Introduction

Welcome back to yet another issue of Talent-Interviews! Aimed to be featured each first weekend of the month to showcase the Talent of the month, Talent-Interviews will... Yes, Interview our Talent and find out a little more about him/her!

This monthly issue is also tied to 'Talent-Scope', a concurrent issue featuring amazing Talents each month.

This month's Talent of the month!

It's simply amazing how we've seen Talent-Scope and Talent-Interviews has grown over the past 2 issues and we're not stopping here!

This month's Talent-Interviewee is, better than ever, a well-known favourite in the community.

Famous for her inspiring periodic News Photojournalism Articles, this half of the Bonnie and Clyde duo has been more than incredible in her works from the time she started being a Gallery Moderator for Artistic Nudes, til present where she moderates the Photojournalism Gallery with ^estudio

Guessed who yet? Ladies and Gentlemen, Put your hands together for the one and only, the world-reknown, heart of all photojourn beauty... The incredible ^Helewidis!!!!


Talent-Interview


We're so glad to have you on board today ^Helewidis! May i inject what a blistering HONOUR it is to have a wonderful personality like you join us today in our humble article!

Now Let's do the usual thing and find out a little more with some personal details!

My name is Eloísa Valdes, I’m 23 years old and I am a female (although sometimes I have what some would call boyish attitudes – I say some, because I don’t believe in gender specific personality).

Hi Eloísa! Now, we're twiddling our thumbs and crossing our fingers hoping people realise your amazing presence in dA as a gallery moderator for photojournalism! How has it been this whole time you've been here as an authoritative moderator calling the shots?

OMG! Not authoritative!!! Do I sound like that?
Tell me, is it the Bonnie & Clyde thing?
I’m really approachable and friendly... and don’t bite, unless you want me too...

(oh my, emotes overload!)

Ok, now seriously then, it has its ups and downs and even after more than a year I sometimes mess up, but I think that’s only natural, I am not a machine. I am really enjoying being a GM. I think people are already realizing that I’m with photojournalism, now that some months have passed. I notice it in the number of DD suggestions I am getting (they are growing in my notes folder lately – but don’t worry, I read them all). I also noticed that since I started to do the P.J interviews that more and more journos have been approaching me, like yourself, so this is something to keep up, for sure! I wouldn’t, however, consider my presence amazing. No, this is not false modesty – I don’t do that. I’m just picky with myself the way I am with DDs. I want to raise the bar of quality – and then keep raising higher and higher. And this is not just with DDs, but with all I do and the projects I have, most with Evan (a.k.a ^estudio )

I am still in warm up mode. I was starting to “get there” and do what I really want to do when my laptop battery died on me, and now I have less internet time, so I had to slow down again, but in July I believe I’ll do more and better. I have some plans for P.J activities during the whole summer and I believe that then I’ll be able to get more in touch with the P.J community than what I have so far.

Why worry about it? Because I believe a GM is not only a person who chooses DDs, but first and foremost that is approachable and in tight contact with whom the GM represents. In my case, the Photojournalism Gallery aka, the Journos community.



Whoa... that was insanely expressive and detailed for our guests! How then, has being a GM made an impact on your works?

It made me become pickier in relation to what I do, both online and offline, towards photography. Personally, I think being a GM of whichever gallery will bring you something within the nature of personal growth. With Artistic Nudes, I learned to deal with “dArama” concerning the porn vs art debate among others, and I also ended up becoming a nude model (for a trad art group that has been interviewed for national tv recently) myself (in fact, I just came from a session right now).

It made me realize a lot of the effort behind a nude photograph and respect even more the models to whom I’ll always be indebted for inspiration – both for poses and attitude. I have learned a lot with them. With the photographers too, but I got really surprised with what I learned from the models! Please don’t hit me, AND photographers, I love you big time! <3

Now, referring to photojournalism Gm-ness, the impact is apparently less seen in my offline life (but it is there too), because I was already doing photojournalism before. Regarding dA’s-specific Journos life I am much indebted towards Evan(^estudio), who taught me a lot – by words, but not only: actions have a lot of weight! I am also slowly becoming indebted to the whole community due to its capability of sharing. It still amazes me when I ask a journo to be interviewed by me and they say yes. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that feeling – and I’m happy thinking it’ll be that way. I love getting excited because a photojournalist I admire said yes to me! I get all hyped up like a kid in a candy store! <- (like that emote!)

It made me appreciate the candidness of a photo even more than I did, and relate constantly to the code of ethics, particularly the point where it says that a photo must not be manipulated. I have become more and more adept of the "purist" scene, and I get goosebumps whenever I see a photo with textures within photojournalism! xD In this aspect the impact of being a P.J GM is immediately translated into a serious critic attitude towards photography. Every time I go to a photo exhibit and my partner asks me what I think about it I start a monologue about how the photo looks staged (or not), how the light could have been better used, etc, etc... People around me by then must sometimes think I am one of those “critics” who don’t like anything but their own work, but this isn’t true. I also am my very own critic and there are very few works of mine that I’m fully satisfied with. In that sense, I am fair and consistent – or so I like to think.

