Where Documentary Meets Fashion Photography: A Conversation with Jeanne Lucas

5 Jun

Written By Ellen Stone

June 5th, 2023

By Anna Prudhomme @annaprudhomme

On the boundary between documentary and fashion photography, 23-year-old French photographer Jeanne Lucas aims to appropriate their respective codes and transcend them; showing the audience the intersection between true and false, right and wrong.

Undoubtedly a photographer to watch - many of Jeanne’s personal projects have been picked up for publication. She has shot for magazines such as ODDA, The Collector, and Glamcut; she had also photographed for brands such as Le Ritz Paris and Love Stories Intimate. Writer Anna Prudhomme caught up with the much-in-demand Jeanne, as she prepares the final stages of publishing her first photobook, Youles.

Anna Prudhomme: To start Jeanne, how did you get introduced to photography?

Jeanne Lucas: I started photography at the age of thirteen in the town where I grew up near La Rochelle [France]. I used to borrow clothes from stores and organise mini photoshoots with my friends when I wasn't at school. Later on, I began volunteering as a photographer at the town's concert hall and caught the attention of some artists, who asked me to shoot for them. I also got spotted by a troupe of magicians, who invited me to join them on tour.

During this time, I explored various genres… fashion, documentary, as well as still-life photography. Soon my passion grew stronger and it became a more serious pursuit for me!

AP: How did you get your first camera?

JL: I first got my father's Canon camera, which he used to take family photos. At fourteen, when my parents realised that photography was a serious business for me, they offered me one for my birthday.

What interested me was discovering the medium and training my eye. I was always looking for the right framing, taking lots of photos of the same thing, until I figured out the right angle or an expression I liked in people's faces. Basically, my SD card was always full [she laughs]

AP: And so you went on tour with magicians?

JL: Yes, well when I was 14, I already thought I was a real photographer. That's when I had my first exhibition. In my town, there's this great photographic center, La Villa Perochon, which organised photographic meetings every summer. Initially, I wasn't allowed to participate because it was exclusively for high school students. But I had some girlfriends who managed to get me in. So I took my first photography classes that way - and at the end of it, there was an exhibition. So word got around town that I was taking pictures.

One of my mother's patients was a magician looking for someone to take photos at his shows. So I followed his troupe all over France, and it lasted until I was 18 years old. That experience really got me out of my comfort zone. I also did it with singers I'd met in this concert hall and who'd taken me to music festivals.

“For me, it was my job. If I could skip school to take photos, I'd do it without hesitation! ”

I started selling my work and on Facebook, I had a page with I don't know how many thousands of subscribers and would post announcements for photoshoots and portrait sessions. I would then take the train, spend a day working, receive cash payments, and return home.

A lot of people didn't take me seriously back then… my family, my friends, my teachers. But my pocket money already came from photography. When I was doing photography at weddings, I could earn €1,000 a day. For me, it was my job. If I could skip school to take photos, I'd do it without hesitation!

AP: What inspires you the most?

JL: To be honest, I discovered what my photographic universe is not that long ago. And I think I'll still be discovering it for a long time to come.

Last June, during my final exam, I realised that what interested me in people was what I didn't know. There are a lot of photographers who do autobiographical projects and talk about themselves. That's not at all how I experience photography. For me, it's a pretext for learning, studying, and discovering things.

I love reaching out to people who don't fit my profile. Whether it's physically, or with life experiences that intrigue me. I love people who embody a character or are outsiders. They always have something to say, and that's my real source of inspiration.

“I love people who embody a character or are outsiders.”

AP: Who are the photographers you like most? Do you find inspiration in other people’s work?

JL: For a long time, I didn't have any real references, even though I took a lot of courses on the history of photography. And I remember that every time I was asked this question and mentioned I wasn’t working that way, people would say to me, “That's not possible, a young photographer is bound to have references.”

There are people whose life journey I really love, but not necessarily their work. And others whose work I like, but only because it resonates with a particular moment in my life. Right now, I'd say Guen Fiore [an Italian fashion photographer based in London] is my reference in photography. I really like the documentary aspect of her photos, which is what I'm currently looking for in mine. But in a year's time, it probably won't be her anymore.

