Angélique Boissière
Angélique is a french photographer who uses old technique for timeless portraits and nudes. We talked about her way into photography, inspiration, models and her analog passion.
Thomas Berlin: Angélique, you are creating beautiful portraits and nudes. Your images are looking classical in my point of view. Do you have a historic idol?
Angélique Boissière: Thank you. Yes all the photographers who have inspired and motivated me to shoot are photographers of the twentieth or even the nineteenth century. I especially love Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi, Sally Mann, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton and Francesca Woodman. In addition, since I was a child, I had a very classical art education thanks to my mother who was a painter. She had a large collection of art books, she made me aware of painting, particularly 19th century French painters like Ingres, Manet, Monet and Degas. Coming from a catholic family, I was also very influenced by religious art: icons and 15th century Italian paintings where the nude is widely represented. In classical paintings, the representation of the body is always beautiful, hands are elegantly arranged, the head carried is always straight, and I like the frank gaze in portraits. It shaped and influenced me greatly, but that doesn't mean that I try to take photos like the way we paint. For me it doesn't make sense to imitate the past. I like to mix it with the present.
Thomas Berlin: You recently mentioned to me that you like old things. Can you briefly outline what this means in relation to your photographic style or equipment?
Angélique Boissière: In everyday life I don't surround myself with old objects, except cameras, but I have a tenderness for past things which necessarily influences my photography. My old camera and b&w film allows me to get an old looking photo, and I try to take photos that do not belong to any period.
Thomas Berlin: How would you describe your style? Is beauty what you are looking for?
Angélique Boissière: I do portraits in a minimalistic style. I like to mix nude, fashion and portrait. It's beauty as I see in my imagination.
Thomas Berlin: Do you want to express something with your images? Is there a mission?
Angélique Boissière: My photos are purely aesthetic but they express (surely my) emotions. I have no other mission than taking good pictures and it is already a very complicated exercise. But in the future I would like to take pictures with more meaning.
Thomas Berlin: Interesting, your pictures don't seem meaningless to me at all. What does it mean that your images should be more meaningful? Do you have a specific project?
Angélique Boissière: In fact, I am not saying that my images have no meaning, I am saying above all that they are not engaged, that they do not claim anything, they are neither documentaries or contemporary art. Maybe my photos that have the most meaning, in my mind, are my self-portraits because there is a very intimate dimension and reportage at the same time. On the other hand, I noticed in my various exhibitions that people came to tell me what they saw in my photos and I was surprised to discover that many people see a meaning in it that is often very relevant and corresponds to my point of view. My photos are a mirror of myself, that's why they probably tell things but I don't realize it because I take photos with my instinct and without intellectualization.
I think, I will saturate taking pictures only of pretty girls, that’s why in the future I would like to take photos with a reportage / social dimension, but still artistic. My next project is to photograph men and more specifically the question of gender and masculinity. You will know more in a few months ...
© Angélique Boissière
Thomas Berlin: Why do you photograph people and not other motifs?
Angélique Boissière: For a long time I photographed anything and everything, but without great talent and without finding consistency. The day I photographed a model, I found my style and loved it. I think I photograph people because I identify with them, and I can convey my feelings that way. I also think it's my way of socializing myself, approaching people because I am shy by nature. There is a curiosity about the other, the stranger. When I was young, I was a very lonely child, and I observed people a lot. I was fascinated by the faces and still am today.
Thomas Berlin: When are you happy with a picture? Are there some criteria?
Angélique Boissière: This is a difficult question because I am seldom happy with my photos. I would rather say that I am eternally dissatisfied. However there are sometimes moments of grace where I think I took a good photo. The hard part about photographing someone is to shoot the perfect-looking model, which means that the photo is largely a matter of luck, and a tiny bit of skill. A good photo is a photo that was taken at that precise moment and lasts a fraction of a second. The second before or after, give a failed photo. I think it's the most important aspect. It doesn't matter if a hand is cut off, if the exposure is bad, if the image is a bit blurry. No, what is important is the look of the model. If the look is bad, the photo is bad, even if it is technically perfect. Moreover, too much technique often gives a cold and emotionless photo. Technique just serves emotion.
