Art & Life with Gina Baker

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gina Baker.

Gina, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My journey starts back in the 10th grade; I used to borrow a friend’s digital camera to take all kinds of pictures. I don’t know what it was that drew me to it but I’ve always loved taking pictures. I could never afford a camera of my own but I did get an iPod Touch, solely because it had a camera built in. I would then go forward and eventually buy an iPhone to use as my camera.

I actually picked up modeling first. Back in 2012, I was a broke student and looked into modeling to make a little cash on the side. When I got my first photo set back, I was blown away by how amazing the images looked, how amazing I felt, and so I wanted to do more. So I continued trying to pursue it for around a year. But then I ended up in a relationship with a controlling, abusive alcoholic, and one day he told me he knew “what really went on at those photoshoots” and I’d have to choose between him and modeling. So I quit modeling.

I picked it back up after I broke up with him 2 1/2 years later. I never wanted to give it up in the first place and knowing he never liked me doing it I jumped right back in weeks after returning to Arizona and never looked back. But I only very recently was given the opportunity to explore photographer; a friend of mine, happens to be a photographer, lent me his old Canon with a lens a couple of months ago and since then I’ve been playing around with shooting and editing and working on my craft.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I supply my own wardrobe and do my own makeup when I model at shoots. I try to match to location and I make decisions based on the kind of scene I want to set. You can take one location and create any kind of vibe if you have the wardrobe and makeup to create loads of different looks.

As for photography, I use a canon 60D with a 24-105mm lens at the moment. I do all of my editing in Lightroom. I’m newer to this side of the craft so I’ve been playing around with editing styles and figuring out what kind of overall look or vibe I’m going for. It’s been a really fun and challenging experience, and I’m always looking for new things to learn and apply.

Overall I just want the things I make to speak to people and make them feel a kind of way. It doesn’t even matter what that kind of way is. But I want my work to give people pause.

What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Look for and link up with Facebook groups. When I first started back in 2012 all I really had to go off of was scrounging the talent listings on Craigslist. But that part of the website has changed since then. I lucked out and met the photographer that introduced me to these groups, but the vast majority of work and connects have been landed through those Facebook groups. That, and just getting yourself to as large of an audience as you can on Instagram. Instagram has been the other app where I’ve had the best luck making connections.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
You can find my work on my respectful Instagram pages, @ginabmodeling and @ginabphotographing respectfully. I’ll be hopefully creating a website that’ll have everything combined into one portfolio and blog of sorts. And if you like my work, please contact me to set up a shoot!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/ginabmodeling
• Other: Instagram.com/ginabphotographing

Image Credit:
Photographers: Jay Estrada, Justin Villalobos, Anita McLeod Turner, Alyssa Pakes, Kerri Benigar, Poisoned Co. And Colby Caine is of Asylum C Photography.
Models: Ryan Warling, Caitlin Sass, Anita McLeod Turner, Eric Williams, myself

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