BRIGITTE LACOMBE. Acclaimed photographer Brigitte Lacombe

Transcription

1 INTERVIEW BRIGITTE LACOMBE Acclaimed photographer Brigitte Lacombe Interviewed in New York for Oryx Premium by Ayesha Khan When renowned photographer Brigitte Lacombe was a teenager, she decided to drop out of high school to work at ELLEí s black-and-white photo lab. This, as it would turn out, was the best decision sheí d ever make. ì I had a little white lab coat and I was like their little mascot; I was just 17,î she chuckles as we sit down to talk in the quaint urban garden of her Lower East Side studio. She is dressed in her signature all black and speaks with a purposeful eloquence. Things moved quickly at ELLE, and before she was 20 Lacombe found herself assisting Patrick Demarchelier and other renowned photographers. One of these talents had a great impact on the budding young photographer. Her name was Jeanette Leroy, and although she is known today more for her painting than her photography, she was one of only a few women in an industry dominated by men. ì She was so interesting as a woman ñ so independent, so smart and unconventional. She had a huge in uence on me. I became her assistant for just a year and a half, when she decided not to be a photographer anymore and put me in the hands of the art director. Instead of having to work my way to the top, I was immediately assigned to great stories and very quickly to covers,î Lacombe recalls. According to Lacombe, the true turning point in her career came when she was assigned to cover the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in ì I was very interested in lm, and my family had a house in Cannes, so they thought, ë Well, at least she has a place to stayí,î she explains. A meeting with American lm legend Dustin Hoffman at the festival would completely change Lacombeí s career trajectory. She soon found herself in the USA as a special invited photographer on All the Presidentí s Men. ì Today ití s hard to imagine, but it was much easier because there were not all the people who are around today, like all the PR people; even very big stars didní t have that. Maybe Elizabeth Taylor did, but people like Dustin Hoffman were much more accessible,î she recalls. Soon the lm assignments began pouring in, and in 1986 a new magazine called CondÈ Nast Traveler offered her a travel photography contract. Lacombe split her time between the worldí s most exotic destinations and the worldí s most prestigious lm sets, LACOMBE ON LIGHT Of course, as a photographer I am always in search of the best light, and I must say I found that in Iceland. It was extraordinary. It was in June or July, the longest periods of daylight in the year. I was doing a lm poster for Prometheus. I remember working at 8pm and doing portraits of Michael Fassbender and being stunned by the light and how beautiful it was. There is also something quite beautiful about the light in the south of France....ON TRAVEL I have a couple of essentials when it comes to what to pack for a trip ñ almonds and something to read. Ií ve been trapped in many, many places, and found that as long as I have these two items, I am just ne. In terms of travel cameras, I would say that if I wasní t a professional photographer Ií d just take photos with my iphone. It works so well, ití s just perfect. 26 Oryx Premium September 2013

2 Meryl Streep 27

3 INTERVIEW THE MOST STRIKING PERSON THAT I EVER MET WAS NELSON MANDELA. I HAD JUST FINISHED READING HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND HIS BIOGRAPHY, SO I WAS VERY ABSORBED IN HIS LIFE AT THAT TIME. working with the likes of Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese, and Sam Mendes. She became friends with Hollywood heavyweights from Meryl Streep to Robert De Niro. But it s one brief encounter with a truly transformative figure that Lacombe will remember forever. The most striking person that I ever met was Nelson Mandela, Lacombe explains. I had just finished reading his autobiography and his biography, so I was very absorbed in his life at that time. It was in Johannesburg at his home, and it was a very brief photo shoot, maybe about 15 minutes or so. Just that moment of taking a portrait of him was so extraordinary. It happens very rarely to be in the presence of someone that you know is very much out of the ordinary. Another extraordinary moment for Lacombe was her first time in Qatar. She was invited to the opening of the Museum of Islamic Art, and through the Martin Scorsese Film Foundation, had been introduced to HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani. Egypt LACOMBE ON TRAVEL I have only one contract in my life and it s with Condé Nast Traveler. Since they started 27 years ago they ve dispatched me all over the world, so I ve travelled all my life. I was just in Lecce in the south of Italy, which is a very beautiful baroque little town. There are extraordinary buildings and churches. I realise now that I don t know Europe as well as I should. I am now on my way to Kashmir, which I am very excited about. One of the most memorable travel experiences I ve had was in Casablanca. I was walking around the city on my own, and just at the end of the day, at dusk, I stumbled upon the camel market. It was so shocking to see all these dead camels. On both sides, all I saw is these long camel necks and heads. It was startling and beautiful. That image is just impossible to forget, and that s why you travel, for moments like this. 28 Oryx Premium September 2013