I think, however, the most extreme lesson (specificly dA-related, but not only) I’ve taken – and it was very recently – is about the way I conduct the interviews I do. When I was a GM for Art Nudes I’d have a basic set of questions and wouldn’t go further (there are 2 exceptions to this rule, tho). Now, ever since I got Evan’s input regarding interviews, I have a basic set of questions that I deem are interesting enough to keep up with, but then I make 2 or more new ones, specifically for each interviewee based on their replies. Due to time and internet (and now battery) constraints I can’t do them in real time in a chat or phone, but if I ever get that chance (i.e. have a proper internet) I’ll turn those interviews into the next level. I have found that can be much more exciting, because some months ago me and Evan made a sort of “chat night” with some journos and we were there for hours – never a dull moment! For them out there: I’ll work on the article as soon as I finish my exams, sorry for being late!

And now, IRL, I am going to interview some people very soon, one of which is an ex-reporter for a national tv. I’m all hyped up and I prolly wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t for the practice I get out of being a P.J GM ! So there you go, more impact!


You're on fire Eloísa! And I totally dig what you've shared so far! A popular question everyone might want to know for sure though, is how many photos do you come across each day when selecting DDs and do they go up immediately? Is there a waiting time or selection process? - There seems to be a misconception that being a GM is smooth sailing. Any hard time's you've had while moderating?

Oh my, the DDs... Well, the DD suggestions are growing fast, especially in the last months. I believe that the community started to send them more to me due to Evan’s internet and pc issues (that I believe are settled now! Woohoo!!) that disabled him from posting DDs for quite a while. I get about 3 dd suggestions per day, sometimes more, other less, but if I let it still for a month I’ll have about 90 per month. The thing is... most of them are not DD-able. The main reason is because the artist was already featured by me (and no, I don’t repeat! I think we have so many good journos in dA that if I went repeating them in DDs it wouldn’t be fair for the others who never got one from me). The second main reason is because another GM has recently DDed the same artist. I lost count on the DDs I had to delay due to that! Then, the third main reason they don’t get accepted is because they’re miscats or not even within the P.J gallery – I also lost count on the number of DD suggestions I forwarded to another GM...

Now, to really answer your question: Tons! I don’t rely on DD suggestions for my DDs. I am not waiting for DD suggestions so I can feature something. Most of them were picked by me while I was browsing the gallery (and I browse a lot!!!). Some of those are in a collection I made called Great Photojournalism. You can notice which ones, because when they get a DD I also place them in the DDs collection. Then, sometimes I get DD suggs of photos that were already in the Great P.J collection. When that happens I usually ask the suggester for a write-up and feature it very quickly (unless it is within one of the 2 main reasons why I don’t DD something, of course) – it depends on how my schedule is (I have an excel sheet for them organized by days of the month and the subcategories, because I want to be fair in the DDs concerning the whole gallery representation), but unless I have to delay it due to reason number 2 it’ll be up within 2 weeks, sometimes even less, like 2 or 3 days after I read it. I also want to say, regarding this, that I have a “system”. I usually wait for the DD suggs to pile up to a minimum of 20 notes, so I can sit for an hour and read them all and then start to compare them with each other; it is my way of keeping the quality bar raised. I usually end up with 1 to 3 DDs to feature after this process, and it usually happens one day a week.

Since I moved onto photojournalism it has been way smoother than when I was with the Artistic Nudes, but there’s still sometimes issues. Luckily my previous experience with the ArtNudes taught me how to deal with them in a much better fashion. I think my sanity these days is very much in debt towards that first year of GM. Also, I sense I am talking about that previous experience a lot, I have to put this clear: I will always love Art Nudes!
I am however, happily married with the P.J gallery now! (Oh hai thar!)



Oh you flirtatious one! Tell us a little about Evan, Your accomplice ^estudio. How's working with him like?

Working with Evan ^estudio is almost like having another lunatic like yourself, only male and in a completely different timezone! I already had some touch with Evan before I moved onto PhotoJournalism, but I never knew how enthusiastic he really was – we can talk for hours (if we are both without any internet issues) and come up with plans and projects all the time! He is very supportive and truly an example to follow. It is heaven to work with Evan – I think his parents came up with the very right name for him: Evangeliss – he’s trully a bliss of an Evan!



That's simply great to hear that! But coming back to the moderator's topic, where on earth do you dig to find all the latest photojournalism scoops, digs, information and awards for your news articles which happen ever so often?!

Hehe... Well, if I told you I would get “out of work”!
Ok, ok... As you can see, I give credit to whoever points me out links. I have at least 5 of them that were linked to me by note or mail. You can do that! Anyone can! If I find it will be appreciated by everyone I’ll “news-it”and credit you for the finding! I can remember some of the “habituées” in that matter, like ~v00d00ciTa, =lewicka and =Bamsen ( I <3 them big tiem!). Apart from that, I come across those links when I’m doing research for articles or ideas for future projects and others that are a W.I.P. I also use StumbleUpon sometimes when I’m bored and due to my calibration of my SU account, I always end up getting a P.J related page sometime. When I find it interesting I share!



