Meet Photographer Matthieu Venot
Matthieu Venot (@matthieuvenot) is a France-based photographer who specializes in minimalist architectural and landscape photography.
Interviewer Alexi Ueltzen (@alexi) is Ello’s Community Evangelist. If she’s not at the office, she’s probably swimming, getting muddy with her dogs or baking cookies. Seriously. The best cookies.
Tell us a little about your background. How did you get interested in photography?
I do not have a lot of experience before starting in 2014. I always liked to create. Before I did it with music then I did not have any inspiration so I stopped in 2010. in 2013, I felt the need to start again and the photo appeared to me as natural. I love to walk and discover new places.
Where do you go for inspiration?
Internet is a good source of inspiration. I look at what other photographers, illustrators, graphic artists and painters do. I think I mix all that in my head and it comes out when I take pictures then.
How did you develop your distinctive, minimalist style?
I like to understand a picture easily. I like to capture a part of a landscape or a building to keep only what seems to me the most important. It can be an information, a form, a color that gives me the most emotion, which carries me the most.
What advice do you have for beginner photographers?
I would say you have to be curious and never stop taking pictures, all the time. The eye sharpens and we see different things with experience.
What’s next for you? Are there any new mediums you want to explore? Any projects you want to tackle?
I have many new projects yes. Places I would like to go in order to continue a project I have on landscapes. I'm learning how to make landscape pictures in my own way. It is very difficult for me to make scenery because a beautiful landscape is beautiful, we take it, we are happy but I like to make beautiful what is banal, that is my difficulty.
I would like to explore the old photographic processes, I would like to print myself in gelatin silver process.
I would also like to introduce music into my works, perhaps according to the series. To add more emotions to the images.
What are your thoughts on social media, and how it helps or hurts artists today? Specifically, can you share some thoughts on Ello?
I started with social networks so I find it great. It is direct, I put my photos and I immediately reactions. To ello what I adore is the variety of artists. A lot of graphic designer with gifs, I think it really is the strength of ello and it's very simple to use.
Who are some of your favorite artists on Ello?
J'aime beaucoup élise mesner @elisemesner. The photographer matt niblock and visual artist Briahna esquivel. This is a very good platform with great artists.
What camera gear do you use, if you don’t mind us asking?
I started with an iPhone then a digital camera, a canon 5d2. Then for some time, I use 35mm film and now a 500cm hasselblad. I discover and I love chemistry, Exposing a film to the light create an image, I find it magical. But I think the gear does not matter at all. A good photo remains a good photo, whether with an iPhone or an 8x10 view camera.
When you travel, what do you take with you?
I like to use a specific device for a place but to not miss anything, I take a digital camera, a 35mm, a 6x6 and my tripod.
What do you do when you’re not taking photos?
I spent a lot of my time with my family.
You can follow Matthieu on Ello, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook and Flickr.
#ellointerviewseries
