John Calavera

Name: Catherine Lemblé

Place: Belgium
Photographer: Jocelyn Catterson 
Camera & Film: 
Nikon EM & Kodak Tri-X 400, Fujifilm Superia x-tra 400
Book:
 ’Maskerblomstfamilien’ by Lars Saabye Christensen
Dream:
 Going to Canada, take a lot of pictures there and enjoy to the fullest


What does photography mean to you?



It became quite an obsession, but without the negative feeling. I love the process of photographing: seeing something, capturing it, hearing the sound of the shutter, developing your film, waiting for the negatives. Photography is so simple in a way, yet so intriguing and life looks much more interesting through the lens of a camera, you can create a whole new world by separating things from their context. I also have a tendency to forget things, but through photographs memories stay permanent.

I love this photography, can you tell us more?

Yes. I’m studying photography and this year we all had to make a project on ‘empathy’. I wanted to make photographs of things, situations and feelings to whom everyone can relate to. In order to do this I made a lot of different photos but they still had to fit together in one series. This photo is about how childhood is often granted as a carefree time, as a time where everything was simple and easy but the truth is often different. I wanted to photograph a feeling that everyone recognizes in a certain way: feeling alone on a playground.

Your work looks like a secret about a secret, so melancholic, why is that?


A secret about a secret, that ‘s a nice description! 

It’s not my aim to make melancholic photographs (except maybe for the series on empathy). I think people see for a great part in photographs what they want to see or what they feel. Some people look at a photograph of a tree and sympathize with it. Some people don‘t. I’m more attracted to look at photos with a melancholic or nostalgic feeling to them. I think good photos have to provoke a feeling inside. Like Aldous Huxley said: “There is something curiously boring about somebody else's happiness.”

What could be the soundtrack of your work?



A song with a guitar and a nostalgic feeling in it, like ‘Old Man’ by Neil Young or ‘Wagon Wheel’ (Old Crow Medicine Show) cover by Against Me!. Actually, I don’t think those songs fit my work but I love to go to a country with beautiful forests, lakes and mountains one day, take a lot of photos and hope they fit these songs.

What’s your opinion about computer photography? Do you think photography won’t be as we know it?

I prefer using film. I love the fact that you can't immediately see the result, it's exciting! I like old photos way more than photos you see nowadays, taken with a digital camera. I don’t like digital-made ‘perfect’ photos, super sharp and technically perfect. I find them boring and uninteresting. And I find it even more stupid to make those photos and afterwards edit them by adding grain, dust etc. in order to make them look like a photo on film. I love the charm of film, the waiting, the obligate choosing between things that you’re going to photograph because you only can make 36 photos per film. By photographing analog, you learn to 'look'. But that’s my opinion right now, my opinion can change and digital photography and edit programs have also their benefits. Nevertheless, I think it’s a pity how photography is changing. Nowadays almost everyone has a digital camera, it seems like people decided to stop thinking about what they ‘re going to photograph. They take as much meaningless pictures as they can, on every occasion, to throw them on social network sites or to place them in a map on their computer and never look at them again. Also photos in newspapers show a lack of knowledge and experience as regards photographs. I’m really happy to see other (young) photographers on Flickr who still use film and make amazing photographs without over-editing them.