The Difference Between The Male And Female Gaze

Featuring Natasha Ribeiro-Austrich Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

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Captivated by the red color Natasha Ribeiro-Austrich incorporates lighting gel to her fashion shoots. The guiding principle is a desire to explore the atmosphere and contrast that emerge to present the character through the new prism. Influenced by the cinematography in films as Love and The Shining, Natasha constructs an aesthetic that presents distinct concepts to the world of fashion.

Her approach, however, comes through a deconstruction of those concepts, scrutinizing the boundaries to identify the new phenomenon. The close-ups on subjects’ faces, the work with the female body are elements that establish a distinct gaze. The gaze that leads the way to the point between the real and the imaginary. Natasha establishes a focus on depicting the narrative through the female gaze, detecting the inherent bias that should be removed to allow for the new perception to emerge. 

We speak with Natasha about her love for classic cinema, her decision to move to L.A and develop her career, and the community of creators in the city. Natasha shares her experience practicing plant-based diet and provides some tips for those who explore the option. We touch on the difference between female and male gaze in fashion photography today, and the recent change in perception of the client ordering commissioned work.

‘I always loved the color red and red lighting, but the film Love by Gaspar Noe, for example, really pushed me to explore red lighting through my photography’

Education

You’ve studied in King’s College London and in Emerson College to gain a double B.A in Film and Video Studies and also in Visual and Media Arts respectively. What are some of the skills that you found critical to bring to your work and develop further as a freelancer and a creator? Which were the most fascinating subjects you studied?    

Getting to explore Film Studies and Media Arts definitely was incredibly valuable to my work today as a photographer. I think everyone behind a camera can benefit from taking the time to study the history of capturing images and classic cinema. Although I mainly take photos, classic films and learning about famous directors and cinematographers of past decades taught me my foundation in composition, lighting, and conveyance of emotion that I try to really highlight in my work.

I always loved the color red and red lighting, but the film Love by Gaspar Noe, for example, really pushed me to explore red lighting through my photography. Goodfellas and Mean Streets are two Scorcese movies that I also love because they use a lot of red lighting. Another huge source of inspiration is Stanley Kubrick. Everything he touched has such a perfect composition. The Shining is my favorite, but even his earlier stuff like Killer’s Kiss is so beautiful. Every frame can stand alone as a photograph. His work is the definition of “aesthetically pleasing,” in my opinion. And I mean film noir, in general, is how I fell in love with high contrast, dark photography. I love shadows and really low light settings. What I’m trying to say with all of this is everyone can learn from the past, and art is no exception to that. LA is also the perfect city to fall in love with cinema and visual art in general because of how much history is here.

‘I’ve also been really fortunate to meet and work with such amazing creatives out here. I have found a lot of support within the community of LA creatives that really helped my transition moving out here’

Los Angeles

What is your favorite place in the city? What are some of the preferences for living and work in Los Angeles when compared to other cities? 

I have genuinely come to love Los Angeles much more than I anticipated. I’m still fairly new to Los Angeles. I’m coming up on my second year living here, and I still come across new areas of the city all the time that I’ve never experienced. 

I really do love working here. I love how creative everyone here is, and the vintage influence on the type of art coming out of Los Angeles. I think because of this, Los Angeles is a lot more open to analog mediums, which I love because I will always choose to shoot film over digital.

I’ve also been really fortunate to meet and work with such amazing creatives out here. I have found a lot of support within the community of LA creatives that really helped my transition moving out here and helped my art grow into the body of work I’ve created today.

‘I love to use my work as an opportunity for women to regain some type of control in how they are perceived and showcase that women, and humans for that matter, are multifaceted beings with so much to give, say, and learn from’

Female - Male Gaze

What are the most interesting topics and themes for you to discuss and depict in your work? Do you think the female gaze in fashion is different from the male gaze and presentation of those topics today? 

I’d say that most of my work explores color theory and the female form. I love to use my work as an opportunity for women to regain some type of control in how they are perceived and showcase that women, and humans for that matter, are multifaceted beings with so much to give, say, and learn from.

Even though ultimately, I am the person behind the lens, I think it's important to note that every photo is a collaborative effort between both sides of the camera. At the end of the day, I can only offer my personal interpretation of the female gaze as it pertains to my life and experiences. Everyone has a unique gaze that impacts their work differently. 

The social climate we live in today creates a lot of talk about the difference between the male and female gaze and how that can create very different types of art. I do think that the female gaze and male gaze are different, and I also do believe that the art world has traditionally been focused around the male gaze and geared towards representing that creative world specifically, but I’m really proud of the recent social shift towards emphasizing and uplifting female artists.

I try not to think of female vs. male art in terms of which gaze creates “better” work because the male gaze isn’t necessarily synonymous with misogyny. I myself have worked with and look up to the work of some amazing male photographers. And you know, I sometimes find my own internalized misogyny showing through some of my photos and find myself having to step back and work through how it happened, what it means, and how to do better moving forward. I personally relate more towards work driven by the female gaze mainly because it relates more to the way I experience the world as a woman. I am not disregarding the gender inequality in the art world, or the exploitation of women through art, because it is very real, in art and in our larger society in general, but at the end of the day individual gaze is a tool to communicate personal experience and personal interpretation of the world around us, and no two gazes are going to create the same kind of photo.

35mm vs digital

Working on fashion editorials, you lots of the time shoot on 35mm. Do you have the same freedom to choose the right camera for commercial product shots? Is there a change with clients’ perception of the cameras used today compared to some years ago when film wasn’t yet that popular? 

I’ve been really lucky where most opportunities out here in Los Angeles have been open to the idea of shooting analog. I’ve only had a handful of experiences where I was asked to shoot digital. I think this has to do entirely with the rising popularity of film.

A couple of years ago, it was normal to have to explain and define what analog photography even was, but now I am finding that more and more people are approaching me specifically because of the aesthetic that film adds to a photo. There’s a certain sense of nostalgia associated with film that I think people will always appreciate.

‘Perfection is a constructed concept that is usually pretty unattainable’

Plant Based Diet

How long are you practicing a plant-based diet? What would be your advice to people who want to switch to becoming a vegetarian or a vegan? 

I’ve been practicing a plant-based diet for around 6 or 7 years now. I think my main advice for anyone considering the switch is to not be so hard on yourself. A vegan/vegetarian lifestyle looks really different for different people. It wasn’t easy making the transition, and I still have so much room for improvement.

Intention and effort are both really important, and more times than not, I see people attempting to make the switch, eventually, give up because they feel like they are failing at it. It took me a lot of time to switch to vegan products around the house. I still shoot on film which isn’t vegan, I still feed my two dogs meat-based products, and I still wear leather garments I purchased before making my switch to Veganism even though it's still technically glorifying the use of animal pelts regardless of when the item was purchased. Perfection is a constructed concept that is usually pretty unattainable. Once you open up to the idea that a permanent lifestyle change is going to be gradual, and that your journey isn’t going to be perfect, then your odds of successfully implementing these changes are going to increase. Making the switch to abandon animal-based products shouldn’t be a source of self-inflicted shame.

Upcoming Projects

What are your plans for this year? What are you working on right now? 

As far as upcoming projects go, I’m just trying to use 2020 to figure out what exactly I want to say with my work. Significance is just as important as aesthetic value, and I’d like to make my photos resemble “real” life a little more. Staged studio photography is beautiful and has its place, but I feel like I want to incorporate more of the “human experience” into my images and how I portray my subjects.