Eva Losada a.k.a. @Eva.Al.Desnudo, the British Fashion Awards’, ‘New Wave: creatives’ nominee, and global fashion week voyager, who has worked with Loewe, Yohji Yamamoto and Adidas Y3, discusses quitting your day job, and the creativity displayed in backstage coverage.
1. Before Eva Al Desnudo, your professional work history started with another profession, poles apart from what you do today. What was the transition from working as a food safety auditor up until this point.
I have always loved fashion and photography, I used to draw up designs when I was a teen and have always been taking photos for fun, but during that time in Spain, it was difficult to make a living with my interests, so I decided to study ‘Food Science and Technology’ and ‘Engineering’.
The stories of my aunt living in London in the 80’s inspired me to move here. In London, I took up some courses in styling and started to go to London’s Fashion Weeks’ to feel the atmosphere.
I brought my camera along to take some photos for fun, I was super shy in the beginning. Soon after starting, a magazine from London contacted me through Instagram, asking if they could publish my images. I was surprised, this was when I realized I wanted to do this more, as many people were telling me my photos were good. The season after, I was covering London Fashion Week street style for Bullett magazine (NYC) and L’Officiel Manila. Using the holidays from my day job, I decided to go to Paris Fashion Week.
Quite soon after that, a season later, I found myself working for Highsnobiety magazine, who I am still a regular contributor to. They believed in me since the very beginning, I will always be thankful for their support.
It was becoming more challenging to use my holidays from my day job as a food auditor to travel to NYC, London and Paris. Quite soon into my career, I was confirmed to work with Highsnobiety on a regular basis to cover all the fashion weeks for them, this opportunity did not make me think twice about quitting my day job.
2. How do you define backstage photography?
Backstage, you are shooting models, the incredible styling and makeup is already there for you to capture, sometimes, especially smaller brands, photographers can have more freedom to move around and you can create amazing editorial like images.
I love to play with the resources available, be the most creative as possible and challenge myself. I usually shoot backstage without a flash as I like to play with shadows and the existing light on location, which sometimes can be a bit difficult, but always fun. Backstage, many people are working at the same time, with just a few minutes to have everything perfect, makeup, hair, styling, photographers, all this is happening, usually in a tiny space, which can also be challenging.
3. How much importance do you think considering skills, style and demeanour is when selecting a backstage photographer ?
I think it is very important, if you compare the same backstage coverage from various photographers, you can see the difference. In a small environment, with the same models, you cannot imagine the numerous styles of backstage coverage which could result from the shared situation, this is also the beautiful part of it. Some people shoot with flash, others use natural light, I like to shoot moody images, with strong shadows. Some photographers request the models to act natural, others want them to pose in a more traditional way, some others may ask them to smile, to be serious or moody. I love seeing the different perspectives and styles from photographers who are shooting the same subject and environment.
4. What personal rules do you follow when you’re shooting in an environment where a million-and-one things are going on behind-the-scenes?
I do not follow rules; I just follow my eye, as you said, a million things are happening so you need to be ‘awake’ to capture the right moment, you have to be fast and alert. I love to shoot the models getting their last details done in the line-up, as this is more natural, I also play around with the varied backgrounds available to capture different angles and scenes, on the other hand, it’s great when the brands set up an area for first looks with a clear background and good lighting, the result looks like an editorial shot in a studio.
5. You travel six months a year to shoot globally, besides London and Spain, where else in the world would you call home?
Definitely Tokyo, I can say this is the only city I feel very sad when leaving. I love the city, the best part is the people there, I am lucky to have a group of friends who take me out every day to the most amazing performances, parties and dinners, so the city definitely feels like home. I think the meaning of friendship is very similar to the Mediterranean one, so many times I feel more at home in Japan than in London. NYC is a bit the same, people are very friendly and they are open to meeting new people.
Interview and Words: Rebecca U @bec_u
Photos: Eva Al Desnudo