64 — Joupin Ghamsari

Photography Design

JOUPIN GHAMSARI 64

right Joupin Ghamsari cover Malina Weissman, Actress

JOUPIN GHAMSARI

left 6LACK, Singer right Ty Dolla $ign, Singer

THE ART, CRAFT AND BUSINESS OF PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY WITH JOUPIN GHAMSARI DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER? I did a little bit of photography when I was younger. But beyond that, I always wanted to draw, that was my main thing, actually. That led me to art school, and after that I went into graphics, which I did for a year, but I didn't really enjoy.

THAT’S QUITE A LONG ROUTE INTO A CAREER YOU DIDN’T ENJOY. WHAT DID YOU DO NEXT? I took some time to reassess.

Meanwhile I was working in retail, and at the end of the year, it just so happened that I got a tax rebate. The Jessops camera shop catalog was in the office at the shop and I thought, "I haven't picked up a camera in a while” so I started flicking through it.

Next thing you know I’d bought a camera. It was maybe 2008 and I just spent the summer taking pictures, doing street photography. I had it with me every day.

WOW, FATE INTERVENED! Pretty soon I decided I wanted to go back to University and I managed to get a place at the London College of

Communication, doing photo journalism for 3 years.

I really, really loved it. But now, looking back, there's a lot of stuff that I didn't learn. It's completely miles away from what I do now. But I guess it was the foundation, particularly in terms of dealing with subjects.

WHAT KIND OF THING WERE YOU SHOOTING BACK THEN? I was shooting social issues, I did a couple of projects in Spain, on the economic crisis. I would go to people's homes who were being evicted. You're kind of working as a psychologist in a way. You're interviewing people, you're talking to them about how they feel, but you're also getting images from that to build the story.

SO, HOW DO YOU MAKE THE LEAP FROM PHOTOJOURNALISM TO THE KIND OF PORTRAIT WORK YOU DO NOW? Like a lot of students, especially in the creative industries, when you finish your course you don't necessarily know what you want to do. The part they don't teach you at university is, how you actually make money. How do you actually live?

IT’S TOUGH WHEN YOU LEARN THAT CREATIVITY IS NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH ON ITS OWN… I got to a point where I didn't do anything photography-wise for a year, I

was just working. And then I was introduced to the editor of a magazine called 1883 (1883magazine.com), an online magazine that did film, fashion, music, and so on. He liked my work and said, 'Let's work on something.'

I was thinking in terms of photo journalism, it would be cool to do some documentary projects. But then he messaged me one day saying, ‘There's this band. Do you want to shoot them?’

So I thought, ‘Okay, cool, let's do some portraits!’ I ended up doing a lot of work with 1883, over a few years, shooting a lot of stuff, meeting a lot of people.

YOU OFTEN WORK WITH MUSICIANS. DO THEY STILL COME TO YOU THROUGH LABELS? OR IS IT MORE INDEPENDENT ARTISTS? Yes, there's a lot more independents now. I'd say, maybe 50% of my music work is just artists that I know, personally. They've got the budget themselves and they come direct to me with an idea. The other 50% is the labels.

I think it's still moving towards the independent side these days, because artists realise that, if they can get the money together themselves, they can reach their audience directly. And then they have full control.

That’s great, because there's been some shoots where big labels have been involved. And they control everything.

THAT MUST MAKE IT HARD TO GET THE ‘REAL’ PERSON ON FILM? It's hard if you're trying to build a relationship, a rapport, with the person and there's constant interruptions, people popping up with their opinions, it breaks the flow.

You get used to dealing with people though. So, depending on what the shoot needs, I'll just ask everyone to leave the room. We're here to do something. If they're making noise or interfering. In the nicest possible way, ‘please step out and let me do what I'm doing.’

With music though, in my experience, it's more often the artists themselves come to me and they say 'Let's create something.' So there's not usually a second opinion. But, on some of the football shoots, for example, there's more people involved and there's already some kind of idea in place. So I just jump in, 'okay, cool. Let's develop this idea...'

