Blog

Hi there. Welcome back to 8 Exposures, our instant film Q & A series! This week, we bring to you Parisian photog Emilie Lefellic…

1) What kind of Polaroid camera(s) do you use?

Mainly my 180 and my SX70 model 2, which are my two favorite cameras.

2) Why do you like instant photography?

What I love about instant photography is its completely unpredictable character, the whimsical suprises it creates whenever you click the button. I also love the fact that development takes place before your eyes and you can even influence it once you know the film. As the awesome 101 Impossible Ways Project shows, instant photography leaves infinite room for experimentation and creativity – before, while and after the picture is taken : you can decide to double-expose, use special filters, put your picture in the fridge, in the oven, write, draw, paint, stick stuff on it, create artifacts with it – I actually feel a bit like a craftswoman when I fiddle with my pictures, which is a great source of joy. But what I love above all in instant photography is the instant film itself : its colour, depth, painterly texture, its retro feel – it alters reality in a way that is surreal, dreamy and poetical to me. Somehow, it’s perfect in its many imperfections.

3) What is your earliest memory of instant film?

My parents used to have a Polaroid 1000 Land Camera when I was a kid. It was a very basic camera, but it seemed magical to me, back then.

4) What’s your favorite Impossible film type?

I’ve had the immense honor of testing the very first generation of silver shade films by the Impossible Project back in February 2010. I am amazed at the progress Impossible has made since then – especially with the colour films, which have always been my favorite. My favorite so far has to be PX 680 FF, but I haven’t tested the new PX 70 film, which I’ve heard is even better. I also secretly hope that Impossible will come up with new peel-apart film some day, to replace 669 polaroid film.

5) What are your favorite subjects to photograph?

There are so many things I like and would like to shoot – I have a special fondness for women’s portraits, hats, dresses, flowers, clocks, Parisian streets and architecture, childhood, animals, tiny objects, lonely houses… I also love signs and everything that contains words and letters – graffiti, street names, notebooks… I love writing on my pictures, too.

6) Tell us about a project you’re working on.

I’m not working on any project right now, but there are lots of things I dream of doing. First, I’d love to find the time (and money, I guess) to set a proper shooting in a nice, refined place with a beautiful female model. I’ve never actually dared to hire someone but that’s something I’d like to do. I’d also love to go on working in collaboration with musicians – I’ve done a couple of band pictures / CD artworks and it’s been a great experience. I believe music and polaroids work very well together – I’ve edited a couple of music videos based on polaroids, and I’d love to do more of that, too. Finally, I hope to find the time to work on a new book of polaroids !

7) Who are your favorite photographers, instant or otherwise?

I don’t know a lot about photography and photographers, but I love the works of Miroslav Tichy, Sarah Moon, Wendy Beaver, Stefanie Schneider and Cathleen Naundorf, whose polaroids I discovered recently. I also love Andrei Tarkovski’s book of polaroids. But mostly, as far as instant photography is concerned, the work I enjoy the most is that of the amazing people I’ve met through Flickr and the likes – professional or amateurs, I don’t even know: people like Neil Krug, Parker Fitzgerald, Corinne Héraud, Mélanie Rodriguez, Franck Juery, The Gentleman Amateur, Eduardo Martinez, Ludwig West, Dan Ryan, Carmen Devos, Esther Z.Schnickenacke, Marion Lanciaux, Brian Henry, Bastian and Julia, Alix Berard (m6), and so many others I’m forgetting but whose work inspires me everyday…

8) If you could take a photo of anyone or anything what would it be?

I love the aesthetics of the Victorian period – for quite some time now, I’ve had this fantasy of shooting something 19th century-England with real costumes and settings, something romantic, Jane Campion / Emilie Brontë style. I’m not quite sure how to make this happen though :)

About Emilie

“I’m 32, I’m from Paris, I teach English and linguistics at university and I’ve been into Instant photography for about 5 years.”

Merci to Emilie for taking part in 8 Exposures! To purchase her book of instant film photographs, click HERE