Latest / The People Run Podcast / #65 Behind the Lens: The Side of Sport We Don’t See | Audrey Helle

Transcript

#65 Behind the Lens: The Side of Sport We Don’t See | Audrey Helle · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to the People Roam Podcast.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm very excited for today's episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I have Audrey, who right now is currently one of my favorite sports photographers in the business right now.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: The way she captures the emotions and training and sport is second to none, which is why she's on here today.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Audrey, welcome to the People Rum Podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you being here.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you look through a camera and you're at a sporting event and you're looking at this athlete, what are you looking at that we, the regular person competing, doesn't see through the lens?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_03: I see movement, but I want to capture I could say emotion, but every photographer will tell the same.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I won't say that.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think I want to show how I feel the people, the athletes.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: I don't do box.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: But I I understand, I think I I can feel the moment.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how, but I know I can feel the moment.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: The the photo is a um it's a good shoot, it's a good moment.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: I catch something.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: I really don't know.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's totally instinctive.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to feel to show people how I feel I feel.
• 1:47
  unknown: Okay.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's a way of feeling, it's feeling well that's what I love about your photos.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like your photos actually portray that when they're out.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um when you're in these sporting events, like say a high rocks or something, are you looking for some of these moments where like, oh, they're really sweating right now, or going through it?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or is it just you're just clicking around going, oom, there's a person?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um I shoot for clients, or I go and I'm looking for someone who has a presence.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm thinking, I I and then I follow him all the race, and I shoot, I I I don't know.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't want to do photos like the others.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's a bit uh but um I don't want to do uh photojournalism or photo reportage, I don't know in English, uh like every other photographer in uh iRox.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's boring to see every every time the same picks, every time it's a same image, to feel the same.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: I've I'm fed up of that.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I really want to to notice things very particular on every person, and I'm using my camera in different with different setup in a way to have uh a picture very different from the from the other photographer or for the other at from the other athletes, I think.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hear you on the not getting the same shot.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at some of your photos, we we were speaking about this.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a close-up face, sometimes they're just in the corner over there, a shadow.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um like how do you bring that to life in your pictures?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's because um if I shoot in IROX, the first day I don't want any clients.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_03: I go, I feel the place maybe all the day, and I found a good spot to shoot and to have uh a good composition.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: I can't if I come the first day and I have a client at uh 7 uh a.m.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um I will not do a good work because I don't know how to go.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: I will just follow the person, but I don't I will not compose.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I want to compose with the light, I want to compose uh with a line on the floor, I want to compose with uh all the uh the races um uh to to to to think of my photos of my composition.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like two things come to mind, funny enough.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: A basketball player trying to pick his shots, what corner is better, yeah, or like recon in the army or military where they're like, okay, let's plan the mission.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you're just like I always do that when the day comes.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: I always and um I shot twice in France for uh I rock Grand Palais.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, uh I yeah, and uh the second the the second time I I went then there, it was in April this year.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: I knew I remember the light.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I knew where I have to be to have good light, to play with the light uh on the floor, especially in Bobby Broad jumps.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_03: You see, with the light, the cross line, every line on the floor, and with the light at uh and uh in the sun, uh the sun is moving, so the light are different in different times of the day, and I know and I remembered I knew where was when I have to shoot in that uh in that place, or I have to shoot there, uh, to have a a different uh pictures and a good one.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that's impressive.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, knowing where the lights are, remembering them the second time, uh where to pick your spots and choose, you know.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_03: Because as because uh because uh as I said before, I shoot in black and white.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: So um when you shoot in black and white and you have the light to come across the the pictures are really different, so it's and so it it in oh I can play with that more if I were if I shoot in colors if I shoot in colors, light can be uh negative for me, but as I shoot in black and white, light is uh a friend for me.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: How did you figure that out?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, I'm gonna shoot in black and white, and now light, you know, most photographers if it's too sunny or too daylight, it's like your enemy.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: In this case, it favors you.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I love, I really love lights.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I uh do shooting in uh my town uh outside, and I compose with the the light, and I think the light I prefer it's in the middle of the day at uh 12 a.m.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_03: But the light is really strong in general.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_03: You don't like when you're a photographer, you prefer the light in the early in the morning or in the end of the day because of golden hour, but I'm in black and white, so I love when light is really strong because I have to work with, and I can um sculpt uh if I do portrait and you have a strong light on your face, I can I really love that.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I compose differently with uh with this and it's it's the way I work.