Claudiu Guraliuc

Fine Art Photographer

Claudiu Guraliuc

Artists Biography

Claudiu Guraliuc is a fine art photographer, educator and NFT artist, based in Cluj, Romania.

He is a Master Photographer, holding the Associate distinction with The Master Photographers Association in the UK, and the distinction of Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain He`s been awarded numerous international accolades, in October 2020 receiving the Fine Art Photographer of the Year award, at the Master Photography Awards Gala in the UK, with an image part of his painterly, baroque-inspired series.

In January 2022, he received the International Master Photographer of the Year 2021 award, one of the top accolades in the industry. He was also presented with the Portrait and Fine Art Photographer of the Year awards, at the 38th Annual Master Photographers International Awards in the UK.

He had his work published by some of the largest circulation photography magazines and has artwork present in galleries, private collections and museums in Europe, Asia and United States.

Represented by the Katsea Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland, USA and Influx Gallery, Notting Hill, London Artwork: Cupid Chastised

Artists Satement

My work is first and foremost an attempt to translate the Old Masters aesthetic to the modern means of expression of photography. I know it`s a kind of mimetism. But I can stop loving it.

The 16th-17th century painting has always been close to my soul. I fell in love with the drama of Role

Fine Art Photographer

Location

Romania

Links

• Opensea Collection

chiaroscuro, the atmosphere and composition of the baroque paintings. Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Caravaggio....Only when I started to look at the work of these titans with the hungry eye of the photographer in search of an aesthetic to resonate with, did I really begin to see. This is when I truly felt that my work fulfills me creatively.

So, I started with simple portraits and a lot of questions. How the Old Masters would have done it? What would the lighting be? The color scheme? The expressions, the atmosphere?… How would it have made the viewer feel? From these “simple” portraits, I went to more elaborate series of images, usually of mythological or biblical inspiration, sometimes including a slight erotic twist to the mix, often working with professional actors to better bring my vision to life. This imagery is quintessential for my work and style.

At the end of the day, my images are about who I am, more than anything else. They're the product of my experience, memories, emotions, accomplishments, and trauma alike. Stories I saw with my eyes wide shut and fell in love with.

Artwork: Pentheus and the maenads

Artist Interview

Claudiu was invited to answer some questions so we can find out more about him and his work:

How did you first get into digital art?

I am a studio photographer. During the pandemic, clients were…let’s say scarce, so I started producing the images I've always wanted to but the commercial part of my job wouldn’t allow me. Images that made ME happy. That was the start of my artist career.

Why did you choose digital art as your medium? I just took the means of expression of digital photography and tried to recreate the painterly aesthetic I was drawn to.

What artistic styles are you particularly drawn to?

I am passionate about the baroque period in painting, especially what’s usually referred to as Dutch Golden Age.

As I mentioned, I was already shooting digital.

Tell us about the process you use to make your art.

For me, planning is the most important part of any photographic project. Good planning gets you the desired results much faster than otherwise and makes life easier both during the shoot and editing stages.

First, I try to answer the most basic of questions: What`s the message your images convey? How is the viewer supposed to feel?

I find it very hard to produce valuable images if you don’t have anything to say. So there has to be a message. An artistic photo will ALWAYS make the viewer feel something, feel a certain way.

For me, at least, photography is not about producing Xerox copies of reality. It’s not about what you see with your eyes. It`s about what you see with your mind. It`s about seeing the image in your head, falling in love with it, and giving it life with the tools of the trade: the camera AND postprocessing software.

Creating a mood board (lighting, posing, color palette, composition) can also be very useful and will be an excellent tool when you start styling the shot, lighting set-up, directing the models. In my case, as I mentioned before, the main inspiration was the work of some 17th-century painters, mostly Flemish and Dutch, so it`s easy to imagine how my mood board looked like. Tip: If you imagine a bunch of old art books, albums, print screens, and bookmarks in my browser, you are right.

I use the classical paintings as the starting point for styling, lighting, and posing (the more dramatic the better), and later on as a reference during the editing process.

For the models, I mostly used local actors. It makes life so much easier working with professionals as some of the poses and expressions would be very hard to obtain otherwise.

The props are usually pieces of fabric, a few white cotton bed sheets, some pillows, and some apple boxes and stools I have in my studio.

What inspires you?

I have a bit of an obsession with baroque painters. Especially Rembrandt, Velazquez, Caravaggio, Rubens, Vermeer. I draw my inspiration from their work. Claudiu Guraliuc is a fine art photographer, educator and NFT artist

What is your artistic motivation?

Love. I do it because I love doing it. Both the process and the results. It fulfills me. I can’t even see it as “work”. Its passion and joy.

Of all your images to date, which is your favourite and why?

I got to go with Pentheus and the Maenads. Its probably the most elaborate image I created, it took a LOT of work and I’m in love with the result. The international recognition it brought me lately is a wonderful bonus.

Which three words or phrases would you use to describe your work?

Painterly. Timeless. Melodramatic.

How do you think you’ve improved as an artist compared to when you first started?

The best part of the job is that I get to experiment and learn something new every day. So yes, I think I'm a better photographer, a better artist, a better educator than I was 3 years ago. Perhaps even a better person.

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to when you started making art?

Do what you love, and you will never have to work for one day in your life. Do it now, not tomorrow, not day after. I know is hard. But trust me, when you do something with love and put a small piece of yourself in everything you produce, there will always be a living to be made from that.

What devices/equipment do you use to create your art?

I work in a studio environment. So for me its cameras, lenses, studio lights, modifiers and a workstation I use for the postprocessing part.

Which apps/programs do you use to create your art and which are your favourites?

I do 99% of the work in Adobe Photoshop.

Do you use images from stock sites as well as your own photos and if so, which are your favourites and why?

Sometimes I use old paintings as backgrounds/overlays but for the rest its my own photos.

Do you find that people dismiss digital art as a valid art form?

If it makes you feel, its art. No matter the medium. Learn More

Website:

https://www.claudiuguraliuc. com/portraitsportfolio

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/ guraliucc/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ClaudiuGuraliuc

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ claudiu.guraliuc/