Trends in Photography and Graphic Design in the 1990's: TRENDS in PHOTOGRAPHY: Milton MONTENEGRO (Brazil)

RS: You started very early with computers and photography; how much of your work is digital now?
MM: For many years I thought it would eventually be the role of a commercial photographer to digitally manipulate all of his work. I reckoned then that by now I would be delivering digital files to the ad agencies instead of transparencies. That is not what happened, at least not in Brazil. It seems that advertising agencies and designers together with the printing bureaux, will do the final touch on photographic images, due to the necessary tight adjustments to the layout and final artwork. In short, nowadays I produce much less digital work than a few years ago.

RS: How big is your studio and how many people are working there?
MM: For about fifteen years I had a fully-equipped studio with ten people working. I gave it up three or four years ago in order to emphasise the production of my own personal work. Since then I have been downsizing all the equipment I need for commercial assignments and today I use rented studios and hire freelance producers and assistants.

RS: You seem to be a very busy man?
MM: Well, I wouldn’t mind if days had 36 hours. I have my commercial studio and have to keep an eye on my personal work at the same time.

RS: Tell us more about the book, how did that start? Where is it available?
MM: For many years I wanted to compile my personal work. There were old transparencies which were losing their colour and to have them printed was a way of preserving them. Furthermore I think books are the best way to look at photographs. ‘Camera Obscura’ is available at www.amazon.com.

RS: You are well presented on the www, do you get business from it?
MM: No, I wouldn’t say I get business from it, but rather do business with it.

RS: I noticed you are working for PhotoDisk, an online stock agency, do you think it is a good idea for professional photographers to sell their work this way?
MM: The stock photo market is an inevitable reality and the demand for low cost instantly available images will grow even bigger. Furthermore I think photographers should pay attention to the fact that an online agency such as PhotoDisk is capable of selling their work in an amazing global scale.

RS: Infrastructure of ad agencies and designers seems to be a little different in Brazil from Europe or the US? Are you aware of that?
MM: Oops, I think I will learn about that when the Trends book is ready :-)

RS: One of the things photographers have on their wishlist, is to be involved in the design-process as early as possible. How is that in Brazil?
MM: Sorry, Robert, I’m afraid I did not quite understand this question.

RS: Do you sell your work as art, internationally as well?
MM: That is my main desire, to be able to make a living from my personal projects. Unfortunately this is not possible, at least not at the present moment. Anyway I keep developing my personal photography and I do have a number of galleries in Brazil and the USA representing my work.

RS: What about digital printing?
MM: Recently I had some black & white digital images output by a service bureau in New York in a process called Quadtone. It is done on an Iris printer and they replace the colour inks by three shades of grey plus black. The result is magnificent and I think very soon we shall see further improvements in digital output as a competitive alternative to traditional printing.

RS: Plans for the future?
MM: I am sketching some layouts for a series of photographs paying tribute to the comic strips which, along with cinema, had a strong influence on my work.

name: Milton Montenegro (1954)
training: self-taught

publications: Iris, Photo Camera, Fotoptica (Brazil); Zoom, Pixel, B.à.T. (France); Novum Gebrauchgraphik (Germany); La Fotografia (Spain); Print, Verbum, Leonardo (U.S.A.); Pic, Hot Shoe (England); Foto Professionale (Italy); Foto Mundo (Argentina).

collections: Pirelli/MASP (Brazil), Coleção Joaquim Paiva (Brazil), Musée Français de la Photographie (France), Fondazione Italiana per la Fotografia (Italy).
www.cameraobscura.com

links:
teppertakayamafinearts.com/milton_montenegro/milton_montenegro_bio.htm
www.sp-arte.com