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: So so light for me is a friend and not an enemy.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_03: And a photographer, the first thing you have to work on it, it's light.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't understand light, you can't take good photos.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: Photos is not having a camera and putting a button and shooting.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like that for me.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_03: You have to compose, you have to think.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: Even if you're a still photographer or street photographer, you are looking for light, are looking for line, you are looking for people, you are looking for composition.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: Sport photography, uh photographer don't care of composition, they just shoot.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that's what makes your photo so unique.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of thought behind it.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just here's black and white filter, you're playing with like you're shooting in black and white, as you mentioned, which is crazy.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: I I never said that to someone that I'm shooting in black and white.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: I think you are the first one or the second one person.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm saying I'm shooting in black and white.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's like a secret.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm definitely going to try that myself.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, do you ever try to take a photo?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever take a photo that you shot because you're shooting black and white, and then just for giggles, maybe try to bring in some color or no?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh yes, because in my um in Lightroom, uh my when I do postprod, I can say post prod in English.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um I have I work, I have my preset.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_03: So when I uh import photos in black and white, I put my different presets in black and white, but I have preset in colors, and uh often it's okay.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I did some I did some pictures in in colors too, but I prefer in black and white.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: I can work with in colors, it's okay.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Uh if someone wants colors, I can do I know to do that, but uh I really feel good photos with black and white.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I really love your photos in black and white because the way you you play with light is amazing.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes there'll be a shadow and it's black and white, it's very emotive.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do you feel it gives you an advantage shooting that way in black and white because you can see the light how it's gonna hit pre-photo, I guess?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um I don't know.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think not everybody not everybody likes black and white.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a bit challenging, you know.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because in Instagram, uh in social in social media, uh, you have a lot, a lot of pictures with many colors, and people I think people prefer with a lot of colors, with a lot of movement.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's really really special black and white.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: Not everybody likes black and white, um, but I think people who love black and white will love my my work.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're taking photos and you're shooting, let's say a subject, a sports, someone competing, is there ever a moment you look at the camera and go, This is the one, that this is my shot?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, often.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: What's that like often?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I know I sometimes I know it's a good one, so it's okay.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that's uh I I really love this, and sometimes I want to share it now, but I I it's better if I do not.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: But sometimes what is really funny, uh, I don't know how I do that.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's really instinctive, or oh yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um I when uh every night when I'm in iRox, for example, uh every night I look at all my my photos, and sometimes I say, Wow, how can I do that?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I didn't know how I do these photos.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: I thought I didn't see it in my uh screen when I was shooting.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: I notice it night when I'm when I look at all the photos, and sometimes I don't know how I can do that.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh sometimes it's really amazing for me to discover uh photos, some good, good photos, and I didn't notice it in the day, in the day in my screen.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, it's a nice surprise, I'm sure, when you go home like, oh, there's another one.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_03: But um I'm really really happy when I when I try something new uh when I'm on the floor on a race, and uh uh I get some photos at the beginning and say, Wow, that's a good one.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really really proud of me of myself uh because I try sometimes I'm trying new things and it works, and I'm really happy and and photos are really good, really, really good.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Marjorie, you touched on this earlier a little bit, you know, like capturing emotion and shooting in black and white.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: How do you think black and white, at least in your pictures, makes us pay more attention than say color?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because uh colours is distraction.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: So in black and white you don't have distraction.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_03: So your eyes, when you are when you look at photos with your when you look at photos and there's no colours, you can't miss what I want to show.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe because I isolate uh I isolate the subject, I isolate the details, I isolate what I want to you to sh to feel or to see, and in black and white, what's more, uh you see it better, I think.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Want to touch on a subject.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of photographers are not knocking anyone.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: Photography is beautiful, however you shoot, but many are so focused now on the content.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the YouTube, the Instagram, the 16 by 9, the 4x5.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some people are listening to this right now, going, oh, he's talking.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: But in your case, you go for the emotion and feel.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: You've said it several times.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm looking for how this moment feels.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's your thought process behind a shooting?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: What are you thinking first before you shoot a sporting event?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh can you uh after the shooting or before?
