COLETTE DER KINDEREN. 04

Interviews

Jan 31

PEOPLE & NATURE

BARCELONA, SPAIN

After following her life-long dream of becoming a photographer Colette hasn’t looked back. Colette is a devoted student of nature and people - two elements intimately portrayed and seamlessly interwoven throughout her photography. In this interview Colette shares her journey into film photography, her approach to shooting and why being challenged is important.

Published on 31st January 2022

Hi Colette! Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Hii! Sure! So I am Colette, I’m a Dutch freelance photographer living in Barcelona. I mainly shoot fashion, lifestyle and nature on film. I always wanted to be a photographer.. I studied business, worked in marketing all to become a photographer in the end. Im addicted to running and potato chips, so I’m glad those two balance each other out ;)

Where did your journey as a photographer begin, and how long have you been shooting with film?

I was born in the 80’s so my journey with film photography started when I was a kid. I was always walking around with my Fisher-price plastic indestructible camera. Then as a teenager that turned into disposable cameras and then the phone took over for a while, but when I moved to Barcelona I was given a Canon AE1 and endless stock of expired fuji and I got obsessed.

This hobby turned out to be a passion that has always been present, but never properly explored until these last few years. I started shooting film and learning as I went, but I found that as I shared my work I received positive responses to what I was doing and that was when I started to notice my progress. I found out that slowly but surely I was able to make money from photography, but I didn’t fully commit to it until I felt comfortable with the level of my photography. By that point there was literally no other way for me anymore - I had to give this a shot, life is too short to not try to live it in the purest way and this passion is what I love spending my time on most now. This was only last march so I’m still both terrified and happier than ever haha! So I started my photography career shooting film and it is still and will always be my favorite way of shooting, the entire process is peaceful and exciting to me.

Your work features a wide range of portraits and intimate natural settings, how do you develop a relationship with your subjects?

I take portraits of people, and nature. Since I was little I have had a very strong relationship with nature. I have always been aware of the natural world around me and our place in it. When I was little, I used to spend my summers on a mountain in the South of France running around, being free to do as I liked for weeks at a time. My grandma used to pick berries with us and teach us about the things we could eat from the forest. I was always investigating all the flowers, little bugs and anything I could catch. I even asked for a microscope when I was six years old, which I still have ;).

When I shoot in a natural setting, the relationship with the model tends to come naturally. You usually have a drive to the location which gives you the chance to talk and to get to know each other. You are in a beautiful setting which is calming and usually there aren’t a lot of people around, so it’s intimate enough for someone to get comfortable.

I don’t have a certain strategy when it comes to photographing people, I just try to connect and learn about them. I’m a genuinely curious person and I have always been interested in learning about other people, so I just be myself.

Do you have a particular approach to shooting? Is there intention behind the photographs you take?

I have a particular approach, which is very near to my personality, that I’ve learned to implement overtime with some discipline, to become a better photographer.

I basically do what I feel in the moment. I like experimenting with new things, but I usually make them up as I go. I guess I’m not a very calculated photographer, much more intuitive. When I ‘m on a shoot, I tend to soak up the vibe and do what I feel. It’s not on purpose, but that is just how I am as a photographer. Although I can admire a technically beautifully executed photograph with a calculated composition very much, and sometimes I try to work that way, I know that isn’t my natural style. However, to counteract that, over time I have learned to plan ahead as much as possible in order to be able to better direct a shoot and not completely forget about the objectives. I have my mood-boards clear, the shots I want to take and usually with enough time ahead. So I have these in my head while shooting and I check in on them them during the shoot after getting lost in the moment.

On the topic of subjects, what is your favourite subject to photograph and why? 

I am restless, so this is always changing. Something I will always love is shooting nature and especially flowers. But since I have done that for so long, I now enjoy photographing people a lot more, especially fashion. I will always keep on challenging myself, I would die of boredom if I had to pick one subject for the rest of my life! Although that would probably make me better and perfect my skills, I am much more eclectic than that.

There is often a story behind the photograph, so we asked if you could share a story with us behind one of your photographs. You kindly obliged and selected this shot (below) taken in the Pyreness and told the story via audio:

What camera do you enjoy shooting with most, and what gear is a must have on a shoot for you?

A camera with battery and film, that’s the must have gear! Apart from that, there is a lot of add-ons depending on the shoot. Lately I can’t live without my wide lenses.

Depends on where you are and what you are doing, but when shooting people it is always good to have a source of light or something to manipulate it, It can even be just a reflector.

I enjoy shooting with my Pentax 645nii lately. But I just got a new toy that I haven’t been able to try out properly yet, where I can use all my digital Canon lenses. But sometimes it’s nice to just do whatever with a point & shoot, or go back to the old ways with a Rolleiflex. I can’t pick one of my babies! hahah

Do you have a film stock in particular you love to shoot with, or do you like to test different stocks out?

I want to try out everything and experiment with it. There is not one stock that works for everything, although Kodak Portra 400 is a staple. For my personal rolls shot in nature I’ve always liked Kodak Gold 200, it works very well with the Mediterranean light specifically. I have shot very little black and white, could get into that a bit more. I also have a friend who makes his own rolls, which seems like something I have to look into.

Why is film photography important to you? 

It is something I finally found that I’ve enjoyed enough to not get bored or tired of and because of that I got better at it. I mean, as a kid it happens with many things, but as an adult getting to see yourself make progress in something that you utterly enjoy, I feel like that is special. That typically only happens to me with running… I made progress when I was working in marketing, or studying at university, but I didn’t do that out of pleasure.

Your work features high-contrast images and soothingly warm tones - is it something intentional you strive towards?

Actually I didn’t realise the contrast thing until you told me! I guess it’s something I unconsciously lean towards in my retouching. The warm tones are usually just what I prefer and when shooting in nature, the golden hours etc.. So yeah it’s definitely a preference but then again, I’ve noticed that lately I’m being drawn more and more towards images with cooler tones. I study them to see how they made it work so well. Warm soothing tones is ‘easy liking’, so when a picture is perfect with a much cooler bluer tone, I want to find out why and how, that’s a new challenge.

If you could give advice to your past-self about taking photographs, what would that advice be? 

Hmmm I’m pretty happy with how I went… I think I learnt a lot in a short period of time. See that’s why I like being a photographer, it went naturally and without any regrets. Because my advice would be to not stop taking photographs - and I never did. Try new things, find new challenges - and I always did that too. My advice to myself now is to not be impatient and want everything now, enjoy the learning process at a steady pace.

Which photographers would you say have been an inspiration for you?

There have been so many and not one in particular, I’ve been like a sponge in this subject just picking up everything I could from many different sources. Some names that come to mind from when I wasn’t taking as much photos myself - Ed van der Elsken, Vivian Maier and Annie Liebowitz. Since I’ve started shooting more, it has been people closer to me who have inspired me like Ferran Tudela, who gave me an analog camera again after many years of not using one. Joan Divi, my most talented friend who is always looking for something ‘different’ and pushes me to do better. My sister, who studied photography but didn’t make a career out of it, made me realise how photographing was such a force of nature for me.

If you were a character from the tv show The Office, who would you be?

So I had to think about that and apparently there is a scientific test you can do that tells you who you are! So I did one some time ago and it said I was Holly Flax. Then I did another one and I turned out to be Jim Halpert, So I guess I got a little less crazy along the way, hahah. Not sure if that’s a good thing though, might mean I’m getting boring!

Lastly, what has been your biggest take away from being a photographer?  

You can only show what you see, don’t try to show something you are not. You can and have to, evolve and try new things, but what makes a picture real and therefore touching is that little bit of yourself you add to it.