4 Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg, South Africa,

5 INTERVIEW 1 I DIDN T KNOW MUCH ABOUT SPORTS AND SPORTS FIGURES, SO IT WAS A VERY INTERESTING DISCOVERY FOR ME. I LOVE TO GO INTO A WORLD I DON T KNOW, AND IT PROVED TO BE AN ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC PROJECT ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING I HAVE WORKED ON. 2 3 QMA Hey'Ya Arab Women in Sport, Sarra Besbes, Tunisia Fencing 2 Sudan Running Team 3 Bahiya Al-Hamad and Shaikha Al Mohammed, Qatar Rifle Shooting The young Sheikha was interested in launching a film festival. We started a conversation with the festival directors about what image they d like to have for the festival, so I proposed to do portraits of filmmakers from the Arab world. We decided to reverse the proportion of filmmakers from the Arab world and the West so that it was more of an Arab filmmakers festival. No festival has ever had the means, the vision, or the dedication to stay with a project like that. We made 640 billboardsize portraits leading through the desert to the festival. It became the envy of all the other festivals. It was an extraordinary opportunity to start at the very beginning of a project, explains Lacombe, who is still involved with the prestigious festival. The team Lacombe and her sister Marian paired up for another project during the Arab Games in late They set up their own studio in the Athletes Village to capture the personalities and showcase the talents of Arab women in sport, creating local sporting heroes. This was a poignant subject since the very next summer would mark the first time that Saudi Arabia allowed women to compete in the Olympic Games. Aptly, the exhibition opened that summer of 2012 at Sotheby s, and since then has made its way around the world, to Doha and Manchester. I didn t know much about sports and sports figures, so it was 30 Oryx Premium September 2013

6 I am film DFI 1 Hiam Abbass 2 Hany Abu-Assad 3 Haifaa al-mansour 4 Elia Suleiman a very interesting discovery for me. I love to go into a world I don t know, and it proved to be an absolutely fantastic project one of the most interesting I have worked on. This project wasn t about top celebrity athletes at all: it wasn t about the most famous and the best. The idea from Sheikha Mayassa was to inspire all young girls to compete and do sports, Lacombe explains. The exhibition, which recently closed in Doha, is currently on a world tour. At 62, Lacombe is showing no signs of slowing down. My life is my work! she exclaims. I don t have other things I do on the side or a family, so I am absolutely focused on my work. She is immersed in several new projects, including her third book. She was also a special photographeron Martin Scorsese s highly anticipated upcoming film The Wolf of Wall Street, Spike Jonze s Her, and David O.Russell s American Hustle. LACOMBE ON GALLERIES My recommendations for which museums or galleries to visit in the world are not the usual places that have been beautified or redone. Of course if you re in Paris in my native France, you must go to the Louvre, but I love places like the museum in Cairo. It is just an enchantment, the atmosphere is just incredible. I also remember being in the main museum in Aleppo, Syria. Everything just takes a different value and emotion in these types of places. Having said that, I will tell you that I still love the Metropolitan Museum of Art in my home, New York. If you want to escape the crowds, just don t go to the blockbuster galleries. I also love the Guggenheim because of the beauty of the architecture. 31

7 مقابلة Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, New York, NY, Oryx Premium September 2013

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9 مقابلة Oryx Premium September 2013

10 بريجيت لاكومب أجرت المقابلة لمجلة «المها بريميم» عاي شة خان في نيويورك 35