Photography by Teresa Queirós

When you run a photography blog such as Ben Trovato, you get literally flooded by submissions every day (no offense, keep 'em coming!). However we feel it's important to dedicate a part of our precious time to manually scavenge the internet ourselves and try to find fresh talented people, sometimes running into someone who manages to peak our curiosity. Not so long ago, I stumbled upon Teresa Q on Flickr and was heavily drawn to her work. You have been featured on blogs and websites all over the world, however it's hard to find any information on Teresa. Could you tell me something about yourself and how did you get in touch with photography? " -I like to keep it that way, I like it that my private life isn't all over my blog or Facebook. I've got nothing against people who do it - I actually find it quite interesting - it's just not for me. Besides, I never really know what to write about me. Everytime someone asks me to write a little bio or describe myself, I always feel trapped in a tiny black box where I can't even stretch my toes. I'm the typical average girl, I think, I've got my quirks just like everybody, but that's it. I started taking pictures for fun mostly, with a friend of mine, but I got increasingly interested in it and the passion grew, naturally. Nowadays I take it a little more seriously, but not to the point where I want to be the best or strive to be super original or think of myself as a professional photographer; I just love it to bits and want to keep shooting, as simple as that. And of course that it is marvellous that people actually want to follow what I'm doing and give me all this awesome feedback, it definately motivates me to keep shooting." Do you feel it's hard to evolve from an internet photography sensation into a professional photographer? In what ways do you successfully promote your work? " -Well, I think the internet is a fantastic way to promote yourself - even though it comes with the downside of having lots of people using your work without credits or even stealing it and pretending it's theirs - you are able to have your work seen by any person in the world and, if you're lucky (and a good photographer), someone can actually want to invest in you and want to hire you. So, I think it's not that big of a leap, actually. It's probably an easy step to take and a natural one, I guess. It's a bit like the talent show syndrome; the people showcasing in the show were already talented before the show existed, they just needed someone to find them and invest in them. There are so many yet-to-be-known photographers out there who are so much better than lots of so-called professional photographers, they just need a chance. I don't really promote myself all that much. I have my Flickr where I post my latest works, I've recently created a blog where I mostly write about the making of stories and little bits of my life as well; and I created a photography Facebook account because many people tried to add my personal one, but since I do like to keep my privacy, I created this other one that people can "Like". I think I'm quite terrible at promoting myself, actually." How do you see yourself in 5-10 years? What goals do you still want to achieve in your life? What is Teresa dreaming of? " -Ah, this is one of those questions... I have no idea really. I hope I'm working in the different areas I'm passionate about (music, photography, acting), that would be blissful. I want to have lots of projects in hand, I want to go crazy for having so little time for all I have to do, all the while being happy that I'm working on the things I love doing the most, I want to be travelling a lot, I want to keep my best friends close to me throughout these years, I want to have read at least a hundred books more, to have watched at least five hundred more movies, I want to know about a million more things that I don't even know exist at this very moment, I want to be much more... oh, and I'd like a good love story as well." More pictures inside the post.