“That's not at all how I experience photography. For me, it's a pretext for learning, studying, and discovering things.”

Then Frida Kahlo, for example it's her story, her journey that transcends me completely - I recognise myself in her strength. It also made me understand my own energy… what’s burning inside. And it’s by discovering her story that I understood that.

I must admit, Franca Sozzani [the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia], is my icon. She's the one who helped me unlock this idea that you can make fashion by telling stories. You can make fashion by shocking, by making documentaries, by denouncing. I think she will be a reference for the rest of my life.

AP: What is the “Jeanne Lucas photography style”?

JL: Well… it’s about documentary and fashion. I like to play and mix photographic genres. For a very long time, I wasn't in agreement with myself because I could only separate the two. I went to photography school, where you learn that you must choose between the two. But I soon realised that when I did fashion shoots, I always looked for the story behind, the documentary part of it.

But my practice is also about the true and the false. I play with people's ideas of my photographic technique. I shoot digital, but everyone thinks I'm doing analogue because of my image processing, and I admit I have a lot of fun with that.

AP: What is your secret photographic trick?

JL: I've developed a blank film, scanned it, and extracted the grain. I then add it to my images in post-production. And for my colour palette, I process colour by colour to get warm and sunny tones as this is what I find beautiful.

AP: You are on the verge of publishing a book called Youles about the economic-sexual exchange in France, could you talk us through that project?

JL: More than four years ago, I started to get interested in sexual exchanges in France. My grandfather grew up in Paris and, as a child, he would shop for the prostitutes of his neighbourhood. He had this positive image of the profession, which he talked about a lot and that had nothing to do with what most people might think. When I was very young, I then met the American photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood and fell in love with her work Rue des Lombards, Paris [1975-1977]. I saw her at a conference and the way she spoke about it completely drew me in. I didn't glamorize those women but thought how incredible it was to turn your body into such a force and take power that way.

I started out in Toulouse but was really taken aback. I went to see prostitutes who had pimps and almost had a gun to my head. Of course, I quickly stopped the project. Once in Paris, in my second year of school, I got assigned a documentary subject on money. The first thing that came to mind was this project I'd abandoned. Then lockdown started, so I took this time to do a lot of research. I interviewed sexologists, sociologists, lawyers, and associations. Some for and some against prostitution. Finally, I met the people directly involved, sex workers, but also people who monetise their bodies.

“You can't shoot someone who isn't a model if there hasn't been a bond and a real trust created.”

I had some great encounters and forged real links. I went to their homes, we called each other and at the end of all these exchanges, there were photos. I decided to process these photos in the form of fashion photography, bringing them into the studio.

Once, towards the end of the project, I took photos before really spending time with the person being profiled. It went very badly and the person will not be included in the project. So this process is not to be taken lightly. You can't shoot someone who isn't a model if there hasn't been a bond and a real trust created.

I also took documentary photos as a way of archiving everything that had happened when I went to their homes. Soon Youles will be published in book form, as we've almost finished the layout. It will include their written testimonies, documentary photos, and the portraits I took in the studio.

AP: What are the other new projects you have been working on recently?

JL: I'm working on a new project with a journalist and a stylist. It's going to be about rituals within families. It's a subject that appeals to me because, once again, it's something I don't know much about and that I'm really keen to discover. The aim is to go and meet the families to photograph them or produce staged scenes. I also don't want to use the codes of documentary photography, but rather those of fashion, with camera looks, real poses and styling. I’m very excited about it!

AP: Thanks so much Jeanne, it has been fascinating to talk with you!

About Jeanne Lucas

Jeanne is a photographer, based in Paris, who has had personal projects published in several magazines.

She integrates a documentary style into her images by taking a deep interest in her subjects, finding her work is inspired most by the people involved.

Always on the edge between documentary photography and fashion photography, she borrows from each of them to produce her distinctive work. This tension is the cornerstone that defines her approach. As she puts it: “We never know if we are on the side of the staging or the reality, questioning the finality of the image.”

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@byjeannelucas

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Ellen Stone