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Spraygraphic Interview with Paola de Grenet
By Spraygraphic | April 2, 2008
Spraygraphic Interview with Paola de Grenet
SG: Please tell us about yourself?
PdG: My name is Paola de Grenet. I am Italian. I was born in Milan, but after 6 years my family moved to Naples where I lived for 14 years. I then moved to Florence for 2 years and London for 10. I eventually landed in Barcelona in 2003. I graduated in Graphic Design in London in 1999 and started working as an assistant to photographers and began as a photographer myself that same year.
I am the mother of a sweet 2 years old boy called Oscar and happily married to Yan.
SG: Where do you currently live and work?
PdG: I have been living in Barcelona since 2003 and working wherever I can. The city has been very inspirational for my personal work.
SG: What mediums do you work with?
PdG: Although as a career I chose to be a photographer, I never abandoned illustration, which I practice as an hobby. You can see some of them in the Drawing Center’s (New York) website.
I draw on paper and MDF, with acrylics, colored pencils and crayons. For my photography at the moment I love using my Hasselblad!!! And the beautiful Fuji 400H negative film
SG: What kind of equipment do you use?
PdG: Other then my Hasselblad with tripod I also work with a Canon 20D and my Nikon 100 with a great 1.4 lens (analogical). Only occasionally I use an Elinchrome flash….but I love natural light…although not so much at midday!
SG: Describe your working process when creating a new work.
PdG: I don t like work that requires a lot of production. It is more about finding interesting people (they are everywhere), and convincing them to come to your place or letting you go to theirs for a photo session…
SG: What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
PdG: First thing I do is panic…. after a week or a bit more, I just carry on taking pictures of whatever it occurs to me, trying not to give it too much importance and force my self not to notice how bad they are….I just keep going.
SG: Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
PdG: Generally my inspiration comes from very personal places. For example at the moment I am looking a lot into childhood, and it is not coincidence that I am at a point in life in which I am trying to get in touch with my roots.
SG: How did you get into being a freelance photographer for large magazines and companies
PdG: Knocking on loads of doors, sending work to competitions and keep doing it year in, year out.
SG: What kind of deadlines do you work with when producing this kind of work?
PdG: From the moment they call you, you normally have 3 days to deliver (magazine work).
SG: Do the companies come back to you and say “change this” or “change that?”
PdG: Yes, it happens
SG: How much are you willing to change? Is there some kind of negotiation process you go through?
PdG: If I am happy with a picture I don’t like to compromise it, however eventually I prefer my customers to be happy and I leave it in their hands and usually end up quite disappointed when I see (often) the bad crops and nasty colors… I think in the future I have to be firmer and have more control over my pictures.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your “The Natural Order of Things” series?
PdG: My husband and I are doing major building work to our flat while living in it. Things keep piling up in corners and corridors randomly, a table on an armchair, kitchenware in the bathroom, books just everywhere. Things seem to have their own mind, independent from the ordered, design oriented mind of men. I found it refreshing, especially living in Barcelona, the design kingdom. I started looking for odd combinations amongst the objects of my house and that of others.
SG: Do you prefer to shoot people or objects?
PdG: I find shooting people a lot more rewarding, although I like to take a break sometime and take pictures in my own time, without the pressure of the other.
SG: Can you please tell us a little about your Life as a Transsexual series. Where were they taken? How did you gain access and trust from your subjects? How long did you shoot them for?
PdG: I started “Life as a Transsexual” in 2003, only a few months after arriving in Barcelona, which is where most of the shots were taken. It took me two years to finish the project. In this time I spent lots of Friday nights by the fire with the girls; once they thought I was a prostitute myself and wondered why I wasn’t looking for clients that night. I slowly started asking some of them if I could go and visit them at their places. Mostly they like being photographed, in fact the real challenge was to get some natural shots…. you don’t know how many breast shots I had to edit out!!!! But I also learned to read a lot into their poses, in fact through them I learned the importance of a pose. We can learn as much about a subject observing what s/he wants to appear as and not only what I think s/he is.
SG: What do you look for in a model? Physical features? Personality? Photogenic? etc…
PdG: A kind of beauty. My models are photogenic, have personality and have amazing physical features. I like to find beauty where no one else sees it. And my aim for the future is to find beauty in everything and everyone, but I still have a lot to travel.
SG: Where has your work been seen?
PdG: It has been published in the U.S.A., Spain and England
SG: Where will it be seen next?
PdG: London, at the Alma Enterprise Gallery
SG: What is your dream art assignment?
PdG: Being sent to some unknown to the world place and asked to photograph its people and their homes.
SG: What is your favorite color?
PdG: Pink
SG: Who is your favorite artist? And Why?
PdG: Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings for its poetic realism.
And lots of contemporary photographers like Alessandra Sanguinetti and Hellen Van Meen; they both mix the fantastic and the real, creating dream worlds without artifacts or inventions.
SG: What book/magazine are you reading this week?
PdG: “El poder del Ahora” E.Tolle
SG: Ever do a self portrait? Where is it now?
PdG: Not really….but there is always a self portrait hidden in my portraits.
SG: Where is your favorite place to hang out?
PdG: At the moment it is a natural park one hour away from Barcelona called Montseny
SG: Any final words of advice?
PdG: Keep on going, you are not good at anything else…that is what my husband always tells me!
Additional Links:
www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk
www.silviaomedes.net
www.fotolog.com
www.gommamag.com
www.ob-art.com
www.milim.com
www.toma78.com
www.vqronline.org
ART: 1. Albino Beauty Ana, 2. Albino Beauty Dani, 3. Albino beauty Daud, 4. Tamara, 5. Maternity, 6. Michele-carpenter, 7. Untitled, 8. Untitled, 9. Solitude
Topics: Artist Interviews, Graphic Design, International-Art, Photography, Women Art |
January 18th, 2010 at 3:22 am
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March 15th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
this is wackoooo