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An iPhoneographer from France, Benedicte captures Paris’ streets beautifully. With every photo Benedicte presents there is a story that unfolds poetically. Benedicte has quickly become one of my favorite iPhone street photographers.
This is the iPhoneography story of Benedicte Guillon…
(7:45 PM)
EC: Where are you from? Tell me about yourself?
BC:I was born in South Korea but I grew up in the west of France. I arrived in Paris three years ago.
EC: How did you get into iPhoneography?
BC: I had my iPhone at the end of 2009. At that time, I just didn’t know anything about iPhoneography. And as I was randomly browsing the Apple store, I found Polarize, then ShakeIt, then ToyCamera, and finally Hipstamatic. I then started to take photos on my way to work. At that time, I made a lot of subway portraits I started to post on Flickr where I found a great community of very talented iPhoneographers. I kept on shooting people in the street, people like me in their everyday trajectories, and I began to feel the possibilities of expressing myself in an emotional way.
(Abbesses)
EC: What does iPhoneography mean to you?
BC: iPhoneography represents a great freedom to me that resides in the simple action of finding images to catch. It’s spontaneous and natural. I cannot really explain why it looks easier, it simply is for me.
EC: Do you have any formal training regarding traditional photography?
BC: I don’t have any training. When I was younger, I used to take photos with a little minox 35, which were spontaneous shots of people around me. That’s my early and only relation to traditional photography.
(Escalating)
EC:What about your hometown is so special that it makes you what to capture it through your iPhone?
BC: Before living in Paris, I lived in many different places. I think Paris is the only city where I feel like returning, the only place I feel like home. It just fits me.
EC: Who or what are your artistic influences?
BC: Lots of things influence me, in literature, music or photography. It’s a question of vision, whatever the way to express it. I could talk about Cendrars, Brautigan, Carver, Pessoa or other young talented French poets like Thomas Vinau I follow on the net. In photography, I could mention the classic references but I prefer talking about people like Sion who really has his own poetry, I admire Misho Baranovic for his strong sincerity and the emotional power of his photography. I think Flickr is a wonderful place and I thank all the contacts I had the chance to meet, people who have influenced and inspired me from the very start.
To finish, a special thanks to Florence Vincenot who supports and guides me, and whose music and poetry fill my days since I had the chance to have her in my life.
(Running Along The Rivers)
EC: Did you ever expect your work to be noticed by the iPhoneography community?
BC: To be honest no! I remember the first comments Sion left me in some of my photos and I just couldn’t believe it…
EC: What has been the most surprising or most predictable reaction from people to your iPhotographs?
BC: “didn’t know iPhone could do that!”
(Sacre Coeur)
EC: What’s in your iPhone camera bag? What app(s) do you currently use the most often?
BC: I don’t process a lot my photos. I use Swankolab a lot, TiltShiftGen, PhotoForge, CameraBag, Gipstamatic, CrossProcess. Recently I bought InfiniCam and Filterstorm but I haven’t really used them yet.
EC: What other thoughts would you like to share?
BC: Just a big thanks to you and all the people who believe and promote iPhoneography. I think of iPhoneography.com, life in lofi, eyeem…You guys are doing a great job and I think you’re making the movement living and possible.
(Solitary Days)
Thank you Benedicte for participating in this feature here on iPhoneogenic, the iPhoneogenic Facebook Page, and on Twitter @iPhone0genic. I’m pleased and very honored to have you on my blog.
For more on Benedicte check out these links:
Tumblr: http://iphoneographic.tumblr.com
Flicker: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iphoneographic
Twitter:iphoneographic@twitter.com
All images shown here are copyrighted property of the artist, please contact Benedicte Guillon for copyright privileges.
iPhoneogenic: iPhoneography | Mobile Photography 