Thomas Berlin: This reminds me of the French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson with his thesis on the decisive moment. But now to the next question: I see that you are using ambient light but are you using also artificial light in some situations? And how do you deal with light in general?
Angélique Boissière: Yes exactly, thanks to Bresson I learned that. I never use artificial light except for the large format camera, when I have to produce a lot of light because of my 3 ISO paper. Otherwise in medium format I only use natural light which I find much more beautiful and softer. So I have to adapt my photos to the weather, and I am looking for the lower sun. But it's also more difficult because natural light moves all the time and you have to change your settings regularly. Sometimes I trust my instincts and I do the adjustments on the moment: sometimes it works but sometimes I am wrong.
Thomas Berlin: You mentioned that you use 3 ISO paper in your 4x5 inch large format camera. That’s interesting because you could use negative film with several hundred ISO and a tonal range which is much easier to handle. What is the advantage of using paper and not film to capture motifs?
Angélique Boissière: There are two reasons. First of all, my big problem with film photography is the money it costs and using negative paper is cheap (I don't use positive paper because its too expensive too). The second reason is that I decided to do large format photography to have a different type of rendering. I didn't want to take the same photos both with large and medium format. I thought it didn't make sense. I wanted to work more experimental, with blurry photos and accidents. And it is! In addition, it is a technique that only a few photographers know and use and I don't like doing like everyone else. The downside of 3 ISO paper is almost like light of collodion, so its difficult to learn how to do. I have shown very few photos taken with this camera for the moment, because I took a long time to find my settings, my technique and which development to choose. I am a perfectionist and I don't like showing a photo that is not perfect. In the future I will show more and more.
(Notation TB: the following image was created with 3 ISO negative paper by Angélique.)
© Angélique Boissière
Thomas Berlin: How do you measure light?
Angélique Boissière: Before I had a light meter I found it cumbersome. There is a very good "pocket light meter" application on iPhone which works very well. I've only been using this for many years. In a one hour session (I never shoot for a very long time), I take the light measurement 2 or 3 times, and in the meantime, I make my adjustments by eye, because the sun and the clouds are all moving. I always work with speed and improvisation, including light adjustments, because I don't want to break the chemistry of the shoot. So sometimes, I would rather be wrong on the measurement of light, than waste a moment of creativity with the model.
Thomas Berlin: Angelique, you are shooting mostly (or only?) analog. What is the special attraction of analog images? Can't it also be generated digitally?
Angélique Boissière: Indeed I only do analog photography. Film photography has a grain that I love and that cannot be imitated digitally and each photo has a value. There is something more authentic about film rendering. From a technical point of view, I can't take many photos and I appreciate the constraint. This allows me to focus on the essentials. Most people see film as too long and complicated a’re in the era of the immediate and they don't want to take the time anymore. Finally, film is easier to apply when you know a minimum of the technique because there are not many settings. When you have a digital camera in your hand, it’s impossible to shoot sensibly without taking too many unnecessary photos. It distracts me. In fact, for me digital and analog photography are two completely different worlds. If there was only digital photography, I wouldn't be a photographer, I would have done something else, because I really don't like digital photos at all.
Thomas Berlin: What is your analog workflow up to the final print?
Angélique Boissière: I develop my films myself with xtol from Kodak, then I scan and process them digitally. It's a "mixed" technique between the past and the present that suits me well.
Thomas Berlin: Could you tell me what are your favourite films? And then become more specific: When would you favor the Ilford HP5 over the Kodak Tri-X or vice versa?
Angélique Boissière: Normally, I only use Kodak Tri-X associated with the developer XTOL. I've tried a lot of developers and a lot of films to find out that this is really my favorite combination.The gray scale of the Tri-X is dense. It is a very flexible film because even if the settings are bad, we can always make up with the development or post processing. XTOL is very practical to buy and prepare because it is a powder. I find the rendering much softer than Rodinal or D76.
