Hi friends, and welcome back to 8 Exposures, our ongoing instant film interview series. This week, we are very happy to present you with French photographer and filmmaker Sarah Seené…
1) What kind of Polaroid camera(s) do you use?
Since I began to work with instant film, I use a Polaroid 636 Close-up camera from 1992, which my dear aunt gave me. When I was a child, I used this device to photograph my grandmother’s animals…
2) Why do you like instant photography?
What interests me in the instant photography is its spontaneity, suspense and surprise. I prepare my instant photos a lot… During one hour or two, I set up costumes, sets and make-up which are going to give sense to the central characters of the photo. It is the contrast between the direction and the speed of the development that interests me and, of course, the magic grain of the instant photo, inimitable.
When the photo comes out, my heart is beating at top speed ! For me, instant photography is synonymous with emotion and sensation!
3) What is your earliest memory of instant film?
A few weeks ago, my mother offered me her first photo of me when I was an infant, and it was a polaroid. Obviously I didn’t remember taking this picture… But I do remember very well the very first Polaroid I made: when I was 7, the day of Christmas with my Grandma, we had just decorated the Christmas tree, I was so happy to decorate it with her, and the result was so beautiful that I wanted to immortalize this great moment. So the first polaroid I made was a picture of my Grandma posing in front of the colorful Christmas tree. The camera I used is the same one I use today!
4) What’s your favorite Impossible film type?
I love color and silver shade films by Impossible Project. I mostly use PX 680 Cool and PX 600 Silver Shade UV+ Black Frame which I sometimes mix in superposing. I’ve also just discovered the new PX 680 Color Protection film. Its colors are so sublime that I am going to become addicted to it!
5) What are your favorite subjects to photograph?
My models, most of the time feminine, are the ones that I love, my Mom and my friends. I like inventing stories, universes, characters that inspire me.
??I color my polaroids of the pictures of childhood, dream and fear, in the idea of suspended time with worlds which I made by modifying the reality.
When the polaroid is ended, I like stressing its surrealist dimension by working again it with a double-exposure or by adding some nail polish above which gives a plastic art effect.??
What interests me through my fabrication is the feelings, the trouble on the spectator.
(6) Tell us about a project you’re working on. (This does not have to be a formal project, it can be something you find yourself taking a lot of photos of or something you’d LIKE to be working on)
At the moment, I’m continuing a black and white serie that I began this summer inspired by famous fairy tales. This serie is named “Il était une fois” (” Once upon a time “) and I make it with PX Siver Shade black frame films.
I have just begun a new serie of colour polaroids named “ The kingdom of dogs “ where strange feminine characters are next to dogs on the lands of a kind of lost paradise.
Finally, since a few months I begin to work with Lomography cameras. I aim to make a serie of autumn portraits with a Diana F +.
(7) Who are your favorite photographers, instant or otherwise?
My favorite photographers are Joël-Peter Witkin, Sarah Moon and Tim Walker.
In instant photography, I love the work of Stefanie Schneider, Amanda Mason, Marion Lanciaux, Emilie Lefelic, Claire Oring, and so many others polaroiders that I discovered on the Impossible Project website.
(8) If you could take a photo of anyone or anything what would it be?
For a few months, I had the opportunity to photograph artists who inspire my work like the singers Emilie Simon, Rosemary Standley (of Moriarty) or Maïa Vidal. The persons I would dream to photograph are the sisters Cassady of Cocorosie, Katiejane Garside (of the group Queen Adreena) or … Björk ! And I’d also like to photograph an unicorn or a ghost but as it’s impossible, I try to make these by myself !
About Sarah
Welcome to Sarahland! I’m French, 25 years old, and I’m fascinated by the power of the image. I’ve been a director of fiction and experimental short films for a few years and I’m an instant film addict. People say about my work that it shows a singular world, an atmosphere between poetry and anxiety.
To see more of Sarah’s work, please visit her Tumblr and her Pinterest. You can also follow her on Twitter at @SarahSeene”:https://twitter.com/SarahSeene.