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Before the shooting, like how are you capturing the emotion?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_03: How do I I don't know?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to do that.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's fair.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know because um I think it's a way I've I it's like I can say that like that.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think you will understand.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_03: For me, it's like uh like breathing.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to do that.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um I just know something.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm an hyper-vigilant person and a sensory person.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: So um in my way of living, I'm I'm a people watcher, I can say that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_03: I notice things on people, I I feel people, I see things on people, and I think I do the same in photos.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um I'm really uh aware in my life uh with people, with group, where I go.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: So uh since since uh since I was a little girl, so I think it's so is this it's a quality and uh in convenient in life to be hypervigilant, but uh in my photos I think it's uh big quality.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, okay, okay.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um when did you first pick up a camera?
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Before all the sports photography, when did you first pick up a camera?
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm 42.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm 42 and I started uh photography in my 20s.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh at that time uh there was no I think there was no Facebook was at the beginning.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_03: No Instagram, Twitter either, nothing.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um so when you did photos at that time, you don't share it or really, really some some photos on Facebook.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um I was doing photos.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: Uh uh no, I was me.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_03: I I fo I started photography while traveling, as many people, you know, yeah in my 20s.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then I bought my first camera in 2013.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was 29.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Because one of my because one of my colleagues was a photographer and he saw my work.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't sports at the time.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: I just I was just traveling, just street photos, nothing else, and he told me you have an eye, come with me, let's bought you a camera.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I I had my first camera, I was 29 in 2013, you see.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh it was uh a bridge, not an icon like today.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I use it for about uh 12 years, you know.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: So, and um I I do sports photography for two years.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: I never I never did that before.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: I was just a street photographer and I love taking people in photos.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: I love to shoot people, I really love that.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: The the people, the emotion, like you said, the sensory people.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: I I could stay in a place in a street, and if I could uh shoot every people I feel, uh I would be happy, but uh today you can't do that.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it'd be kind of weird.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: Were you self-taught or did this colleague help you like learn the art of photography?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_03: He didn't learn anything, he just bought me a new camera.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, and it's like and he was uh without him, uh I think I would not be a photographer, I think.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I think everybody in life um cross not cross meet meet people, meet someone, meet something will have uh will bring you somewhere many years later in the in the future.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Uh if I didn't meet him, I wouldn't I think I would not be a photographer.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe uh you have the some you have something like that in your in your life.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe if you haven't meet met this per meet this person, you will not do what you do today.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but everything is not um uh direct.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, uh life is life is like that, and someone you meet someone here, uh your life is like that, and after that you go up a I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain this.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think you have it.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh it's not always linear and it can go either way, yeah.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Really, it's that, yes.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, that that was perfectly explained.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um but um in my life I met uh other people who told me to to to work on my own photos to because I have a for them I have a gift, I have an eye, and they all told me work on it, go ahead, don't lose uh don't um abandon, don't abandon.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: And so last year, uh it was last year.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_03: I met uh two people told me, one told me why don't you why don't you open uh pro Instagram account with because my Instagram before was a really mess.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: You have traveling, you have uh travel photos, there was street photographer, street photo, portrait, sport, a mess.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so I opened one, I opened one, the the one use where you saw my uh my photos, and uh another and in the end of the year, last year, a photographer told me your pick have a lot of intensity, work on it, go ahead.