Literary Orphans

Interview with Victoria Audouard

1.  Can you put into words the way you have evolved over time as a photographer?

I’m someone that is more comfortable with pictures than words, but I think that photography has helped me to be more independent, a little bit more self-confident. I feel like I have grown up but have so much more to experiment.

2.  What other artists and art forms have influenced you and your work?

I have definitely in love with Laura Makabresku’s, Sarah Moon’s and Alison Scarpulla’s photography. I also love illustration and animation (I am a huge lover of Yuri Norstein’s work). I also love music, I constantly need it while working on my pictures.

3.  You are typically the subject/model of your own photos: Can you describe your process and how you design your shots, execute the shoot, and also a little bit about your choices in photoshop, etc.

I used to be the model on my pictures and had to stop since I was taking all the pictures in my ancient flat. Now I work with models but also people who just like my work and are willing to help me, also my friends. Most of the time, I use a blue background (it had become mandatory for my editing process). I work for my personal projects with my film cameras and a nikon compact digital camera. Then I combine elements from my film pictures (old or recent) to my digital photographs. I’ve had issues deciding on which one I prefered and decided I needed both technics, even though I have been leaving film photography behind recently from budget reasons mostly, so I have been using only my older film pictures.

4.  Is storytelling important in your photography?

I think it is ! Every photograph, willingly or not, is telling a story, most of the time about ourselves.

5.  What are some of your favorite books, poems, authors?

I love Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens, and my favorite writer is probably Truman Capote. I have read all his books and been loving for a serious while now a short story he wrote named “As children on their birthdays”. Another one of my favorite writers is also Le Clézio, he wrote one of my favorites (perhaps my favorite) book(s) : “Celui qui n’avait jamais vu la mer” (“The one who had never seen the sea”). I cannot express how much I love this book.

6.  What is one thing about photography/art you have learned that you wish you could travel back in time to tell yourself- or tell someone else just starting photography?

I have learned so many things ! Once a friend wrote be this sentence “Do what you love, love what you do”. Being yourself, and caring about nothing else than doing what you feel like doing.

7.  Where do you turn for motivation and new sources of inspiration?

Movies, friends, the seaside.

8.  I read on your blog you are in University- Are you studying art? If so how has being surrounded by other aspiring artists influenced and effected you as an artist?

It is hard for me to tell concerning this year (2013) in school art since I’m feeling really confused about this school, about myself and what I do at the moment. I think I have being blossoming the most when I was studying graphic design, especially the year I got my HND. My class was filled with talented people and it just constantly makes you  feel like you want to be just as good, in your own way. It’s been two tough years with a lot of work and questioning but extremely rewarding in the end.

9.  What is a project you are currently working on, and a project you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

I am currently working on a project about illustrating astrological signs with photography. It’s a been hard lately and I’m not really getting the results I expected, but well, “that’s life”. I don’t have any particular project  for my future life, I guess just feeling good in my shoes and being happy would be awesome though.

10. What do you think is more important for your craft, passion or dedication?

I can’t really tell photography is a passion for me. So far I have experimented it more like a therapy, really as a amature. On the other hand, I would feel bad to be dedicating my life to it.
11. Does the place you are from/were raised influence your work?

Well yes, and no. I have grown up and studied in small cities, tiny places sometimes, and this is where I feel home and am the most creative but there many more factors much more significant to me like the people I met, the things I have seen, or the music I have heard.latest Nike Sneakers | Sneakers