Follow me again, for this tour in the form of images the scene photographer Celia Carmo.
Since childhood I have always had the need to express myself. The arts always caught my attention, since the age of five, but what I really liked was the cinema. I never said anything to anyone because it was something almost unattainable for a girl who lived on an island. The seventh art has always touched me, because I always needed to express my affections, to show this more emotional side of life.
At 18 I started telling my family that I would be movie director. I looked at myself as a conductor, he had to learn to play all the instruments in order to conduct an orchestra. I understood that I had to learn all areas intrinsic to the cinema to stimulate the dream, after I got in touch with Orson Wells who was also from the theater.
I went to Porto, where I joined the contemporary performances academy in the course of light design. It was something that interest me greatly, have always fascinated me the environments created in the movie and the lighting is fundamental. Worked on several shows in the city, because there were teachers who asked for our help to the plays of their respective companies. My weekend consisted on creating sounding and stage lighting. Once this stage of learning was over, the photo appears soon after. I decided I had to take a course by my growing love for the image, in the Portuguese Institute of Photography. It was there that I found my true calling, I realized I could express myself through images, in particular, in the laboratory, where everything came alive.
My first scene photography exhibition takes place in 2002, with the images of the play "Metamorphosis" by Kafka, in the Rivoli Theatre. Were photographs with movement, had a very documental side, but of course, always with a more personal look, very much mine. Later, my colleagues who knew my work started calling me to photograph the stage setup, the backstage and the premieres of their shows. That's how it happened ...
When I returned to Madeira, entered the Conservatory and took the course of interpretation. I thought it was important to realize what it was to be an actor. Always been shy, but I felt this need and I noticed that I gained a greater sensitivity to my body and the various forms of expression. In 2006, I designed photography work staged, staged a show that connected all I had learned, both as an actress, both in terms of light, sound and photography. It was a play of Sarah Kane, "4:48 Psychosis". A part of this avant-garde spectacle presented a series of slides, self-portraits, called "loneliness". I think theater is ideal to express the message, the emotion. That's what attracts me. Then there is the light, the actor and the movement. The first thing I do, is feel. There are scenes that move me to the core and this is the first impact, then there is a whole set that works. There is a line. I notice that everything is there.
Since then, I started working professionally for theater and dance companies on the island. From 2008 step to be the photographer of the experimental theater of Funchal until today. "Strip" is perchance one of the most striking works I've done for this company is almost recreating the universe of Almodovar, a theatrical side mixed with a taste of kitsch. Two years later, I become a founding member of a professional theater company, Metaphora, which had its debut in the play "The 7 kittens" of Nelson Rodrigues, where I do a little of everything, light design , photographer and actress / performer. In retrospect, my creative process remains instinctive. There are images that I do black and white and others that can only be color. Is not something I can identify, or point at, in that moment I just look and decide. Photography for me is still very emotional, I think later on technique and even re-shoot the same scene, but it is always the instinct that drives my will.
