Photographer Nilangana Banerjee on Balancing Artistic Inspiration & Commercial Photography

Video September 24, 2020 P. L. McGroarty Leave a comment

One of the greatest challenges for a working artist is finding a balance between their commercial projects and their personal creative projects. Photographer Nilangana Banerjee, who’s originally from Mumbai, India but is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, is one of the rare individuals who has managed to establish an inspiring career as a successful commercial photographer who continues to produce powerful personal projects as well.

As a commercial photographer Banerjee has shot for massive brands including Forever21, Nordstrom, GLAM LA, Walmart, Urban Outfitters, Beauty Influence, Hanhoo, Masqueology, Ross, Olivia Care, Dr. Skin Feed and more. In between shooting for international clients, she is also the in-house photographer for the fashion brand Jill Roberts, as well as the beauty and lifestyle company Beauty Architects. At the same time Banerjee maintains a relentless level of dedication to shooting her personal creative projects, for which she’s gained extensive international praise.

For Banerjee, balancing a demanding commercial photography schedule and maintaining the energy and creativity to continue shooting her personal vision is all about time management and keeping the inspiration flowing.

“I read, research and undertake creative writing of the topics I want to work on in the near future, in order to line up my projects. This allows me to stay engaged and motivated to retain my creative edge and keep productive,” explains Banerjee.

“I also make sure I shuffle my artistic medium to take the productive break from the photographic medium by parallelly engaging in creating art across different domains like painting, making mixed media projects, composing music, playing the guitar and singing.”

“Hot Cross Buns” by Nilangana Banerjee (winner of the 2017 Chromatic Awards in Conceptual Category at the International Color Photography Contest)

Over the years Banerjee has earned numerous awards for her work as a photographer, which includes being named ViewBug Photo Contest’s 2020 Community Choice Award winner in the Image of the Month, Inspiring Landscapes, The Wonder of the World and Change of Seasons categories, as well as the contest’s 2020 Choice Award winner in the Monochrome Masters Project category, and their 2019 Peer Choice Award winner in the Image of the Month and Emerging Talent categories. She also earned the 2018 Peer Award in the Fashion category and the Celebrity Award in the Image of the Month category from the ViewBug Photo Contest, in addition to being named the 2017 winner of the Monochrome Awards (conceptual category) at the International Black and White Photography Contest, the International Color Photography Contest’s Chromatic Award winner (conceptual category) and many more.

Banerjee is lauded for her creative eye and her ability to capture photos that lead viewers to think deeply about the subjects she tackles– such as social issues and those concerning mental health.

One photo series that has made Banerjee stand out in a big way is her open-ended narrative project “The Selves,” which focuses on the psychological craving people have to become an ideal individual and the utter dissatisfaction they experience when judging their existing self to be somehow less than ideal.

“The Selves,” which Banerjee is continually expanding, was featured in the 2017 Photo Ville global exhibition in Brooklyn, NY and the Dark Arts Exhibition at the Squid Ink gallery in Los Angeles, CA, as well as by the California Council of Arts and at the Black Box Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

“The series ‘The Selves’ is an artistic manifestation of the internal dialogue… a conflict an individual has with their inner selves in the process of choosing who they truly are or who they should be,” explains Banerjee.

“The message of this series is simple– it aims to provide a face to the abstract psychological headspace of an individual plagued with the necessity to fulfill the un-demanded and unwanted responsibility of being the ideal self.”

Through Banerjee’s lens and visionary art direction, “The Selves” captures the sense of exhaustion and self-loathing that ensues when a person is entangled in an endless effort to become something or someone different. The series is filled with dark, almost gothic elements, with the photos giving way to the overall feeling that the subjects are trying to submerge parts of themselves.

Growing up in India, Banerjee experienced first hand the way societal expectations lead people to ignore their true nature in pursuit of an ideal, oftentimes at the expense of their mental health.

“I drew my inspiration from being a part of a culture that stresses the need to be one’s ideal self at any cost,” Banerjee explains. “In most societies or generally in the world we don’t see these mental turmoil being acknowledged as real issues unless they present themselves in their aggravated forms.”

As an artist, Banerjee uses her craft as a way to shed light on many of these issues in a palpable and poignant way.

She adds, “Believing in the quote that a picture is worth a thousand words, I feel that it is important to create art that spreads awareness and initiates the conversation about these preliminary issues which is required for the social stir we need to un-plant these seeds giving rise to an unhealthy society.”