Concerning Ilford HP5, I only bought it as a temporary replacement for the Tri-X which has a period that was out of stock everywhere or was very expensive. In the meantime, I have found a very good secret Tri-X dealer and hope to be able to use it for a long time to come. I find the grayscale of the HP5 poor, I didn't like it. I always said to myself "Ahhh... if I had taken this photo with tri-x ..."
Thomas Berlin: Which cameras / formats do you use? Is there a favorite you could do all your work with?
Angélique Boissière: I mainly use medium format cameras. Actually, I have three main cameras: A Rolleiflex, a Pentax 67, and a 4x5 Nagaoka Chamber. These three devices allow me to have 3 different formats suitable for different subjects. If I had to choose just one, it would be the Rolleiflex, because it is a light camera, very reliable and suitable for all types of photos. I have tested a lot of medium format cameras and this one is really my favorite.
Thomas Berlin: How do the models react when you shoot with cameras from the last century which need more time to work with?
Angélique Boissière: A few years ago, it was still a bit rare to have film photographers, but today, unfortunately for me, everyone has started doing it, so I think models are less surprised today. They are more surprised by the short timing of the session than by the process itself. Indeed, in film photography, each film costs money, so the photo shoot cannot be as long as in digital.
Often they find it more relaxing to pose for film because they have to move less. They are also sometimes a little frustrated not to see any photos at the end of the shoot, but the surprise is greater when they receive the photos. They don't know what to expect, so it's kind of magic.
Thomas Berlin: How do you prepare for a shoot? Do you create mood boards or sprecific ideas before shootings?
Angélique Boissière: It depends. For my book "Marées", I still had to prepare some sessions so as not to repeat myself over the sessions. So I had to create a moodboard of poses to help and inspire the model before the session in order not to always have the same poses in my photos. Most of the time I shoot without because I noticed that a too much prepared session doesn't give the expected result, because photographing humans has a part of random. So I prefer not to plan and improvise anything. I just choose a model, a subject, a place and that's all.
© Angélique Boissière
Thomas Berlin: How do you find your models / people in front of your camera?
Angélique Boissière: I find most of my models on social media, it's so easy now to meet people all over the world thanks to that. Photography in France is a very small environment where almost everyone knows each other, but in general, I find it more interesting to photograph girls who haven't posed a lot and whom no one knows.
Thomas Berlin: How important is social media and your website for your success and inspiration?
Angélique Boissière: This is a complicated question because there is good and bad in both cases. For the hypothetical "success" it is sure that without social media today, I would not have so many exhibition opportunities, so much audience to be able to put out my book, or to meet models. But paradoxically, I think it's also more complicated with institutions like galleries, or fashion brands because popularity on social media plays a role. For me, it's painful to always have to use social networks. I would like to create with a free spirit without worrying about it, but today artists are forced to use social media. I say "hypothetical" because for me real success is more concrete: exhibiting, releasing books, being published in serious paper magazines, etc. There are internet successes that open doors, but after this step there is real success when you no longer need it.
About the inspiration of social media, it is true and at the same time it is wrong. In fact, the problem is you see too many photos, you scroll and you don't really pay attention to each image, because there is too much content to see. For me, that gives me the opposite effect of inspiration. It annihilates me. By looking too much at what other people are doing, we cannot really create on our own. The problem with getting too inspired is that you end up creating nothing and reproducing everything.
Thomas Berlin: What is your way to sell your artwork?
Angélique Boissière: I sell fine art prints on Baryta paper and more affordable prints in small formats. They are all signed and numbered. People can just contact me to find out more. Otherwise, I released my first book "Marées" which was sold out really fast, so I would like to republish it to perpetuate it a little more. I also have two other book ideas for the future. I really like to imagine books. It is something that we keep and that is affordable for those who want to buy my art.
Thomas Berlin: You did also a lot of self portraits as you also mentioned. I would call it as one of your photographic genres. Could you tell a bit about that?