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think if I I met many people who told me you have something, it's because I really have something, and so I have to I have to work on it, I have to improve my work, I have to do that.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_03: I have to be a photographer.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: So what was the first boarding event you uh you decided to shoot in those two years when you started going, okay, I'm launching the page and I'm gonna shoot iRox.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_03: Hire uh it's not because uh I wanted to do like uh many, it's not because there's um iRox is iRox, it's just because I practice iRox and I was there to shoot friends and it was good photos, so I say let's go.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I will shoot sports and things but I really love iRox.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: I love many sports in photography.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh if there's uh composition, iRox, you have composition, the line on the floor, the black and white everywhere.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um I love uh track and fields too, because uh there's a line on the floor, you have composition too.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um I will uh be on ATA6.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know ATA6?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: ATA6.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm gonna go on that one.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_03: No, but I will work with them uh this year.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: A6 the brand, the running brand.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, ATA6.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_03: Adidas is the new hybrid race, which is more crossfit than uh I you know, uh, it's Adidas who launched this uh last year, last year, yeah.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_03: And so I will work with them uh in September and December, uh in France and in uh in Portugal, and it's really they have uh they are in black and white too.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um there's a lot of composition uh in this kind of uh race, too.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be fun.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I have seen some of Adidas is black and white, it does favor your style.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do you anticipate when the moment's gonna happen at the track or at high rocks when you're shooting this?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_03: Someone told me it's be it's because I I I was a truck and field uh child, or maybe because I uh I I do high rocks, but I don't think that because when I'm shooting um fight, for example, I I don't I don't fight.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: I don't do boxes.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I think it's because I'm really focused on the person, on the athlete.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really yeah, I'm really focused.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know if I can feel what he feels.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe I'm uh empathic, empathic person.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe that.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but uh I can I I told you it's like if I it's like I'm breathing, I shoot like I'm breathing.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know that explains a lot though, shooting like you're breathing, you know, bringing the life to the photo, not worrying about what it's gonna look like.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it just happens to look great.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_03: But um I think some people are really embarrassed uh with their photos because when there is a lot of emotion, you you never see your face like that, especially when you're athlete.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_03: When you're athlete, you want to show when everything is perfect, you want uh movement, you want smile, you don't want uh to see when you have tears, when you are really exhausted, when you're uh on the floor.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, some I think some people don't like that kind of pictures, even if there is a lot of emotion, you see.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_03: I can see uh embarrassed.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, embarrassed.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do you ever have athletes, hey, I don't want to shoot that way, or or give you any feedback about capturing a very vulnerable moment?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: No, but uh when I shoot athletes and I give my uh when they have my photos, uh they don't choose uh to share uh portrait where they are where they are exhausted at first time.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: They share uh photos with emotion, but uh uh photos uh who are good to share.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: You understand?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_03: After that, some re uh share after a long time they share after the one with a more intensity, but uh not not positive intensity, uh more negative intensity where we are with tears, where you are exhausted, where you are uh fragile, no fragile, fragile.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um I don't it's a good word in English, fragile.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: Fragile vulnerability when you there's vulnerability in the photos.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I really love that kind of photos, but for athletes, I think it's really complicated to share that kind of photos.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_03: Not all will share it.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can I I can see that.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, sponsors or wanting to portray a certain image.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe not always the case Audrey, I'm picturing you at these events, say a high rocks or a track.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Big book bag or something, like how much are you carrying uh equipment-wise?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um my I I come in events um uh with uh a very old bag, not a photograph bag.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: I I I I take the big one uh to fly for for my travel, but um when I go in a race, I don't took this because I need to run, I need to be I need something with not heavy on my back.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a uh old bag, old traveling bag.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_03: Inside I put towel to protect my stuff, and I have my lens, my camera, and that's all.