THANKS TO SMARTPHONES, JUST ABOUT EVERYONE THESE DAYS IS AN AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER. DOES THAT HAVE ANY IMPACT ON YOU, OR YOUR WORK? It's great that everyone can take a picture and sometimes you do get people who have an opinion. But this is fine, I'm an easygoing guy. If

someone has an opinion on set, let's hear it. There's some photographers who just won't stand for it.

For me though, I welcome it if someone's got an idea, I don't want to shut them down. But there has to be a balance.

More generally though, I don't think it's affected me because I have quite a specific thing. It's what you do with the camera, it's how you interact with the subject. It's what you get out of the subject. It's the lighting and it's what you can do sometimes if you've got a short space of time. It's all these things. So, anyone can pick up a camera, but not everyone can make a living from it.

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN FOR YOU? WHEN DID YOU JUMP INTO PHOTOGRAPHY FULL-TIME? I got to know some of the PR people from the magazine shoots and started working with them away from 1883.

And eventually I made a conscious decision to step away from the magazine, so that I would be seen as independent.

But even then, I would do a really big shoot, with someone massive, and the next day I'd be working in the phone shop. I was living two lives. Eventually you need to leap fully into it, but it's a case of trying to decide when's the right time. So I just concentrated on building everything up.

THE TWO LIVES MUST GIVE YOU A KIND OF CREATIVE DISTANCE FROM YOUR SUBJECTS THOUGH? It means you can see the reality of it.

But, I've never been someone who gets starstruck or really idolizes a famous person. For me, as soon as I see them on set, they’re a normal person. Doesn't matter who it is.

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SUBJECT SEEMS TO BE REALLY CRITICAL FOR YOU. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT BUILDING THAT? Sometimes photography isn't the most important part of my job. Sometimes, the largest part is just how you communicate with people. That's what people remember. The photography comes after.

WHAT PREPARATION DO YOU DO BEFORE A SHOOT? Before any shoot I will normally research the subject. Just trying to understand what they're about, what they like, and most importantly, what's been done before.

And also, just having an open dialogue with the person I’m shooting. Often, there's a bunch of people behind them, but I always want to know how they want to be represented.

left Thiago Silva, Footballer right Adriana Lima, Model & Gerard Butler, Actor

Sometimes photography isn't the most important part of my job.

Sometimes, the largest part is just how you communicate with people.

left French Montana, Rapper right Freddy Carter, Actor

Fyfe, Musician

Sometimes, you get people who are super used to everything, they can just turn it on, like clockwork. Then there's other people that have no clue how to behave in front of the camera. So, if there's time, I try to talk to them in the 'in-between' moments. When they're getting their hair done, or makeup, or whatever.

In those in-between moments, I just make casual conversation. Not necessarily work related. That way, by the time they're in front of me, we've already spoken about various things, and they're relaxed.

HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN THAT, PARTICULARLY WITH PEOPLE WHO AREN’T USED TO THE CAMERA? The whole way through the shoot I like to show them what I'm doing. If they can see how they look, then they're gonna get excited from it. They understand the process, and they can tell me, 'okay, I want more of this or more of that.' So slowly, slowly, they become invested.

For the people who have a lot of shoots, maybe 10 shoots a week, the question for me is, ‘How can I make them enjoy this one?’ Just asking them what they want from the shoot is important. How do you want to be perceived? How do you think people see you?

But the main thing for me is - shooting is meant to be fun. It's never meant to be anything serious. Just put some music on, get to know them better.

And have fun. Sometimes I just naturally get excited from an image.

Then they see it, and we just bounce off that energy.

WHEN YOU SAY YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, WHAT KIND OF PLAN DO YOU USUALLY SHOW UP WITH? It depends on how much control I have. But it could be the location that I want to shoot or the way I want the subject to look.

A good example was an actormusician that I shot in LA, Ross Lynch.

When I Googled him, everything was just super Disney because that’s where he’d come up from. But it was literally every image I could find.

So I thought, 'Okay, I'm going to do something different. Let's give him a bit more of a grown-up shoot.' I had a cool location in mind. They have these ball courts in Venice Beach, I just liked the vibe there. So I messaged the PR. She was a bit apprehensive at first... but I managed to persuade her.