Some of Banerjee’s other successful personal series include “The Anomalous,” which was featured on the June 2020 cover of the fashion editorial magazine GMARO, and “The Lullaby,” which has been featured in Daily Style entertainment, Brooklyn PR Girl, Hollywood Patch, So Reckless and more.

“She works harder than anyone else and puts as much into her shoot preparation and execution as she does on her post-production. Her avocation and relaxation is by doing artwork,” says fashion model Daniel Kinske. “Her candid stills are also artistic in her approach to the finishing touches. Her care and attention to detail are the same for all subjects and her direction is very easy to follow and reassuring.”

When she’s not shooting personal projects that carry powerful messages, Banerjee is busy working as the inhouse photographer for Jill Roberts where she is in charge of shooting the fashion brands products, accessories and clothing line. Along with photographing all of the Jill Roberts products, as well as those for the company Beauty Architects, Banerjee’s role as an inhouse photographer includes handling all of the post-production and editing, as well as wardrobe styling and art direction for the shoots.

Banerjee says, “Since I work as an inhouse photographer at two companies while simultaneously dealing with numerous brands and freelance commercial clientele, which all run on present project timelines, balancing the time between the commercial photoshoots while still working on my personal creative fine art conceptual project is the main challenge,”

While the process of balancing commercial photography and personal projects is a tricky one, Banerjee has managed to accomplish just that by creating an efficient schedule, something that she believes, along with self-discipline, have been key to her success.

“Planning and effective time management is key… I am able to maintain this balance by having a very planned timetable for myself that enables me to achieve every single thing I want to accomplish on a daily basis and meet all my goals, without compromising the quality of my work,” she explains.

“I have a disciplined schedule which starts very early and I follow the habit of creating a detailed plan map which I draw out for the following day, the night before. I follow it, religiously every single day and utilize time efficiently. This is what allows me to achieve everything I set.”

While most of us have encountered the image of the artist who struggles to get by as they spend their time doing nothing but following their creative and often sporadic inspiration, it doesn’t have to be that way. More and more artists, like Nilangana Banerjee, are proving that it’s possible to successfully meet the demands of their clients in the commercial sphere while simultaneously maintaining a strong creative output of personal work.

Sound Design and Sound Editing, Sound Engineer

From animation to action blockbusters: diversity is key to audio engineer Mateo barragan’s success

September 4, 2020 Lorraine Wilder Leave a comment

*Mateo Barragan – Photography by Carolina Rizzotto*

Becoming a successful and sought after audio engineer in the modern film industry requires someone with a meticulous ear for detail, and the ability to balance the mechanical aspects of the production’s music and overall sound, which includes everything from the sound of rain drops to the actors dialogue.

The audio engineer’s role on a film or TV production is vast and varied, with some projects calling them in to specifically edit the score or the project’s dialogue, and others requiring them to oversee the entire body of sound. Being able to not only solve any technical issues concerning the sound, but also being able to think creatively outside of the box while serving the artistic vision of the production is key.

We needn’t look further than audio engineer Mateo Barragan, who served as the score editor on “Deadpool 2,” to see the vast nature of skill that is required for an engineer to become a successful force in the industry. There’s no question that his mastery of recording, mixing and reproducing sound, all while actively listening to what the artist wants and what best fits the production, have made him stand out in a big way.

Mateo says, “To put it simply, my work as an audio engineer could be divided into three different aspects: recording, editing and mixing.”

Throughout his impressive career, Mateo has worked on everything from engineering the audio on voice-overs for video games and multimedia projects to recording Grammy Award winning albums and editing scores for hit TV series and multi-million dollar films.

Over the past few years he’s become known for his work as an audio engineer involved in major films such as the Oscar Award winners “First Man” and “La La Land” starring Ryan Gosling, the 2018 comedy “The Spy Who Dumped Me” with Golden Globe nominee Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”), as well as the BAFTA Award winning video game Life is Strange 2 and Vicente Fernandez’s Grammy Award winning album “Un Azteca En EL Azteca.”

One thing that makes Mateo’s work unique in comparison to most other fields is the degree of difference between his role on one project to the next– which means both his technical knowledge and creative abilities have to be incredibly expansive in order to successfully meet the varying demands of each production.

“I would say that one of my strongest qualities as an engineer is being able to adapt to any of the situations that come in my day to day work. I know there are engineers that focus on one specific type of work and I totally respect that, when I moved to LA I initially just wanted to work in music,” explains Mateo, who has spent the past four years as an audio engineer at Igloo Music Studios.