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: Voilà, it's uh that's it.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care the other things.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and I don't want people to think ah, this is a photographer with a big bag, with many lens.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: I don't care.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_03: I just have my one lens, one camera, my big bag, my big my not big, my whole bag, and that's all one lens, interesting.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_03: The big one, yeah, the big one, and it's okay.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_03: I have the little one, but it's uh for um I don't know to say in English, grand angle.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_03: I have the big one because I need to shoot very I am sometimes very very far from the athlete, so I need uh I have uh two I have two lengths, but I have a 200 millimeters.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you can say that, and I have uh but uh with a good aperture, so it's uh big like that, but I have another with a middle aperture, but it goes to 400, which uh really big when I use it.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um I can do good photos with it because my my press my my setup, I set up my camera uh in order to because when you don't have a good aperture, uh it's really hard to have skins to have uh really details, yeah.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: But I have to set up my camera differently differently in a way to have it to have it when uh so so I travel with uh two my two 200 millimeters and my 40 millimeters, 400 millimeters, sorry, and uh and that's um one or two cameras, but uh and my old bag and two towels, it's okay.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta have the towel, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: To protect the camera.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, when you you do uh sport photography and when the way I compose, sometimes I have to be sick, I have to um go under um I don't know how to say in English.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um I have to to to be very little, I have to be very flexible, I have to so if I have a big, big bag and many stuffs, I can't do what I do.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't care if I don't look like a photographer, I don't care really.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I just want to to do good photos, so you have to be uh mobile essentially.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, especially at sporting events where people are going fast.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I have to run with them, so uh I have to be to have a little bag and not many stuff, so you can't run.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Audrey, you have these uh this saying, I believe it's on your bio and on some of your photos that really caught my attention.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you, in your opinion, as a photographer, what it means to you.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_00: Your image is your asset.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_03: Because um I think about that uh three three months ago.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think maybe more in France than in the US.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um we talked about that uh before that you many people have all the same photos.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: Instagram, they all share the same photos.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: Photographers do for some photographers do all the same works.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: And when you have an athlete, when you are when you look at their con their uh feed in Instagram or maybe their website, um is that if they don't work for Nike with Nike, with Adidas, if they're semi-amateur, I can say that in English, um they don't have a really good picture, or they have all the same.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: So if you have the same picture as your as the other athletes, nobody saw you, nobody sees you.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: So I think you have to work on your image.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: You have to your image has a value, you can earn money with that, you can have good partnership, you can have sponsors, you have more visibility.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think athletes should think about it uh deeper, deeper.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because uh if I was if I was an athlete, I would love to have one photographer who follows me everywhere and shoot me in a way the other don't do.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: You know?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: What's more when you work with athletes, semi-amate uh athletes, when you when you work with them many times, you you know them better, so you can shoot them better.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_03: Because when you know someone, you can understand the face of someone, you can understand the movement of someone, even if they don't say nothing.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it's the same when you follow an athlete, or uh even even if I follow coaches, if I follow, because my when I say uh your image is your asset, it's not only for athlete, it's for coaches.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_03: If for every it's for every people who work in sports and who want visibility and want um partnership sponsor who want to do something in sports.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I think yeah, uh I think in France, maybe in G I thought I thought I think in the US, maybe I'm wrong, but people are more aware of that.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if it's true, but I thought I think that in France.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think of what I see um people um I I follow many athletes and they do all the same thing.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: Images are all the same, they told all the same things, they show the same thing, and so when and even videos, emotion are are the same.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_03: So if you I think if you want to be C you have to work on your image, I think agreed 100%.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: Audrey, if I gave you an athlete today and never met them, how would you photograph them?
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_03: I will uh follow him on train on his trainees, trainings.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: You understand?
