Between Past and Present: Lucie Sassiat Explores Ker Marie with the Lomo'Instant Wide

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For a special project called Ker Marie, the French photographer Lucie Sassiat goes to discover an abandoned house haunted with memories, in the middle of the Britain wild landscape. She’s sharing with us her project and her impressions about our beloved instant camera, the Lomo'Instant Wide.

Photo : Lucie Sassiat

Hello Lucie! Could you please introduce yourself to the Lomography community?

My name is Lucie, I’m a French photographer since about 6 years. I’m from Brittany and mainly working in Paris.

What’s your story about photography?

It’s an art and a job I’ve learnt by myself because I’m passionate. When I was 25 years old, I decided to fully dedicate my life to this art. So I left my production assistant job in audiovisual media, I took pictures daily, and turned my desire in reality. I’m a complete self-taught woman and I’ll never stop learning or rest on my laurels. I’m always searching and experimentation. Britany is my first inspiration but not only because I’m lucky enough to travel a lot. I’m working with both analog and digital cameras, depending on the projects I’m working on.

Photos : Lucie Sassiat

Could you share with us your inspirations and tell us more about your crushes?

My last crushes are linked with the preparation and documentation period before the realisation of the project Ker Marie, my very last photographic project.

Could you tell us the story of your project called Ker Marie?

Ker Marie, it’s a photographic collaboration between 8 women. The departure point was a family house closed to the place where I grew up, on the peninsula of Rhuys. The house is the subject, the heart of the project. Confusingly, I see a kind of logic that first drive me to a place in particular, I refuse to treat it as a decoration, and I’m always having with this places a bit obscure relationships, I try to make the places brighter, somehow as I did with the series of Enfants Fantôme, exhibited in Paris in April 2014. My model is a kind of scout, and then I began to follow her.

Photo : Lucie Sassiat

Could you tell us more about the theme you’re exploring with your series?

The series is linked to a woman’s beauty and her fragility. The topics of anger, fear, boredom, joy, and excitement are also explored. All the rooms of Ker Marie show a mood of Marion, my model. She’s walking across the house, as she’s doing it in her mind. It’s a kind of ritual of life in a universe neither alive nor dead .

What difficulties did you face about this project? Some tipsters to give to the photographs who want to do a crowdfunding project?

I’ve learned a lot thanks to this experience, artistically and humanly. When you have a project in mind, you must never lose your goal, which is the success of the images you have in mind. This is not a question about your ego but of translation, and about the end of its artistic history. Do everything to realize your project.

My advice to all the creative people who want to do crowdfunding is: be well prepared, your project has to be cast-iron. Detail all your real needs. You really need to interest the public to support the project, it’ll create a community and will give motivation to the team.

Photos : Lucie Sassiat

Tell us more about the house. How did you find it?

Ker Marie, it’s a house I discovered in June 2011 during our location scouting for another series. The house is located in the Morbihan, in the front of the Brittany sea, where I grew up.

In winter 2015 we contacted the owners and met their grandson who kindly opened us the gates of Ker Marie kingdom. An incredible discovery. We’ve been directly inspired by the power of the place.

First the garden is full of very old trees, some of them uprooted. Wild green grass. A wild nature in a park of 7 hectares. Then the house, which is full of memories and secrets with magnificent architecture, carries the stories of people who’ve been there.

Photo : Lucie Sassiat

During the shooting, you had the Lomo’Instant Wide. Could you share with us how it was?

It’s a camera that is really easy to use for a nice, immediate result. You’re not disappointed. The camera is really luminous so easy to be used without flash inside. It was a real pleasure to use it. Indeed, I started to shoot earlier in the morning the house. I felt immediately comfortable about the settings and then I used it during the whole shooting.

What features did you like most? I liked to use the Splitzer to create doppelgangers of my model. It emphasized the dramaturgy of the series. That’s why I wanted to use the Lomo’Instant Wide during my project Ker Marie.

Photos : Lucie Sassiat

Does instant photography change your approach of photography?

They balance each other. First, in the heart of things: instant shots are immediately visible and are kind of doubles of digital shots. The way to perceive objects is really different. Instant shots are raw, the images can’t be retouched or framed. The second aspect, it’s the support provided by instant shots when you’re in the middle of the shooting. It’s a pleasure to get the images instantly, they’re kind of a “back-up” of what has been done. And one thing: instant shots are really motivating because you’re seeing, step by step, the ideas coming to life.

Photo : Lucie Sassiat

Other projects for 2016?

2016, now you know it, it’s the KER MARIE year. The series will be shown to the public in September. I’m also working on actors portraits, fashion, weddings and orders. I’m really lucky to have a varied job and to work on long projects and some that are shorter. Because of the social media channels, everything is getting faster. And the other huge project is a cookbook, which I’m working on with an incredible stylist and a famous name in gastronomy. My wishes? Keep on working with Lomography since I really want to try the Daguerreotype Achromat

Photo : Lucie Sassiat

See you soon Lucie and thank you for your time!

To know more about the Ker Marie, visit the Ulule page here ! And to discover the work of Lucie, visit her website, Facebook page or her Instagram account.

2016-06-24 #people #instant #showcase #instant-photography #lomo-instant-wide #instantshowcase

2 Comments

  1. jamjib
    jamjib ·

    Love all of these photos! So unique.

  2. neonlights
    neonlights ·

    Envy your skills!!! Very talented!

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