Fotograf Samuel Virginie

—Är du fotogenisk?

—Hahaha...Part of the team is;)
Try to find which one;)

—Hur började du inom fotografi?

—One day, we have decided to leave our country, 7 years ago now and go to New Zealand : need some fresh air, need a "new beginning" (what's better than Aotearoa for that), find yourself into a perfect lost in translation atmosphere and be into the wild.Our fascination for landscapes and wildlife was so satisfied in that place and our life so different from what we had in France, we decided to take the risk to do what we love: Photos, as our full-time job!Life drove us then in Moorea, Tahiti and Bora Bora when we stayed for 4 years and where we win our first International Awards for wedding and honeymoon photography.Now, we are based in Victoria, in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The West Coast is incredible, wild and changes constantly. We serve destination and of course all our island.

—Vilka är enligt dig de viktigaste komponenterna för ett bra fotografi?

—Capture THE moment! The moment you can't create after, the real smile, real laugh, real tears, real emotion!:)
And to pass from a good photo to a beautiful photo we think the most important is the angle, the composition of the photo, find the original point of view, the nicer light or colors that's sort of things. We don't follow trends and Instagram new filters or buy new presets to be like others. We are first of all Artists, not businessman.

—Älskar du att resa?

—Of course, who doesn't like that!
More than just traveling a week or two, we like experimenting new areas by living there for a while. For now, we used to live in 5 different countries and islands over 4 continents. It's really interesting to cross different people, religions, ways to live.

—Vad gillar du mest med ditt yrke?

—Meet new people! We love ear about how the couple met, what's they want to do in the future, and we begin friends every time!:) It's so great to be the witness of their special event!We love our work cause every time it's different: different people with different background from different countries, different styles, it gives a lot of inspiration. We also love to create these images that come on our mind and launch a new concept by talking to each other (my husband and I as we work together). No way to propose always same poses etc... We have to create.

—Vad gillar du minst med ditt yrke?

—Hours behind my computer to communicate (not with people but with updating, social media, submit work on blogs...) We prefer to email my customer or chat with them directly and think about our shoot, be behind our camera;)
We hate the fact that Photography is not nowadays a work but a hobby. It's a hard job which requests a lot of time to understand what is photography.

—Hur kommer framtiden för fotografering att se ut?

—Hard to say! Nowadays, you can cover a wedding with a phone so...
For our part, we forget the idea to think about that and we focus on the present.

—Vad är det speciella med den fotografigenre du specialiserar i?

—You can't miss the wedding and can't lose a piece of this event! That's a lot of pressure if you think like that, but it's that! We always think we want to offer to the bride and groom the perfect souvenir ever and some pieces they had not seen too. Wedding photos it's a lot of emotions too, you have to let your heart live the moment as well to provide emotional photos. Not thinking you are at work.

—Hur hanterar du kritik?

—Criticism, if it's from people who care about photos, is always good and permit to grow up!

—Finns det några trender inom fotografering?

—Of course there are. Light, compo, specific moment, we can really see some difference from a year to another. It's nice to get inspired by that and it's also important to stay as you are without to copy or imitate someone.

—Vad bör kriterierna vara för en kund som ska välja en fotograf?

—Two things : the style of photography (bride and groom need to be in love with photos of the photographers, they need to feel something, they need to laugh, to say omgthat'sacrazyamazingphoto etc) and the feeling with the photographer during chat and meetings. Cause they will spend the most memorable day of their life with him/her.

—Vad är absolut inte tillåtet under fotograferingen?

—To have "paparazzis" all around you, constantly. That's not good for bride and groom who feel on stress cause they realize their Photographer can't work properly.

—Vilka detaljer kan en fotograf fånga som vanligtvis går obemärkta?

—Light, color, beauty of simple things (a detail on the dress, the hands of grand ma, the smile of a kid, ...)
Anticipate the moment.
The camera angle, not to be afraid to be wet or dirty and go on the ground or on the top of something to find the best angle.
Understand people, immediately find who they are and what people have more beautiful, how they are photogenic cause everybody is!

—Vad påverkar fotots värde? Vilka är dess element?

—The authenticity (this includes emotion) and the composition (this include the part of Art)

—Vem vill du fotografera?

—People in love, again and again, from all around the World.

—Vad oroar du dig över och varför?

—With new social media, we feel Photography begin to change a lot...

—Vilket är det mest imponerande ögonblicket i ditt liv?

