A young French photographer living in Paris, Sophie Etchart has a few parutions in different magazines around the world, such as Xfuns, FLUX, EFF, Monument, RAY, Office, DG, PEP!, ppaper, Codigo, Mink potential, Max Italy, revista DP, Let Them Eat Cake…
Shall Zou: Please describe yourself.
Sophie Etchart: Typic french girl, normal size with a grand mother from Mexico!! Wear glasses unfortunatelly, hate planes, love to read, doesn’t like alcool (hate wine and champagne!), not a big fan of food, hate coffee. Typic french so….
Shall Zou: What made you choose photography?
Sophie Etchart: I began to watch magazines when I was a teen. Mr Redon a graphist and Mr Dasse my cousin journalist both loved pictures and gave me beautiful mags as “Life” or “Zoom” and I met incredibles photographers inside. I felt this was my way to express myself.
Shall Zou: Which artist do you especially like and enjoy?
Sophie Etchart: Helmut Newton and Sarah Moon was the first I met in magazines when I was a teen and they gave me the need to do this work. Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, Dominique Issermann, Bogart, Hepburn …so many.
Shall Zou: Most people think that, in an artist’s life, childhood is the most important part, can you tell us about your childhood? What is your childhood dream?
Sophie Etchart: I’m the only child in my family and I lived in Paris so I staid a lot in my flat alone. I was all the time read to my encyclopedia, watching TV and listening music. I was a dreamer!
Shall Zou: Are there any special experiences?
Sophie Etchart: When I was not with my friends outside running or skating in the streets of Menimontant (where Piaf borned), I was playing alone so it opens the imagination I think.
Shall Zou: Could you describe your photo style? Are there a lot of symbolism in your editorials?
Sophie Etchart: About my photo style, just I’m still searching for it…and it probably take the rest of my time!!!
Symbolism: I like to use and distort my childhood’s memories, fairy tales (as I did with “Alice in wonderland” for a magazine) and I hope I could do more often shootings where I can be free to play with the stereotypes.
Shall Zou: In your creative process, what are you the most concerned about?
Sophie Etchart: I try to tell stories but with pics. For that I need a team to help me. It is very important for me to be surrended and supported and I ask a lot to the models, they do at least half of the picture. I am a maniac of details! and I try to be friend with light.
Thanks to Suarez, Preel, Thomas and Pagnoux and all the models.
Shall Zou: What are your biggest sources of inspiration?
Sophie Etchart: I think it is my childhood.I dream a lot so the pictures come most of the time like that. But it can be a detail in a movie or an inspiration in a book. When I was a teen, I watched a lot of old movies with Sofia Loren, Marylin Monroe, Brando, Newman most of the time movies in black and white and for sure all these movies are in my mind.
Elvis Presley too…
Shall Zou: What does photography mean to you?
Sophie Etchart: That’s the only place where I find well.
Shall Zou: What is the next?
Sophie Etchart: More pictures, more years alive and come to China (I dream to do a book about this huge country for so many years, all in black and white called “China” in reference to a Tori Amos song)
