Lise Guillon & Emile Garcon : Promising young talents.
Born in Brittany, Emile Garçon is a director, photographer and the author of a first novel. At the age of 19, he left for Lebanon to photograph the revolution. He made a second photographic series on film sets. At the same time, he directed short films in Verdun, Paris and Burgundy and won several awards in festivals.
Lise Guillon was born in Libourne. Director and photographer, she travels between the South-West of France and China and made her first photographic series in Hong Kong. In 2018, she left for the Guangxi to photograph the Miao populations. She then exhibited her work for the benefit of the NGO Children of the Mekong. In 2021, following her meeting with Theo Padnos, a former Al Qaeda hostage, she directed her first documentary film.
If nothing predestined them to meet, they form today a very complementary duo. On the occasion of “Planches Contact”, Lise Guillon and Emile Garçon made the city of Deauville the theater of a break-up. A short film in the style of a photo novel, only using analog film, they tell us the story of a couple of photographers who get tired and crumble. Young people who take pictures of themselves without knowing that they are capturing their last moments together.
Instagram : lise.gills
Your first photographic trigger?
Emile : Lebanon in 2019, it was the beginning of the revolution in Beirut and on a whim I left with a friend and a canon 5D.
Lise : Hong Kong, I lived there for 4 years and that’s where I discovered analog photography.
The man or woman in the picture who inspires you?
Emile : Ingmar Bergman
Lise : Antonioni
The image that you would have liked to realize ?
Emile : The image of the back of the father after too much partying in The Dolce Vita.
Lise: The portrait of Rodin by George Charles Beresford.
The one that moved you the most?
Lise: Depardieu falling to his knees in Pialat’s film Sous le Soleil de Satan.
Emile: The final dance in Zorba The Greek.
The one that made you angry?
Lise : The war series of Catherine Leroy
Emile: All James Cameron’s movies.
A key image in your personal pantheon?
Lise: All the images of Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of the Sexual Dependency.
Emile: The skies in Soigne ta droite.
A photographic memory from your childhood?
Emile : A photo taken by my father: of my brother with a dead bird in his hands in the middle of the long dark hallway of an old vacation home.
Lise : The portrait of Alfred Hitchcock with his birds by Philippe Halsman, hanging above my bed.
The image that obsesses you?
Lise : The Turin Horse by Bela Tar.
Emile : The piano scene in Sonate d’Automne.
With no budget limit, what would be the work you would dream of acquiring?
Lise: Any work by Egon Schiele.
Emile: Caravaggio’s The Incredulity of St. Thomas, anything by Goya, and a concert of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion of Karajan.
In your opinion, what is the necessary quality to be a good photographer?
Emile: To be always right in his choice of focal length surely.
Lise: You have to be on the move.
The secret of the perfect image, if it exists?
Lise & Emile : God only knows.
The person you would like to photograph?
Emile : Fellini.
Lise : Bob Dylan.
An indispensable photo book?
Emile : The picture book.
Lise : HK:PM by Greg Girard
The camera of your childhood?
Emile : My Nintendo DSi.
Lise : A canon 1200d.
The one you use today?
Lise : A Minolta xd-7 and a Ricoh GRII
Emile : The Xpan of dad.
Your favorite drug?
Emile : Good music.
Lise : Pizza
The best way to disconnect for you?
Lise : Flea markets and long walks.
Emile : Brittany.
What is your relationship with the image?
Emile: “You are everything… everything! You are the first woman of the first day of creation. Sei la madre, la sorella, l’amante, l’amica, l’angelo, il diavolo, la terra, la casa… Ah, ecco cosa sei: la casa!” – from Dolce vita-.
Your latest act of craziness?
Lise : To photograph with analog film, a financial madness.
Emile : I’m not crazy.
An image to illustrate a new banknote?
Emile : Adolf Hitler
The job you wouldn’t have liked to do?
Emile: Elon Musk’s.
Lise: President.
Your greatest professional extravagance?
Lise: Putting makeup on a dead animal for a shoot.
Emile: Having a stomach bug during half of a shoot.
What are the differences between photography and art photography?
Lise & Emile : The Capital.
The city, country or culture you dream of discovering?
Emile : The Tuva region in Russia, for its rivers and its mythical throat songs.
Lise : Hunan.
The place you never get tired of?
Lise : The movie theaters.
Emile : The skies of Finistère.
Your biggest regret?
Emile : Not doing enough.
Lise: Dropping a Leica M6, which was not mine.
In terms of social networks, are you more Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok or Snapchat and why?
Lise : Instagram
Emile: Nothing, death to the internet.
Color or B&W?
Emile: Black and white straight up.
Lise: Black and white too.
Daylight or artificial light?
Lise : Natural light, without artifices.
Emile : Daylight.
What do you think is the most photogenic city?
Emile : Naples!
Lise : Hong Kong.
If God existed, would you ask him to pose for you, or would you opt for a selfie with him?
Emile: It reminds me of Naples, with a friend on top of Vesuvius, the sun was setting and we both had our cameras. In the end no picture was taken, there are things that are not made to be captured by a camera.
Lise: I would have him take the picture.
If I could organize your ideal dinner, who would be at the table?
Lise: Wing Shya, Agnes Varda, Roger Waters, Apitchapong Weerasethakul and Anouk Aimée.
Emile: Max Pam, Stefano de Luigi, Rosalie Revoyre, Stanislas Augris, Diana Lui, my friends from Meudon and from the cinema and then a lot of alcohol.
The image that represents for you the current state of the world?
Emile: Hail Sarajevo.
Lise: The burning forests of Brazil by Salgado.
What is missing in today’s world?
Lise & Emile : Authors.
If you had to start all over again?
Lise & Emile : Oh the anguish.
The word of the end?
Lise & Emile : E la nave va.
