Laurence van der Weid

Interview: Laurence van der Weid

By: Lena Waltenberger

Q: How did you become a photographer?

A: Globally I started accidently, I started in 2008. I bought a camera, then a better one. I started to take a lot of pictures from the street. I went to New York, in New York, I took a lot of pictures, I was never really sure of myself, but it was a beginning. At this moment, I was working in a communications agency, so I just did it as a hobby. I wasn’t very happy in my work. I didn’t feel it was the right thing for me to be doing.

Q: You come from Switzerland?

A: Yes I am from Switzerland but I've lived in Paris for ten years now. I was already in Paris for a long time, but I wasn’t happy in my job, so I wanted to have a break for two or three months and wanted to do a photography training, just to have a break. And when I found a good place to do that I had to wait a year because the program was already full. And this year was perfect for me because I started to think about what I really wanted to do and just two weeks before the training started I decided to leave my job and change my life completely. I did a 'formation' in Paris, which was very famous for young students, but they also have some fprograms for adults. The program I chose was to have an overview of all the things you can do in photography – from postproduction, reportage, studio, all of it. This was good, because it really gave me a complete overview.

Q: And which camera did you work with?

A: Digital always. But in this formation, we also worked with others. I dhadn't done that before. I was used to working with digital cameras. I am not very passionate about the technique; it’s more the result that I like. At the moment, I work with Canon 5D. But for my work in a monastery I needed a camera that was very silent, so I chose a compact, that make no noise at all, the quality is not quite the same, but for me what was important was to shoot with no noise.

Q: Tell me about your first project.

A: My first project was in a retirement home, I spent three months there as a volunteer. I made animation with them every afternoon. It was good to get into first contact with them and to enable them to get used to me because for them it was not possible to just arrive and say “Hello I am a photographer, I want to take pictures of you.” You need a little bit of interaction to build their confidence.

Q: So you arrived there with the intention to take pictures or it did just come while working there?

A: No when I took the pictures, I proposed to them to listen to music, they didn’t listen for a long time, and I took the pictures. And they could just forget about me and I could capture the expressions they had when they felt the emotion brought from the music.

Q: How did you come up with this idea?

A: I don’t know really how I arrived at this project, but at the same time I was doing pictures for my grandmother and she wanted to listen to Edith Piaf. I had some songs on my iPod and she was like “Oh what’s this – that’s beautiful!” And it’s true that old people don’t go with the evolution of the technique and if you don’t have an iPod they often don’t have the chance to listen to what they want.

Q: So you gave them the opportunity to listen to the music and then you took photos of them ?

A: No, I did ask them also if it’s okay for them if I take a picture when they listen to the music and I told them that I would love to take a picture of them.

Q: Did they immediately agree?

A: No some of them didn’t want to be photographed – they don’t feel beautiful. Some of them were okay with it, but with some it was a little hard. It was very interesting, I met a lot of great people. I stayed there for two months.

Q: Tell me about your work at the Monestary.

A: This was also in Switzerland, in the mountains, in 2012. I wanted to live with the religious woman, just to see how it was and what kind of life it was to dedicate all your life to God, to their beliefs. I spent 10 days with them, quite interesting. I really liked the atmosphere there and they were very, very nice to me. I could experience everything there, just walking around. I was free to be by myself or to stay with them and take the pictures I wanted. So I made a work of the day to day life of the religious woman.

Q: Was it hard to live there, what was it like?

A: First of all, I am not religious. All in all, it is a hard life, but I felt a good atmosphere there. Maybe because it was summer – the place was beautiful – in winter I imagine it is very hard, because it is very cold in the mountains. Maybe it would be interesting to make a work in winter, but in summer it was really nice. But I think it is great to do that once in a while in your life just to have a break, no distractions. With no phone, no internet, just stay there, like you're in retirement.

Q: You also do iPolaraoids, what is that?

A: I also started this in 2010. It’s just a day to day capturing of moments that I take with my iPhone. And I do some editing and it comes out with a regular theme. I like to do that; it is more fun – not a very serious thing. Something aesthetic.

Q: Now to the passengers – you went to Turkey?

A: In February I went to Istanbul to finish a piece that I had started in 2010. And I was very impressed, by the city of course, but also by the people, the faces. Because from their look – they have something in the eyes, something very special – that I've never felt any other place. And I remember very well, I was in the street – and I saw all those faces in the street – those incredible faces in the buses – like a painting – and I thought 'I have to take pictures of this'– and it really left an impression.

I spent five days in February taking the pictures. When I took the first pictures in 2010 I found out how fun it was to play with the natural frame from the window of the bus. It was perfect for a picture. And then there were a lot of things to do with all the reflection that you can see in the glasses of the window and to play with the light and then find a nice reflection. It was really chance that brought me the faces, the people, because of course you can’t control this – so I just chose different places in the city to see different kinds of people. Moreover to have nice light it was good to do it early in the morning or late in the evening but sometimes I did it also in the afternoon, because it was nice to play with the light and find places were the light is coming straight on the windows to have a good reflection on their faces. So it was a mixture of this and chance that brought me these people. Like the girl with the red hair, she came from nowhere.

Q: That’s my favorite I think.

A: Yeah, yeah … that’s the favorite of a lot of people.

Q: Do you have anymore projects coming up at the moment?

A: Well I am working on two other projects I started two years ago. I don’t know how it will turn out. But I am going to Istanbul soon, not especially to take pictures, but to take a break, maybe I'll take some pictures. But I don't have anything planned at the moment...

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