Guest Speaker: Silvana Trevale
Silvana Trevale is a former graduate and alumni of the University of Huddersfield and a Venezuelan photographer. We have had the luxury of being able to listen to Silvana talk about her practice throughout the full three years of the course. This had been particularly useful as we have been able to see Trevale’s practice develop and practice over an extended period of time. Since graduating in 2017, Silvana has launched a successful freelance practice and professional career and has never failed to offer advice to the students on the undergraduate course. This has been particularly useful, as the tips and tricks she has given, have given me a foundation/guide to how I could possibly start my own career as a freelance photographer.
Silvana dabbles in both fashion photography whilst also engaging with her own personal documentary projects where she explores themes of identity, culture and issues in her native country, Venezuela.
Silvana is based in London, where she has worked for the likes of The Guardian and The Telegraph whilst also photographing for brands such as Sloggi and Addidas. Trevale’s work has also been published in Vogue Italia And Wonderland magazine.
Silvana interestingly works with both digital and analogue cameras, preferring film cameras for her personal projects, as it offers a more compelling sense of story telling, and digital for commercial work as it overs a quicker turnover time and is generally more preferred by brands. However, she now uses both mediums for commercial work too, where she told us she usually sneakily uses her medium format camera in for a little chunk of her shooting time. Interestingly, he medium format images usually end up being the most successful ones.
Silvana’s personal projects are fascinating to me. In fact, to was Trevale’s work along with Thomas Duffield (an upcoming blog post pending) that made me chose the university of huddersfield. Silvanas talent of story telling through photography is undeniable, you can tell that each image is considered and though about, rather than a point and shoot approach.
Silvana herself is very bubbly and has a very positive and enthusiastic attitude towards her work, which is something that I think has really elevated her networking skills and passion for her practice. Silvan is very active on instagram and other social media platforms, expanding the reach of her work, therefore increasing the chance of opportunities and interest in her work. Silvana’s website is also very sleek and professional, a perfect way of showcasing a portfolio of her projcts, both past and present.
Find Silvana’s work on her website.