Learn From Experience: Maxime Romeas
My name is Maxime ROMEAS, I’m 24yo. I grew in FRANCE, in ST-ETIENNE, now I’m located in LYON. I’m still studying. I studied many things for the last 6 years :
Just after High school I spent a whole years in a Russian painter’s workshop so as to learn academic drawing. That year allowed me to succeed the entry competition to national school of art & design of ST-ETIENNE. 3 years later I began a school of drawing and visual development for Animation, Illustration & Video game industry. (Still studying at that school for the moment).
My love for pictures & images bring me naturally to start photography.
What are the rules of your photographic work?
I always felt impressed by strong and low light atmospheres, so that’s the situation I experimented the most. I wanted to create images that make me dream.
I recently took a turn in my photographic practice, I focus more now about portraits.
The workflow is very different, as for me it creates a different interaction with the model , it’s more personal, and could be more narrative.
Is there a particular combination of techniques and tools that you think makes the difference?
As for me I only shoot films, cause I love the colors and the texture of these. Analog cameras are old tools and may have some faults that can offer to you micro-imperfections that could make your photos more alive.
Each camera has its own language and it's the same for films. There are so many combinations to try.
Tell us about an experience that definitely changed the way you work and made you grow.
Penumbra is a difficult situation for photography, especially for analog photography. To practice a lot, and to gain in experience allowed me to have now certain settings on the final rendering that I would obtain.
Documenting myself on the adapted material was also key to obtain the desired result.
Was there ever a difficult situation? How did you react? Tell us.
The major difficulty is and will remain the cost of photo film. It is not easy to produce a lot because it is still quite expensive when you start.
How do you relate to the environment and the subjects you portray?
I’m not sure that I understand well the question,
But for example, each project with atmosphere and visual identity that I would like to render to the image is thought out in advance, and the character of the model brings coherence to the final atmosphere. For each model a tailor-made atmosphere must be designed.
I also ask you to share a bonus trick among your secret techniques.
I have not really secret techniques, but I manage to have a luminous lens, and sensitive film inside the camera for a dark atmosphere. Working on analog cameras allows you to think more about compositions and that kind of stuff before taking the photos. And so it’s very formative, taking more time searching for a good result.
It allows you to enjoy the moment, to look your environment better with your eyes and not by the focusing window of the camera.
Tell us about your equipment, what kind of cameras do you shoot with?
As I already said before, I use film cameras, A CanonA1 and a Pentax 6X7.
What stimulates your creativity, what inspires you?
Movies, and fashion films, or music clips inspired me a lot. I think painting, that I studied a lot, influenced me as well.
Maxime Romeas