“Because of the wide range of clients and projects that Igloo Music has, I had to learn from recording a band, editing an orchestra for a movie score to record dialog for an animated series or a video game. Each of these projects have their different workflows but you still need to be able to deliver your best work as an engineer so adapting to all situations is essential.”

Adaptability, drive and passion have all been key to Mateo’s success. In 2016 Mateo landed a key spot as an audio engineer at Igloo Music (“A Star Is Born,” “Mary Poppins Returns”) founded by five-time Grammy Award winning engineer and producer Gustavo Borner.

It was through Igloo that Mateo was tapped to come on board as the score editor of the hit Marvel film “Deadpool 2” starring Golden Globe nominee Ryan Reynolds (“The Proposal”) and Josh Brolin (“Avengers: Endgame”).

As the score editor of “Deadpool 2,” which grossed over $785 million dollars worldwide and took home numerous awards including four Golden Trailer Awards, Mateo played an integral role in ensuring the film’s music seamlessly matched up with the final cut viewed by audiences.

“We recorded a full orchestra, percussion plus a choir,” explains Mateo. “It is important to edit the recorded music of a score because we are looking to obtain the best quality of sound for the music while maintaining the musical performance of the musicians.”

Working with a brilliant score composed by Tyler Bates (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “John Wick”), it came down to Mateo and the team at Igloo to digitally edit out any background noises while also ensuring the timing of the score matches the necessary parts of the film.

He says, “Regarding timing we have to make sure that the recorded music fits in naturally with all the other elements of the music… [But] it is really important to never ‘over edit’.”

Following the success of his work on “Deadpool 2,” Mateo was called in as the score editor on the Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man” directed by Damien Chazelle (“La La Land,” “Whiplash,” “10 Cloverfield Lane”).

The critically acclaimed masterpiece, which depicted the life story of American astronaut Neil Armstrong and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the moon, led Mateo to once again work alongside score mixer Nicholai Baxter (“Aladdin,” “The Disaster Artist”), whom he worked with on “Deadpool 2.”

“On this specific project my role was very demanding because of the tight deadline we had, we needed to edit everything that was recorded immediately,” explains Mateo.

“To put it in perspective, Nicholai was recording the orchestra at the scoring stage during the day. At night we would receive the recordings, we’d do a backup of the recorded files to our drives and then start editing immediately.”

Mateo’s meticulous attention to detail, dedication, and ability to quickly solve audio problems once again proved to be integral to delivering a seamless edit for the film’s score. In the end, “First Man” was a major hit, with the film taking home an Oscar Award, as well as over 190 other nominations and 31 awards.

“Mateo has been part of Igloo music for almost four years now and he has taken part in several projects during this time. We have worked together on a couple of albums such as ‘Un Azteca En El Azteca’ by Mexican artist Vicente Fernandez, two MTV Unplugged Albums/Dvds, and on several films such as ‘Deadpool 2’ and ‘Hobbs and Shaw’,” says Igloo founder Gustavo Borner.

“He is not only a skilled engineer and knowledgeable on the technical aspects needed for each project, but he is also a very dedicated person and always brings a great attitude to the team which is also a very important aspect of working with people.”

Undoubtedly what has set Mateo apart from others is the knowledge and skill that he has developed over the years which has allowed him to easily transition from one project to another. For example, shortly after working as the score editor on the hit films “Deadpool 2” and “First Man,” he was able to pivot his attention and take on the role as the dialog editor on the animated YouTube original series “Sherwood.”

A refreshing take on the classic tale of Robin Hood created by Diana Manson (“Lucky Break”) and Megan Laughton (“Peter Rabbit”), the series tells the story of 14 year-old Robin and her friends, who embark on an inspiring journey to overcome inequality in a fight for justice.

As the dialog editor of the series Mateo was in charge of making sure the audio was as clear as possible, which meant removing any background or mouth noises from the part of the actors, as well as ensuring that the dialog matched up with the script and the visuals. With millions of views, “Sherwood” was yet another hit program where Mateo’s work as an audio engineer proved invaluable to its success.

“I really enjoy working in voice over projects for series and animations however my passion and love will always be with music,” admits Mateo. “Being in a city like LA gives you the opportunity to meet and collaborate with so many talented musicians, artists and producers.”

With a booming track record of success, Mateo Barragan is a prime example of what it takes to become a powerful force in the industry. At the end of the day, it takes more than just talent to make it as an audio engineer in film and television, it takes the ability to transition between projects and handle various roles with ease, something Mateo has proven time and time again.