THE STORY OF IAMRENSI

A few years ago (2017) I stumbled upon the world of photo manipulation. A moment that I’ll never forget...

On yet another rainy day in during my stay in Finland I was scrolling my Instagram feed, when this image grabbed my attention. The image showed a floating balloon fox without legs, pictured as if it was a photograph. I was blown away. After diving deeper into the artist behind it, I soon found out the image was created by a digital photo manipulation artist named @ditpict.

Shortly after I discovered more photo manipulation artists, proving the endless possibilities of this art form.

"A world where the only limitations are your imagination and editing skills."

I decided to invest my money and time in courses and tutorials for the next months, started learning the basics of photo editing and photo manipulations, and… I SUCKED…

Looking back at my past-self, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was working on a cracked version of Photoshop CS6 and had no single clue about photos, composition, color, saturation and lighting. I had never heard of adjustment layers and blend modes.

"I had absolutely no idea what I was doing..."

So I started following more courses and tutorials which included follow-along lesson material. After one year of trying and struggling to get better, I managed to re-create the image of the floating balloon fox, that inspired me in the first place.

"It took me 1 full year, but honestly I was quite proud of it..."

It took me 1 full year, but honestly I was quite proud of it... PLUS it turned out to be the start of what I’m about to tell you! Over the next 2 years, up until today, I've spent hundreds of hours trying to create whatever pops up in my mind when scrolling through beautiful stock images.

"I switched to Affinity Photo, because I didn't want to pay Adobe's subscription model..."

With the dream in mind of becoming a digital nomad, I wanted to turn this into an actual business sharing my skill with the world. So I decided to switch to Affinity Photo since I didn't resonate with Adobe's subscription.

I started following and studying what other artists create and try re-creating what they do with the images I could find. I've learnt how to work efficiently by using the right techniques and improved my editing workflow drastically by using keyboard shortcuts. While learning this I’ve created hundreds of surrealistic photo manipulations, for both my clients and for fun, trying to get 1% better every single project.

"Over the next 2 years [...] I've created hundreds of surrealistic photo manipulations, for both my clients and for fun"

Not so long ago I decided to share my work on social media, which resulted in an audience including over 9,2k+ subs on YouTube, 1,7k+ followers on Instagram as well as 1000+ students at the IAMRENSI Academy.

To this date I have created several Affinity Photo courses, done Live Photo manipulation workshops and created multiple tools (brushes and assets) that will make your Affinity Photo life a whole lot easier and more fun!