—You speak about personal life or work?Personal : was to swim in the middle of 200 wild dolphins in New Zealand.Work : obtain Permanent Residency in Canada thanks to our work and recognization.

—Vem är din inspirationskälla i livet och varför?

—People who live with the smile even if life is hard, people who don't need too much to be happy, people who don't envy nobody and nothing but just live their life. Artists who continue their passion even if it's hard.

—Hur definierar du framgång? Hur mäter du framgång?

—The success is not necessarily to win lot of awards and be published in all magazines as this depends more of your communication ability than your skills but the success is to make all your customers happy and to comfort them on their choice! To received some news from them even after 2 or 3 years.

—Vilket är det största misstaget som du har gjort på jobbet?

—Said the truth about commission hotel asked for Photographer and fees entrance we have to pay to our clients...

—Vad tar du med dig och varför när du är ute och reser?

—Camera of course, a bag to hike, good shoes to walk, and travel as light as we can.

—Hur utbildar du dig själv för att bli en bättre fotograf?

—We try to watch as much as we can photography on magazines, books, photography website but also go on exhibition, see different kind of Arts like painting, dansing.... . I'm not a big fan of Photoshop, we work with Lightroom of course but we don't want to become more illustrator than photographer. We prefer to find the good way behind my camera than behind my computer, don't want to create rain for example, I want the real rain, if there is no rain, it's not to me to do that. So we try to experimente by ourself new effect, with material, angle etc...Also as we work in team we like criticism the work of the other and it's helpful:)

—Vems arbete har haft störst inflytande över dig som fotograf?

—I begin photos when I was 12 and more deeply when I was 16. It was not wedding photo and I worked alone. Nowadays, I can call friends some of the more famous Wedding Photographers of the World and they have an impact for sure on our way to see photography.

—Vad försöker du säga med dina fotografier?

—We want people feel something.

—Vad motiverar dig att fortsätta att ta bilder?

—It's our passion, how can I stop my passion?I don't need other motivation to continue photos!

—Om du kunde resa tillbaka i tiden, vad skulle du göra annorlunda?

—Begin photos as full time work before.

—Tror du att det finns liv på andra planeter?

—I'm curious, why not?
But I'm more concern about life in our planet we are going to completely lost...I prefer government put their money to save our planet before to explore other places...We have to find solution to fix our mess.

—Vilka är dina hjältar?

—People who fight for a best world, against animal traffic, against starvation, against child abuse, sometimes alone...
Jane Goodall, Diane Fossey,Warris Diries...

—Finns det någon person som du inte har någon respekt för?

—Racist, greed, extremist.

—Vad gör du på fritiden?

—Hiking, snorkeling, time with our dog – enjoy life with my husband!
And spending time with our friends. Laugh, eat and enjoy as much as we can.

—Har du någon sida som du aldrig visar upp offentligt?

—"The dark side" Sorry, I can't resist!

—Tror du på de traditionella mans- och kvinnorollerna?

—Traditional where? That's the first question!
We think people are free to do what they want in their own life, we will never judge.

—Är det enkelt för dig att skaffa vänner?

—With humor I guess and our terrible French accent perhaps;)

—Var skulle du vilja bo?

—We are good where we are. We are Permanent Resident of Canada now. We have just to explore this amazing country and continent but we are good staying there.

—Finns det ett liv efter äktenskapet?

—Of course! It's just the beginning! And a good excuse to make anniversary! :)

—Har du ett favoritskämt? Berätta det för oss.

—I need to mummer, it's about a camel.... :)

—Gillar du hundar eller katter?

—Ask to Matari our dog and our Duchesse (cat of course)

—Det bästa med livet är:

—The life.

—Det mest irriterande med livet är:

—The dark side of humans, fact they need always more...and maybe now social media.

—Vad vill du ändra på i världen?

—So many things....

—Kan du ge några råd till nya fotografer?

—Ask yourserlf why you want to do that?

—Om utomjordingar skulle komma till jorden, och du är den första personen som de träffar, vad skulle du säga till dem?

—First of all : Why are you here guys?:) I will show you how beautiful is our earth! Let me come into your flight thing I'm sure we can go from France to Japan in only 2mn that's so cool! Hep, let's me try your laser, just once! The blue one!

—Om du skulle bli tillfrågad att spela in en film, vilken genre skulle det vara?

—A kung fu movie.

—Imorgon kommer jag att...

—Be relax about the future