Thank for sharing that little sikrit with us! Now for some lighter topics so our poor audience doesn't get flooded and confused!

You had a poll on your page asking who you'd ask to autograph in dA. so who would YOU ask to have an autograph from?

Oh my... I didn’t answer my own poll and nobody else asked me and now you did! *faints again, drinks water... breathes...*

I’d ask an autograph from... `anthonyasael

I mean, the man is a legend! And his works? Have you seen them? Aha! Who hasn’t? And the work he does with the Art in All of Us all around the world? He’s living the dream! I went to Anthropology to be able to travel like he does! It makes me think why didn’t I thought of the same!? I got so touched by his work that I volunteered for AiA too, for translations! And I don’t know if you know this, but I’m very busy with dA, uni and other projects already! AiA touched me so hard that I managed to get some time for it!



Whoa he's good! I'm definitely blown away here and I'm certain our readers are too! But even for a gallery moderator as yourself, there also has to be an inspiration apart from a favourite. Who inspires you here on dA and Why?

Ah! There are so many!!! I mean, there are also so many kinds of inspiration! I remember one of the first persons in dA that inspired me being `garrit - he was the first GM I ever had contact with and he had a lot of impact on my dA life, and the same for `arachnid15 with whom I worked with last year within the Artistic Nudes gallery. They both inspired me greatly concerning dA – I believe that without them my dA life would be completely different. I prolly wouldn’t even be here now, as a GM!

Another person who inspires me greatly is also a GM, ^snowmask aka Katie. Katie’s paintings are exquisite and delicate and filled with stories. I can stare for hours at one of her paintings and write a story and imagine it vividly in my mind... She knows!...
the painting:

And then, there’s even more people... I could be here for hours naming deviants that one way or the other changed my life. They know who they are, and most of them are listed in my “thank you’s wall” in my userpage in a custom module (which btw, needs an update). Some helped me greatly when I was down and in need of a pair of ears (eyes?) like `skifi, others entertained me and inspired me to be a better deviant, like `arwenita and `insaneone and many, many, many more...! Others helped me and the 44kittens – and we will always be in debt to them! And others gave me critique!!

Oh my god, yes!!! THANK YOU!!! If it wasn’t for the critiques I got (and started to get again thanks to the new critique system! Yay!!) when I joined dA I wouldn’t have got so much involved with the community in the first place – and wouldn’t be so much into photography either (I started as a Lit member – only because it was in Portuguese the audience was very limited). I recall ~utarefson670 since my first days in dA, he would give me the most in-depth comments back then, and he also did my first animated-Helewidis avatar, that now evolved to my current one, but it all started there, with the one you can now see in ~Helewidis-stocks.

The list in endless, but I’d like to end my answer to this question with `dualdesigns - she died recently. I was part of the CoF aka =Circleoffriends and a moderator there too. I don’t think she ever knew, but being in CoF helping people in need of a friend changed my life and helped me a lot too. It also inspired me and guides my daily activity both in dA and outside dA. The “In Need of Luuurve”section of my 2007 and 2008 journals was greatly inspired by CoF – and now it is called “api Chulo”, the pimpage journal, but the principle is still the same, only wider. She was a light in here!



Oh dear... it's really sad to hear each time a close one leaves us. But also knowing that anyone we meet could be such inspirations to us.

But hey! Before the rest of our readers who have short-attention spans die of the lack of focus,

We need to ask the all famous random question!!!

If you had ten thousand dollars, what would you spend it on, down to the last cent?!

If I had that much money I’d first need to make a conversion to euros in order to understand how much money it was! xD Then, I’d divide it and give 60% of it to my mom and brother to manage, with instructions for them to take care of the kittens with that money too (you know, besides paying the bills, etc), maybe even building a proper “kitten country” and hire a vet just for them, like I’ve seen once in the news , 10% to my grandma (I don’t know where we would be without her) and then I’d put 15% in a bank account for emergencies and use the remaining 15% to travel around the world and meet up some deviants while photographing, having fun, etc, etc, etc...

Oh, and I’d buy a new battery for my laptop and a lensbaby and the canvas (the original, yes) painting of a work that ^snowmask made some time ago. I tell ya, I’m obssessed by it! If I had money I’d make a money offer to Katie and see if I could have it...


alright then Eloísa! Lastly, before we go, is there anything you'd like to say?

I’m tired! And if you read this till the end without fainting , you deserve a cookie:



Talent-Features

That was a moment of brilliance!
The model of all photojournalists and guiding light to the rest of the genre, it's time we gave some attention back to the noble, humble and self-sacrificing ^Helewidis! An ovation for her please!






This issue was brought to you by =Timothy-Sim
Look out for this month's Talent-Scope #3 in a bit!

Other Issues:
Talent-Scope - Issue #1
Talent-Interviews - Issue #1
Talent-Scope - Issue #2
Talent-Interviews - Issue #2

Join us as well in the dAmn chats at #TalentScope

See you next month!