We’re back and spotlighting another excellent, non-professional shooter in our latest Featured Photophile. I can’t remember where I first came across the photos made by La Fille Renne, the nom de guerre of a young photo geek from Lyon, France, but she makes images that have really stuck with me.
Take a look, get inspired, and submit your own photos to our feature by tagging your social media posts with #featuredphotophile.
Enjoy!
Hello there – please introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi! I’m La Fille Renne, a film photographer and osteologist from France. I am 27 years old and I love natural science, selling plushies that I make, post-rock, tea, Cervidae, sea, traveling, and body modifications. Film photography has an important place in my life.
When did you start shooting? What’s your favorite camera?
I grew up in a family with a father and a grandfather who did film photography, and I always saw a lot of old cameras and black-and-white prints at home. I had my first compact film camera at ten years old. At the end of adolescence I moved to digital with a compact, a bridge camera, and then a DSLR. It allowed me to learn, to exercise myself and to define what I like.
After a few years I started to stagnate. I was using my very nice Canon EOS 7D and I found my pictures to be pretty, but quite flat. I saw more and more photographers on Flickr using film, and I loved the results. I first tried my return to film with a plastic camera (Lomography La Sardina), then a Canon AE-1 Program. With this camera, it was love at first sight. It follows me everywhere and always gives me the results I expect. Since that time, I think I found my favorite camera, my way into photography and I try to develop this passion more and more.
What type of film do you use?
I use more 35mm film than 120. I’m a colour film person. Usually, I use cheap film with great colors like Fuji Superia, Kodak Gold or Lomography. I really like the results of professional films like Kodak Portra or Fuji Pro 400H, but it’s too expensive for everyday use. I also use special film sometimes, like Lomochrome, Redscale, Revolog or Alterlogue. And for cross-processing, I use slide films like Agfa CT Precisa 100, Kodachrome or Fujichrome. And I like to try expired film I find at the flea market, and instant film sometimes.
What are your favorite subjects?
My favorite subjects are people. I love working with humans, and I always try to capture a secret part of what people are, and what make them unique. I also like to take photographs during my travels or my everyday life.
Why do you shoot film? Do you also shoot digital? What do you think about the argument between film and digital?
Analog pictures are so different to digital ones, with the grain, that depth. Film is real; it’s not just digital files. The choices of combinations between film cameras and emulsions are infinite; this can lead to endless experimentation. I like experimentation so much with film – like film swapping, trying very old expired films, cross processing, double exposure…
Also, film cameras are often beautiful and I like hearing their mechanisms when I take a picture. I also like the surprise when I discover the results on a new roll, with unpredictable effects and forgotten subjects.
Because of all this, I rarely shoot digital, it’s just not my thing. I don’t take part in this war between digital and film, I think that people should just shoot with what they prefer.
What is unique about your work, and how do you achieve your results?
I like to experiment with old or odd cameras, or different types of film to achieve different and sometimes crazy results. And I like to think that I can find the best of people and show that in their portraits.
Sunlight and 50mm lens are my main ingredients. I take my time for every shot. I do a lot of tests, mixing cameras and films or techniques to see what works best. When I organize a photo shoot, I don’t think too much before. I go to the shoot and I wait to see how the place and the model are. Then the ideas come gradually.
Where do you hope your photography goes from here?
I hope that my pictures will reach the greatest number of people, and maybe bring me new collaborations.
Do you have any advice for new photographers?
Be patient, practice a lot, don’t be scared to experiment and always take your camera(s) with you!
You can see more of La Fille Renne’s photography lots of places, including – her website, her blog, Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Lomography.
[All photos used with permission.]
Many thanks to La Fille Renne for sharing her work with us. If you’d like to have your photos featured on Casual Photophile, tag your photos with #featuredphotophile on any social media post, or send a message to Contact@FStopCameras.com.
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Again a great piece in this series, really like the dreamy feel of some of the images here.