On the day, Ross showed up with his brother and he was just super cool.

Instantly, I knew, 'You are cool.'

Nothing like what you get if you

Google him. So we shot some moody, black and white images. And his shoots since then have all kind of followed on from that. Even on his Facebook page now, he still uses one of those images. Six, maybe seven years later.

IT MUST BE REALLY REWARDING TO HAVE THAT KIND OF IMPACT. CAN YOU TELL WHEN YOU TAKE A PICTURE, THAT IT’S GOING TO BE SPECIAL? Sometimes... Sometimes, you know you've got a strong image. There's just something about it. I can't explain in words. Other times, you have no idea.

In terms of editing things down, it's always good to have other opinions because it's easy to get tunnel vision.

For example, it can happen that I’ll shoot something and then maybe a year later I’ll go back to it, and spot something completely different. An image that does better than the original choice.

So, editing, for me, it's always about going back to professionalize. I might work on something and then - time permitting - go away and come back later. Even the next day. If you stare at something too long, everything just kind of morphs into one.

Everything needs to be perfect.

I need to be able to assess a room really quickly. Then the question is, ‘okay, you've got two minutes to shoot this person.

What can we get out of them?’

left Digital Farm Animals, DJ right Kai Havertz x Nike x Chelsea Limited Edition Shirt, Footballer

DOES THIS ALL FEED INTO THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR STYLE? I’d probably say other people are more conscious of my style. They might say, "I knew that image was yours." But it's not something that I'm always necessarily aware of. Things have just naturally evolved. But there's a few factors.

There's me just knowing more as a photographer. Whether that's being able to get more out of my subject, or knowing more about lighting.

I like to try new things too. So I don't always want to shoot in the same way.

Might be the same subject, but I always want to try and do something different.

And a lot of the time that's lighting.

Other times I try to take away that thought process altogether and just shoot. I have an idea in my head and just shoot. And it just kind of comes together naturally.

KNOWING WHAT WORKS AS A LOCATION AND HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF A GIVEN SITUATION ARE CLEARLY IMPORTANT SKILLS TOO? That was especially true in the earlier days, when I was doing a lot of magazine stuff. Quite often I would be turning up on the day, not necessarily knowing anything about the location.

So I'd get there half an hour early, and scope everything out. Working out how I could make the place look cool. Then, when the subject shows up, I've already got six or seven locations in my head.

A lot of time I would shoot in toilets!

Seems strange, but toilets would often have really interesting walls, or surfaces you can bounce the light off, in an interesting way. You’d have to do some work to persuade the subject though...

But for me, all of that was super important, because there's stuff I shoot now where I have zero time. For the Chelsea football jobs, sometimes I'll have just two minutes with a player.

So I need to know what set-up I want.

What lighting I want. Everything needs to be perfect. I need to be able to assess a room really quickly. Then the question is, ‘okay, you've got two minutes to shoot this person. What can we get out of them?’

TWO MINUTES! SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE, ARE YOU SOMETIMES SURPRISED BY THE RESULTS? Sometimes, too much time can be bad. You can overshoot something, or overthink it. But obviously two minutes is a short amount of time.

Even so, you'd be surprised what you can do.

I don't feel pressure so much, I'm just well prepared. I know in my head exactly how everything's going to look. And now, because I work with them a lot, I'm used to it. So if I get more time, I'm excited.

DO YOU ENJOY THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? In terms of cameras - megapixels and so on - I think that's more for hobbyists who just enjoy buying the latest and greatest thing. But for an actual day to day job, I don't think it's something that you look at, necessarily.

Probably most important to me is lighting. And there's just a million things to learn there, but if you're confident in lighting, you can shoot anywhere.

Doesn't matter where you are, what situation, you can shoot anything.

It also means you know how something's going to look. If you don't know how something's going to turn out, then you might worry, especially when you've got a short amount of time.

THAT MEANS YOU CAN COME TO A SHOOT WITH A FULLY FORMED IDEA? You can come in knowing your idea is going to be successful. And sometimes that might mean making it look like there was no planning, making it look completely natural. But it's also being able to just use natural light.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author

In those in-between moments, I just make casual conversation.

