Salt Water

INTERVIEW BY Olivia Bossert

PHOTOGRAPHER Rossella Vanon

MODEL Mia Stass @ M&P

HAIR Nuriye ‘Naz’ Sonmez

HAIR PRODUCT Bumble & Bumble

MAKEUP & NAILS Julia Wren

Q. Tell us about your background as a photographer. How did it all begin? A. I’ve always been creative, even as a child: I was constantly drawing, making up fairytales, singing along every tune. As I grew up, it was music that became the first love of my life: I started playing several instruments in bands and I got a Sound Engineering & Music Business Degree. Art was always in the air, but photography came about in quite a sudden and unexpected way. One summer at 20 years old I found myself in company of my dad’s small compact camera and I just couldn’t stop photographing. It was my first time holding a camera that wasn’t a disposable one used for the usual group shot during a school trip, and I couldn’t get enough. From that summer on, I started saving every little amount I could afford to finally be able to buy a reflex camera, the Canon 350D. That little camera felt like a piece of solid gold in my hands! I took it everywhere with me, I photographed everything, and the passion started to grow into something more consistent and extremely fulfilling. And the journey began.

Q. Where do you find your inspiration? A. In fashion, a big part of inspiration comes from the clothes, so I always research both wardrobe and beauty trends during and after every fashion week. This way I can make sure that every idea and mood board I send to editors and other clients is fresh, up to date and relevant to the fashion seasons ahead. Locations are another great source of inspiration: often a walk in the right place can literally inspire a whole shoot. When it comes to colours and textures, however, is nature to be my go-to. In my opinion, there is nothing in this world that is as perfect as nature and its colour combinations.

Q. Why fashion photography? Have you always been a fashion photographer? A. When I first approached photography I started by photographing what felt most natural and dear to me, and that was nature. I have always been a deep, hopeless nature lover, who spends her days off hiking in the countryside and is always moved by the sight of a sunset above the fields. Photography gave me the opportunity (and the excuse!) to spend days lost in parks and forests, capturing landscapes, macro shots of flowers and portraits of deer and other inhabitants of the woods that I deeply love.

When I decided it was time to turn my passion for photography into a full time job, I decided to explore different areas, such as portrait photography, that would allow me to get paid jobs more easily and survive in the industry. With time and a lot of networking behind me, my portrait shoots went from being only me and my subject to being a collaboration with a makeup artist, a hair stylist and sometimes even a wardrobe stylist. Slowly, my work shifted from portrait into fashion without me really knowing. At the time, I embraced the change and followed the new path without well knowing where it was going to take me. Now I’m very glad I did. Fashion photography completely fulfills my creative thirst and allows me to speak my heart out fully (although I still need my woods every once in a while!).

Q. How did you learn? A. I am self-taught and I’m an avid reader. I remember studying a basic Digital Photography book in-between classes during my University years. I would memorise the technical bits and then use my days off to wander around parks with my camera to try out all the settings and techniques I had learnt the days before. Nature photography was great for learning purposes, as I could really take my time testing and persevering until I got the right shot and the technique was stuck in my head. It taught me to look at colour combinations and textures, to walk around the subject to find the best angle and background. With that as a solid base, I learnt the rest by practicing (and making mistakes) during the many test shoots I organised with both friends and model agencies.

Q. Have there been any highlights to your career yet? Tell us about them. A. When it comes to shooting, working for clients such as Nylon and Schön! has definitely been a highlight in my career in the last year or two. Writing my first book ‘Lighting People’ (a photography lighting guide out in September 2015) and opening my new photography studio for hire Huddle Studios in East London are two other major highlights of these last 365 days. Two big dreams come true, actually! But I like to think that the biggest highlight of 2015 is yet to come...

Q. What do you think about the fashion industry? A. Ahh! How much time have you got? :) This is a difficult question for me to answer and something that I think about very often. Obviously there is a side of me that loves this industry, the creativity, the buzz, even the competition. I absolutely love the people I meet through my job, the passion that I see in their eyes and their work, the opportunity the fashion world gives me to let my imagination run free as if I was still a child after all. But then there is my ethical side that believes that this industry could sometimes do with a little more respect, towards the creatives working in it and especially towards animals, which always seem to be paying the price for human vanity.

Q. What is your routine before, during and after your shoot? A. I always dedicate a lot of time to the ‘before’ the shoot. Researching, planning, suggesting the idea to an editor or to a client: to me, these are the most delicate steps of the entire process, where the magic really happens and experience really shows. I spend a long time researching for fashion trends, themes, locations and magazines before I even put together my first mood board.