Angélique Boissière: It is true that the self-portrait has always been a part of my practice and that over time it has become a large part of my work. I started photography with self-portraits when I was young because it was convenient. Then I gave up a bit to focus on model photography. In the past two years, due to various events in my life, I lacked the time and motivation to photograph models, so I took self-portraits again to continue shooting, to mark a time, a pause, keep a memory of a mood in a moment of my life. It's much more difficult than photographing a model because it's always me on the photo and I must to reinvent myself each time.This is an endless questioning of my identity. And step by step, it became a game and new ideas came to me regularly. Self-portrait has always been a practice in art, whether in painting or photography, but it is at its peak today with the practice of the selfie and I want to stand out of it. In a few years, maybe when I turn 30, I want to release a book of these self-portraits from this first part of my life.
Thomas Berlin: Do you act also as a model for other photographers?
Angélique Boissière: I've posed for a lot of different photographers in the past, but now I don't pose at all, except for fellow photographers that I know, but I don't have the process of posing for a stranger anymore. I have no time to do everything and prefer to concentrate on my own art.
© Angélique Boissière
Thomas Berlin: Another genre is nude photography. When and how did you start that and why?
Angélique Boissière: I photographed my first artistic nudes during my first photo shoot with a model. For me it was obvious. I had drawn nude models during my art studies in the past so it wasn't really new to me. This is why I see the human body as matter and not as something intimate or erotic. The nude allows me to focus on the essential: the light on the skin and the face. I feel more comfortable without the clothes, I can see more clearly, like the model is really himself, without cheating.
In addition, I always try to purify my photos as much as possible: no make-up, no jewelry, only few accessories, just b&w, and often the nude imposes itself. I think simplicity is the hardest part because the whole point of the photo is the captured emotion, but simplicity gives a timeless and at the same time very modern rendering.
Thomas Berlin: Does the growing prudery in social media and some parts of the world also affect you? Is nudity still well accepted in France?
Angélique Boissière: Yes, of course, like all nude photographers, some of my photos have been censored from social media and I've been banned multiple times. It's complicated because on social networks that there is the most audience and at the same time you can't communicate as you want. In France, nudity is more accepted than in most countries in the world, probably because it has always been, in my opinion, the country of art but I believe that there is a step back, a strong increase of prudishness also in France because even if artistic nudes is considered in an artistic discipline, that does not mean that it is a fashionable genre in photography. On the contrary, artistic nude is poorly represented in galleries in France actually, while it had several periods of glory in the past.
Thomas Berlin: Angelique, after the interesting information about your view of photography, I would like to come to you. How did you get into photography? And what is your education?
Angélique Boissière: I have always been passionate about creation, whether it be photography, painting, or manual creation. I was lulled into a very artistic childhood where I spent my weekends creating things in my mother's studio (painting, engraving, crafts, pottery, mosaic ...). So when I was 18, I naturally studied art to become a graphic designer. On the other hand, I have never taken photo lessons in my life, not even during my studies. I have always been self-taught. I started to take an interest in photography with disposable cameras in the 90s and my mother's film cameras. I have always taken pictures of everything around me. I loved it, it relaxed me. Between 18 and 21 I posed for different photographers, which taught me a lot in film techniques and model management. It was then that I discovered photographers who I still admire today and whom I mentioned at the beginning of the interview. It educated my eye a lot. Then, as a photographer, I took my own photos and found that it was art that I felt most comfortable with.
Thomas Berlin: What's the best reason to be a photographer? Are you a full time or part time photographer?
Angélique Boissière: The best reason to take photography like any other art is to be passionate about it. Photography is not my job, although I have done certain services in the past like weddings but it really wasn't my forte. However, I would love to do fashion photography or take portraits of celebrities.
Thomas Berlin: What are your passions or hobbies besides photography?
Angélique Boissière: My greatest passion is art in general: Paintings, music, books, cinema etc. I have always been stimulated by artistic creation. I need this every day to be happy. This is why, next to photography, and after working as a graphic designer for 4 years, I became a florist which also allows me to be creative in my job. I also really enjoy playing sports and traveling. It's essential for me to find a balance in my life between arts and other hobbies.
Thomas Berlin: Thank you, Angelique.
Angélique can be found on her website and on Instagram. Feedback is welcome here.
Images: © Angélique Boissière