Where does your photography come from?
L. Nguyen : My desire to take pictures comes from my adolescence. When I was around 14, some of my friends enrolled in the optional photography course in our school. I was doing theatre back then. One day I saw their photographs—very naive images of fields, flowers and romantic portraits, I can laugh about it today—and I felt so jealous that when I got out of high school, I was the one who enrolled in photography class.
What is your decisive moment for taking photographs ?
L. N : I don’t believe too much in the idea of the decisive moment. I think my photographs are produced in several stages: when I plan what I’m going to do, during the shoot, and in the editing and retouching. For me a good picture is the result of a sum of decisive actions, not the product of some unique moment.
What inspired you work/your series ?
L. N : Formally, the German photography of Andreas Gursky and Thomas Struth, and Jeff Wall. But I was also very attracted to a more intimate kind of photography, like the work of Hervé Guibert, and the narrative work of Duane Michals.
What is the link between your commercial work and your personal work ?
L. N : First there is a formal link. I think that my commercial clients appreciate what they see in my artistic work: a certain lighting, the way I handle space, and figures who, instead of appearing in the foreground, are relegated to the background. And a certain poetry, too.
Which is a bigger priority for you : a great ad campaign or an exhibition at a famous gallery ?
L. N : In today’s world it’s hard to choose. I feel like I know a lot of photographers who have, like me, dual careers in artistic and commercial photography.
What are the current photographic trends for you ?
L. N : I don’t know enough about what’s going on in contemporary photography to generalize about any trend, but I’ve noticed, especially in young photographers, a desire to return to smaller formats, to create a less imposing form of photography.
The world experience has changed drastically. Its representation has evolved. Has digital become inevitable in the photographic creative process ?
L. N : In commercial photography, this seems obvious to me. As far as art photography is concerned, it seems to me like it’s still possible to choose to work in non-digital formats. But that’s not the case for me.
Born August 27, 1977, Swiss, Loan Nguyen lives in Lausanne, she studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Vevey (CEPV, 1997-2000). Since 1998, she participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions, as well as several international fairs. She is a member of Piece of Cake, European collective contemporary image.
Interview by Séverine Morel
REPRESENTATION
MADÉ – http://www.eyemade.com/
GALLERY
GALERIE ESTHER WOERDEHOFF – http://www.ewgalerie.com/
SYNDICATION
http://readymade-images.com/
