Check out Carlos Ocando’s Artwork

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carlos Ocando.

Carlos, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’m originally from Venezuela with an Electrical Engineering degree. After graduation I decided that I wanted to follow my real passion. Inspired by the peace and stillness that I found while meditating in nature I got inspired to start exploring with my camera and found the perfect combination of action and meditation. As long as I’m looking through the viewfinder all my worries disappear and it’s just me as witness of this world eternal stillness. I’m also known as Haku1n a name that is inspired from an ancient Zen Master.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’m a fine art photographer, I enjoy playing with the medium presenting surreal and/or minimalistic compositions.

My hope is that they will stop, and start enjoying the beauty of the present moment. By presenting a photograph of a landscape or an intimate detail of nature they will realize that everywhere you look there is beauty and that this beauty hopefully will allow them to connect with the peaceful voice of divinity (whatever that maybe for them). My work is a simple yet complex representation of the landscape, a combination of what the camera captured, my mind and my feelings about that peaceful moment.

My favorite subject is trees and everything that connects them with the landscape in general. Any element of the tree is present in my photographs and show them as the primordial element of the landscape. Our lives without trees is not possible they produce all the oxygen that we breathe. Most of my work is in black and white but lately I’ve started to use the color as an emotional element that allows me to show more emotional connection with the subject and public.

The sterotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
The passion for what you do should be the fire that drives your work, in the past I had a lot of financial problems so I decided to start working for a while to finance my work as an artist. This has been very difficult because I don’t have a lot of free time to do my artwork, that’s when the passion comes in and inspires me to go beyond the limitations of time or energy. I go out and shoot early in the morning, during lunch at work and after work and of course on the weekends.

I also print and ship my prints to my clients on the weekend and have a whole process ready so I don’t need to spend too much time preparing the prints. I know eventually I’m going to be able to quit my job as a product photographer and just focus on my personal projects, but for now I make the best out of it and keep my heart and my faith guiding towards my goal.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can see my work on my website or in my social media accounts, mainly my Instagram @haku1n or my website www.haku1n.com.

If the people would like to support me I have limited edition prints for sale on my website. All printed, inspected and signed by me. In my blog on my website I also add new information about exhibitions and shows around Houston.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.haku1n.com
• Email: info@haku1n.com
• Instagram: @haku1n

Image Credit:
Portrait by Graciela Socorro

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