Not necessarily work related. That way, by the time they're in front of me, we've already spoken about various things, and they're relaxed. left Nicola Coughlan, Actress right Sophie Turner, Actress

left King Charles, Singer right Melvin Odoom, Radio DJ

DO YOU SHOOT ON FILM MUCH? When I can, I try to do both, analog and digital.

I probably prefer the way analog looks though. I just don't think it can ever be replicated. It has this certain something that you can't explain.

I will shoot digital as well, because you never know what can happen with an analog camera. And, of course, the beauty of digital is, you can shoot as much as you want.

But with analog, you can slow things down, craft a little bit more. And also, you might forget about a shoot. And when the scans come in, it kind of takes you back.

I shoot a lot of Polaroids too. Even on the Chelsea shoots, I try to get my Polaroid in. It has a kind of soul about it.

DO YOU DO MUCH POST-PRODUCTION? It depends on the project, but most of the time, I would just do a light retouch, but nothing too crazy. And then a color grade.

In fact, I might do a few different color grades, depending on where I want to take it. But I would say my imagery is normally on the cooler side in terms of color temperature...I don't know why.

HAVE YOUR IMAGES EVER BEEN CHANGED DRAMATICALLY AFTER YOU'VE HANDED THEM OVER? There's only been a few instances of that, because I like to edit my own work.

Normally, I'll cut down the edit, and send the client a contact sheet. Then they'll select from that, and I take these and edit from there. But on one occasion someone took the low res images from the contact sheet, edited them, and then the artist started putting them out.

Basically, they made her look orange!

It made no sense.

WHERE PHOTOSHOP IS CONCERNED, A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE CAN BE A DANGEROUS THING! There's important features in a person’s face, you need to remember that. So there might be a certain line that's always there, that's always identifiable. And if you go overboard, and loose that line, then it’s not them anymore. That will be clear to see.

SPEAKING OF LINES, DO YOU STILL DRAW? I definitely want to get back into that.

And I guess it's always there in my head, because that's what I liked to do, growing up. But it’s not something

that I’ve had time for lately. In fact, personal projects generally are not something that I've had time for, but that I really want to get back into.

Especially the more documentary stuff.

When I go on holiday, I normally try to shoot something. I can't help myself. I collected some nice stuff in Venice and Colombia... I still love that documentary style, it's the essence of my work, where it all began.

I always feel privileged that I'm doing something that I love as a job, but sometimes it's good to just do something that doesn't have a brief.

Like painting, like drawing, you know, just put something up and just work on it for the sake of it.

ON THAT NOTE, DO YOU HAVE A DREAM JOB? At the moment I'm kind of trying to steer the work slowly towards advertising. Just the grander scale jobs really appeal. I've done some big brand stuff this year, so I'm really interested in exploring that direction.

But as far as actual dream jobs go, I love Formula 1, I'd like to shoot one of the drivers this year if I can. They have such an amazing job, traveling the world, racing in all these cool locations. I'd love to do some cool portraits.

If you're confident in lighting, you can shoot anywhere.

Doesn't matter where you are, what situation, you can shoot anything.

left Thomas Brodie Sangster, Actor right Hannah Van Der Westhuysen, Actress

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS 01 CHRISTOPH NIEMANN Illustration Design 2009

