I liked it, I like the idea of being autodidact with the kind of things that you have to create by your own. With my hobbies it happened more or less like that, I’m enjoying to do stuff that is related with photography, as music or traveling. Different passions that are all together. That’s life.

How did you get into serious photography?

I started six years ago, in the summer of 2008. I wasn’t properly taking photos before but in that summer I got a camera with newspaper coupons, a little shitty camera I have to say! but with it I began to do serious stuff. That’s why today I’m more into photography, I’ve been working on it since long ago and I keep taking photos “for myself”, things that I just want to say, to express. The only problem is that working in photography at the same time doesn’t give you a lot of time for your own ideas so I keep taking series of five or seven photos per month.

What does photography mean to you?

Um, hard. I’d say that is a way to express yourself. Of course we all know that photography is almost always like that, but the thing with photography is that there’s a point when you’re expressing something that comes from deep inside you and you don’t even realize until you see the picture already done. I think that’s why I keep taking photos, not only because I work on it and I love photography, also because you can find yourself in some photographies.

What is the key area of your photography?

Keys areas are huge! I could say travel, but sometimes being in a place where you have been for years you just find something different, you see it with other eyes and you can find a photo out there, in the same place that you crossed everyday. That’s part of the decisive moment for me, the moment when you can look at something further than the habitual.

What has your photography brought to you so far?

I think that to work with GQ Magazine has been one of my biggest achievements. What I’ve learned in there is awesome. But despite of it I keep using my film camera and going with some friends to the streets. I use my reflex camera always with opened lenses, but I keep using film camera, and the reason is because I love it, all in film.

Explain your photographic approach and idea behind an image:

I think that to keep a good relation with the person that is in the photo is important. I’ve been shooting models but as I’ve said other times, I try to create a mood, and that mood is way much easier when you can easily connect with the person who is gonna appear in the photo. Once this step is done, the rest is just appearing for me, most of the times it happens at the same time that the photo-shoot is going on, everything is getting more clear and I guess that feelings are appearing, so there’s a moment when you see more clear what you want, and I think that at the end what you find is, as I say, what is inside of you.

What’s your take on current scenario of photography?

I don’t really know how different the style can be or how fast it moves. Of course there was a big change when digital photography came, but it was years ago. Now I don’t keep focus on who’s doing something that is working; contemporary photography may be something like that sometimes, find the point where you are good and go forward with it.

How has been your experience of shooting in Paris?

Well, being now in Paris is crazy. It’s a city where the places to shoot are there, “in the middle”. I’ve found plenty of photographers from fashion brands in everyplace, a door in a random street, close to the river, into the woods, etc. any place can be good in here, is awesome. But probably this is part of my vision with photography, yeah, there are some days when you just see places, photos, you keep walking and all that you find is a perfect image. I guess that the ambition is to get that image!

Tell us about your inspirations in photography and all such stuff:

I used to focus on different things for inspiring me, as music or other photographers. But these last years I just try to focus on the day a day. I keep listening music, traveling and checking works from other important photographers, but I try not to be obsessive or to remember names, parts. I just let it go and leave my mind work, that what keeps me motivated.

Anything you’d like to say to inspire young photographers:

I think that something that I’ve always kept on mind is that no one gives you anything. At the end there’s no success with a huge work before, but once you find what you love, you just have to let it grown in you.

Miqui Brightside links: Website * Flickr * Facebook * Twitter * Tumblr

Note: All images appearing in this post are the exclusive property of Miqui Brightside and protected under the International Copyright laws. Their copying and reproduction in any manner is strictly prohibited without the express permission of the owner.