Valentin Herfray
If you like a SUPER pointy shoe or a SUPER long legged lady, then I have just the photographer for you. He may have an exaggeration problem, but his photos never lie. When he mentioned his "gadget style" approach to photography, I couldn't help but imagine him in a trench coat with a million different cameras and devices just like my favorite childhood cartoon hero, Inspector Gadget.
You live in France, yes?
I’ve been living in Paris for 5 years now.
Have you always and will you forever?
Heaven only knows. :-)
How old are you?How old do you feel?
Kendall Jenner and I are the same age, though I sometimes feel closer to Bonnie Tyler.
Do people ever say you look like anyone?
I’m so desperate to find my devil twin!
How long have you had a mustache?
Ever since it started growing :—)
At what age did you start taking pictures?
Ever since I’ve had a moustache.
Did you train formally in photography?
Learning graphic design led me to focus my interest in photography. I went to a fashion & design school in Duperré, Paris.I did learn technical stuff assisting photographers, but mostly I experimented and tried to do things differently - without full technical knowledge & proper means, gadget style.
In your recent work you've played with proportion and scale - What started that thought process and how did it evolve?
In a fake news era, playing with scale and proportions (for me anyway) has a link with buzz and hoax codes.These generate a feeling of exaggeration, impossibility and strangeness. If we consider how fashion has evolved over the past decades -especially more recently - clothes extend, stretch, elongate, shorten and deal more and more with distortions. Paradoxically, I feel like bodies should evolve the same way clothes do.I try to emphaSIZE, these new considerations for human shapes and this constant renewal of proportions. Does size really matter?
I think it's important to support each other as creatives. Can you name some contemporary artists, peers, that influence or inspire you?
Assisting Daniel Sannwald in London has been a big part of my awakening as a photographer.The freedom he takes with his medium and the way he deals with digital vs. in real life special effects.....I’m also very glad to work with my friend Louise Richard on creative direction for a few recent fun projects.
If you could set up a fantasy photo shoot....what would be your dream team and model and what would be your location etc?
Celine Dion lost all by herself in the biggest Celine Dion lookalikes gathering, River deep, Mountain high!
Images courtesy of VALENTIN HERFRAY
words ASHLEY MUNNS
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