31 LA FILLE D'O Fashion Design

2016

59 DAVID KAMP Sound Design

2021

02 MICHEL MALLARD Creative Direction

2009

32 RUEDI BAUR Graphic Design

2016

60 THOMAS KURPPA Brand Design

2021

03 FUN FACTORY Product Design

2009

33 ROMAIN URHAUSEN Product Design

2016

61 NEW TENDENCY Product Design

2022

04 ANDREAS UEBELE Signage Design

2010

34 MR BINGO Illustration Design

2016

62 MARTHA VON MAYDELL

05 HARRI PECCINOTTI Photography

2010

35 KIKI VAN EIJK Product Design

2016

06 KUSTAA SAKSI Illustration Design

2010

36 JEAN-PAUL LESPAGNARD

07 5.5 DESIGNERS Product Design

2011

08 NIKLAUS TROXLER Graphic Design

2011

37 PE’L SCHLECHTER Graphic Design

09 JOACHIM SAUTER Media Design

2011

38 TIM JOHN & MARTIN SCHMITZ

10 MICHAEL JOHNSON Graphic Design

2011

11 ELVIS POMPILIO Fashion Design

2011

39 BROSMIND Illustration Design

2017

12 STEFAN DIEZ Industrial Design

2012

40 ARMANDO MILANI Graphic Design

2017

13 CHRISTIAN SCHNEIDER Sound Design

2012

41 LAURA STRAßER Product Design

2017

14 MARIO LOMBARDO Editorial Design

2012

42 PHOENIX DESIGN Industrial Design

2018

15 SAM HECHT Industrial Design

2012

43 UWE R. BRÜCKNER Scenography Design 2018

Fashion Design

Scenography Design

44 BROUSSE & RUDDIGKEIT Design Code

16 SONJA STUMMERER &

2017 2017 2017

2018

2012

45 ISABELLE CHAPUIS Photography Design 2018

17 LERNERT & SANDER Art & Design

2013

46 PATRICIA URQUIOLA Product Design

18 MURAT GÜNAK Automotive Design

2013

47 SARAH-GRACE MANKARIOUS

19 NICOLAS BOURQUIN Editorial Design

2013

20 SISSEL TOLAAS Scent Design

2013

48 STUDIO FEIXEN Visual Concepts

2019

21 CHRISTOPHE PILLET Product Design

2013

49 FRANK RAUSCH Interface Design

2019

22 MIRKO BORSCHE Editorial Design

2014

50 DENNIS LÜCK Designing Creativity

2019

23 PAUL PRIESTMAN Transportation Design 2014

51 IAN ANDERSON Graphic Design

2019

24 BRUCE DUCKWORTH Packaging Design 2014

52 FOLCH STUDIO Strategic Narrative Design 2019

25 ERIK SPIEKERMANN Graphic Design

2014

53 MARC TAMSCHICK Spatial Media Design 2020

26 KLAUS-PETER SIEMSSEN Light Design

2014

54 TYPEJOCKEYS Type Design

2020

27 EDUARDO AIRES Corporate Design

2015

55 MOTH Animation Design

2021

28 PHILIPPE APELOIG Graphic Design

2015

56 JONAS LINDSTRÖM Photography

2021

57 VERONICA FUERTE Graphic Design

2021

MARTIN HABLESREITER Food Design

29 ALEXANDRA MURRAY-LESLIE High Techne Fashion Design 30 PLEIX Video & Installation Design

2015 2016

Art Direction

2018 2018

58 CHRISTOPHE DE LA FONTAINE Product Design

Illustration Design

2022

63 STUDIO KLARENBEEK & DROS

2021

Design Research

2022

Design Friends would like to thank all their members and partners for their support.

In collaboration with

Support Design Friends, become a member.

More information on www.designfriends.lu

Service Partners

Partners

COLOPHON PUBLISHER Design Friends COORDINATION Hyder Razvi LAYOUT Hyder Razvi INTERVIEW Mark Penfold PRINT Imprimerie Schlimé PRINT RUN 250 (Limited edition)

BOARDMEMBERS Anabel Witry (President) Guido Kröger (Treasurer) Heike Fries (Secretary) Claudia Eustergerling, Reza Kianpour, Dana Popescu, Hyder Razvi (Members)

Design Friends is financially supported by

ISBN 978-2-9199655-8-8 PRICE 5 €

COUNSELORS Charline Guille-Burger, Silvano Vidale

DESIGN FRIENDS Association sans but lucratif (Luxembourg)

WWW.DESIGNFRIENDS.LU

This catalogue is published for the lecture of Joupin Ghamsari "Finding your voice Navigating the world of photography" at Mudam Luxembourg on 15th June, 2022 organised by Design Friends

WWW.DESIGNFRIENDS.LU