Once you’ve seen some of Laurent Chéhère’s large-scale photographs of amazing Flying Houses, it’s something you’re never likely to forget. Seemingly uprooted from their foundations, the project sees all sorts of buildings as if hovering above the ground complete with such bizarre things as rooms on fire, goats balanced on window sills and people precariously suspended from aerial platforms.
Born in Paris in 1972, Chéhère’s professional career started as an art director in an advertising agency but he swopped professions to become a professional photographer in 2006.
He shoots advertising images for many top brands such as Givenchy, Eurostar and Adidas along with editorial work for magazines like Leader, Raise and Citizen K. But it’s in his raft of amazing personal work that Chéhère’s style really shows through. With his love for travelling, his personal projects include work from the bright lights of New York to the unusual cultures and customs of Japan.
Of course the highlights of his personal work are the unique Flying Houses, which have been exhibited globally since 2012.
We asked him to answer a few questions about his career and interesting portfolio of work.
How did you first get interested in photography?
As far as I remember, I always had a camera. The first one I bought was a Nikon FE2 when I was 16. I started to shoot in black and white. I like reportage and travel.
At age 20 I started a career as an art director in advertising. This is where I learned the history of photography, cinema, Photoshop, how to take better photos and it’s where I developed my own style. I was never an assistant to a photographer but I met lots of them.
I have the soul of a photo-journalist and I prefer a small team and not a lot of equipment . I use a Canon 5D Mark II, daylight and sometime a Manfrotto tripod. Lots of the time I work from home and I do all my own retouching. When I work for advertising clients, sometime I rent a studio but it’s not my cup of tea. I find the more famous you become as a photographer, more clients choose you for your own style.
You have a very unique style. How would you describe it?
I don’t know if I have a unique style. I like reportage, movies, concept, architecture, travel, and fantasy. I suppose that it’s the result of all these influences.
Do you think Paris’ rich photographic history with people like Henri Cartier-Bresson, JeanloupSieff and Eugene Atget, influenced you greatly?
Yes, because I started to study French photographers before I was aware of many others. There used to be a certain French photographic style, but that’s less true now. Every corner of the planet has access to international culture.
Who are you influenced by?
I’m very influenced by movie directors and photographers who doing similar work to mine. They tell a story just as I like to tell a story.
In no particular order, film directors I am influenced by include Sydney Pollack, Alan J.Pakula, Philippe de Broca, Bertrand Blier, Claude Sautet, Dino Rizi, Federico Felini, Luchino Visconti, PawelPawlikowski, Wes Anderson, John Casavetes, Georges Lautner, Marcel Carné, WimWenders, Gérard Oury, AndreïTarkovski, Michelangelo Antonioni, Lars Van trier, Stanley Kubrick, Tarantino, F.F.Coppola, Henri Verneuil, Henry-Georges Clouzot, Jean Cocteau, Billy Wilder and Miyazaki.
For photographers, I like the work of Jonas Bendiksen, Joel Sternfeld, JoakimEskildsen, Bruce Davidson, Gregory Crewdson, Philip Lorca diCorsia, Tim Walker, Paolo Roversi, Guy Bourdin, Elliott Erwitt, EdouardBoubat, Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Izis, Robert Doisneau, Jacques-Henry Lartigue, Arnold Odermatt, William Klein, Nan Goldin, Weegee, Brassai, Jean-Loup Sieff, Jock Sturges and Nadar.
Where did the idea to photograph and create flying houses come from?
It is the poetic encounter between my “explorations” of Parisian neighborhoods like Ménilmontant and Belleville and movies like “Howl’s Moving Castle” by Hayao Miyazaki and “Le Ballon Rouge” by Albert Lamorisse, Wim Wenders, Federico Fellini, Claude Sautet and Marcel Carné.
I’m interested in houses and buildings that people do not look at any more. I try to highlight them, to show their hidden beauty and to get out of the anonymity of the street to help them tell their stories, true or not, funny or sad.
I am interested in gypsies, African immigrants, a circus, an old erotic cinema, a little bar, a decrepit hotel, or a house in the suburbs.
In the gallery, the images are shown in large format, so that they make sense, leaving it to the curious observer to discover details (graffiti, writing, anachronism, character, window, reference to a film or a musician) and propose a double reading, a story far and another closer.
The “Red Balloon” for example, is a Parisian building and is a tribute to Albert Lamorisse’s film “The Red Balloon” shot in Ménilmontant streets in 1956. I added details like political graffiti depicting “Big Brother” – the dictator in George Orwell’s book “1984”; a mosaic of Space Invaders and above the name of the street that has been stolen, a small inscription “Vive la Commune”. This is the part of Paris saw the last barricades of Commune in 1871.
The “Circus” was inspired by a circus in northern Paris. The photo has a tribute to Fellini movie “La Strada ” and the angel played by Bruno Ganz in “Wings of Desire” by WimWenders. Perched on the shoulder of a statue and observing humans, he falls in love with a trapeze artist. In my picture, a dwarf dressed as a clown who tries to light a cigarette on the snowy roof of the tent gets the role.
“La Grande Illusion” is like a Noah’s Ark for the odyssey of African immigrants, and mixes in pictures I took in Mali. In my work I give a few clues to the story, but everyone reacts differently. People see what they want to see, they invent their own story. I like that.
How do you create these images? For example, how did you create the image of a flying circus tent?
I shoot a lot of pieces separately like a tent, smoke, sky, snow, characters, and satellite dish, flag. My photos are usually a heavy photomontage.
If you had to pick a favorite picture, or one that has the most meaning to you, which one would it be? Why?
I can give you a picture that my favorite photographer, Joakim Eskildsen, took that is featured on the cover of his book, “The Roma Journeys.” I like the way hetakes pictures. His esthetics, sense of framing and color are great.
What is the best piece of photographic advice you have ever been given?
Be curious.
What advice would you offer other photographers looking to tap into their creative side?
Be curious.
What’s next for you?
I have several exhibitions coming up. Here is the information:
July 16-November 2 2014
Contemporary Art Center of Meymac, Abbey Saint-André, France – GROUP SHOW.
October 1-September 30, 2015
City of Image, Clervaux, Luxembourg – GROUP SHOW.
October-November 2015
Reed Projects Gallery, Stavanger, Norway – GROUP SHOW.
May 2015
Fotografica Bogota, International Biennial of Photography, National Museum of Photography, Colombia – GROUP SHOW.
To see more of Chehere’s work, check out his website and follow him on Facebook.
(interview run by Lisa Furgison and Adam Duckworth)