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um I will follow him on his trainees, uh every kind of trainees, trainings.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Uh not only uh like for example, if I follow a fighter, I would uh I will I would um follow him on many trainings, but I will every trainings where he learned to fight, but you have other kind of training.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_03: You uh uh uh you you have trainings trainings where you run, when you prepare, when you do strength, and you have to document that kind of trainings.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think your work when you say you you tell the story of athletes, it's the same kind of work I do because uh what I want is to show the story of an athlete, not only the competition, not only the cross the finish line, I want to show everything it does before his competition, but uh in every silent moment I want even if uh if as an injury, I want to show that, I want to document that.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh if you have an injury, for example, if you're an athlete and you you have an injury, so nobody will care about you because you have an injury, but for during that time, I think it's important to take videos, to take photos of that, because you have to show your journey uh of this injury, you have to show your trainings with your injury, and um I think there's a lack of image at that time, I think when you are an athlete, you 100% you see.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um I uh uh what I really love uh about athletes is the the all details of the of the person before his competition.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_03: You see?
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: I followed uh a girl uh in boxing fight, and uh I I I did I I did two or three trainings with her and uh I came with her and uh her training uh to the fight.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: I was with them in the change room, and it's really interesting to be there in a corner and you shoot people and you notice every detail.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: Even if I was with a volleyball team on a basketball team, I would love to be with them in this changing room because everything is there and nobody know nobody nobody documents that.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: Never, you never so you rarely see image pictures of this moment, and I think it's really important because it's uh it's part of the it's part of the competition, it's part of the race, it's part of everything.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_03: So so when I'm in high rocks and I have an athlete to to shoot, I love to be here with him at the very beginning, even before the warm-up.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: And after he crossed the finish line, I want to be with him as a at the recovery and after, because it's there, it's as that it's it's at this point that you have a lot of emotion before the warm-up and after the recovery.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: After after the recovery, you are with your family, you are with your trainers, um, and so uh your face is not the same, the emotions are really different than during the race and at the very beginning.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's very interesting.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's more like uh behind the scenes, if you will, but with a lot of detail, a lot of good detail.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: Good details and emotion you don't uh you don't see when you look photos of sports, yeah.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so and if I was an athlete, I would love to have someone who document everything, everything because it's uh it's I think it's really important.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: In my mind, uh is there a photograph or picture you want to take that you haven't gotten the chance to yet?
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh sports may I can I say sports?
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um I want to I would love to do more track and fields.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because uh I don't do it often or rarely.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh because uh when there was there was meeting in uh track and fields uh I'm not uh available.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and in Bordeaux there was a meeting in Bordeaux uh uh it in June, but he because of the heat, it all uh you know.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I would love to do more track and field.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: I think I really love iRox.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um uh but and then oh alterophile.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know that?
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_03: Alter uh CrossFit, Alterophil.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: Some crossfit.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: Okay I I I think I love when um when I can when I can um shoot skin.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you understand?
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I will never shoot golf.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: Never go too much layers.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a bit uh it I think composition is great, but uh it's a bit boring for my eyes, you know.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, too silent, too much silence, too bit boring.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, there's a lot of sports, but uh uh I love uh I really love boxing, I love fight because you have a lot of emotion, yeah.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_03: Composition, emotion.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_03: I really love that.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what is it about skin you like shooting?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um texture, texture, yeah.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: You see, you can see uh I don't know the word in English.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_03: You can see um uh not the hair, okay.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you see my hair, but I um the when you are uh an athlete or uh when you do sports, uh your musc muscle.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the the body of a person who does sport is very interesting to shoot, and when you play with light, you have shadow, you have white.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so it uh it uh improves my it improved it improves my photos, I think.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: When I shoot bodies, shoot skills with light.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Audrey, thank you for doing this.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like I mentioned at the start of this, I'm a huge fan of your work.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate and love all the photos you take in support of the podcast.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: She's always resharing.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for coming on the podcast.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: I was really happy to speak with you.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so sorry.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_03: Uh my English is a bit uh rusty, as I said.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um okay, thank you.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: This has been the People Run podcast.