centritis

Pauline Magnenat-Mérigeot, 21

1. Have you found that traveling inspires art or that art inspires traveling? Where have you gone that is most and least inspiring?

I have always found that my best photographs were the ones I took away from home. I think the eye becomes more attentive when you’re in a unfamiliar environnement. I shoot a lot more when I am travelling, these days I’m not going out much and haven’t shot in quite a while. I’ve been going to Tuscany since I was born and yet my best images come from there, so it’s a mix of being used to a place and not living there I guess. It’s also got to do with the light, the colors of a place. Tuscany has that southern light that is so beautiful, especially during the summer at the end of the day. I don’t remember the least inspiring place I’ve been to. I went back to Geneva (where I’m originally from) a couple of weeks ago and during the winter the light is very grey and dark, so it wasn’t worth taking a picture. Summer and fall are best, in my opinion.

2. How have you grown or changed, stylistically, since you started studying at camberwell college of art? What would you advise to people looking to study photography or some artistic medium at an art school?

I think my photography and the way I conceive it have changed drastically since I started studying at Camberwell, but especially more during last year and this one. I tend to think more about my work before I actually shoot it, whereas last year I would take my camera and walk around for hours. Nowadays I am more interested in conceiving a photograph or a project prior to its realisation. I shoot maybe 1/10 of what I used to but all the photographs I take are thought of before they are made. Still, I tend to edit a lot and show maybe one photograph out of ten.Camberwell is a great place if you are willing to work independently. You don’t get briefs or if you do, they are very vague and you can work on whatever you want. It forces you to figure out what exactly is that interests you in the medium. And it is actually the case in all artistic paths, if you want something to happen, I believe you have to do it yourself.

3. Your photographs of people are from a stand-offish perspective however they don’t give off a “voyeurism” vibe. More, they seem to be compositions that emphasize empathy in the moment the subjects are experiencing. Has photographing people like this come naturally to you? and would you agree that your photography is more spontaneous than planned?

One of my current projects is to photograph strangers. I haven’t started it yet but it will be interesting to see how different it feels from photographing relatives and beloved ones, which is all I do and have done so far. Portrait photography has always been what interested me most in photography, as well as narrative photography. I am often drawn to photographing people quite spontaneously when I see something, a detail. It’s often a matter of shadow, a ray of light on a face, or something even smaller, water drops on my brother’s neck for example. I think the simple fact of taking someone’s photograph is already some kind of empathy and it is even more the case of course when you are photographing your beloved ones.

4. Sometimes it appears as if photographers are so gifted and so lucky (it can’t be denied that luck has a lot to do with photography) that their moments are crafted long before their ever leaving the household. Your photos oftentimes have this “perfect” quality. how do you find what you photograph? and is it always on your mind to look for some of the great subtle moments you have in your repertoire (say the photo of someone’s vague shadow on a closet door)?

Well thank you. I try to be as attentive as I can and look for the smallest detail that will make a good photograph. As I said, I really try not to waste any film and think before actually taking a picture. I sometimes feel like I am not shooting enough, but there’s nothing worse than getting a roll developped and not having even just one photograph that stands out. I am trying to avoid this as much as I can by taking a picture only when I know it will make a good one, but of course it doesn’t always work out.

5. The moments you’ve photographed in interior places seem to be far more intimate than your work from outside, what constitutes this slight change? because you’re closer to the people you’ve grown to know?

I really wish I knew how to talk strangers into letting me photograph them and this is something I want to do in the near future. I think it’s also got to do with the places and people photographed. I tend to photograph home quite a lot as this is my current project for Camberwell these days. Photographing the same person over the years is both intimate and very interesting, whether it be my girlfriend, my brother or my sister and I think the evolution of the relationships can be seen in the photographs very clearly.

6. Tell us about some of the people you look up to in the photography world (but not necessarily influenced by)?

I read a lot of photographers’ blogs and have always liked following the advance of their work through their posts online. Alec Soth’s recent return to blogging was great. Daniel Shea, Tema Stauffer, Richard Renaldi, Shane Lavalette, and Jörg Colberg are all people I read daily. It’s hard to look up to someone without being influenced and I don’t know how exactly they influenced me but Larry Sultan, Mitch Epstein, Doug Dubois have all been great influences to me.

7. What’s next for you?

I will have my BA in a year and a half and I quite want to assist a photographer for a while before settling on an MA as this is something I really wish to achieve. Photographing and reading about photography are so complementary to me and I just want to do this as long as I can.

Pauline’s flickr & blog.