Being Happy Took me Time

Featuring Rémi Ferrante Words by Nastasia Khmelnitski

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Rémi Ferrante is a Paris-based photographer and director represented by OBVIOUS. Rémi made his path to photography and film direction by working as an art director in an advertising agency. He is a founder of BLAST magazine, a fashion magazine, which presents the industry from a different perspective, ironic and contemplative. Rémi worked with clients like Lacoste, LVMH, Hypebeast, Nike, Asics, Adidas, Renault, and others.

Rémi creates photographs that build interaction between the model and an object or between several models. High fashion is merged with the outdoor summer vibes or indoors patterns of the architecture, and interior design, which offers a narrative with an atmosphere of living a moment.

Taking some time after the Paris Fashion Week, Rémi decides to share with us some of his experience, insights on the industry, and his latest shoot in Morocco for the Casablanca brand. We discuss topics as the importance of positioning yourself as a unique brand, casting techniques and an emergence of the non-model type, becoming vegan and practicing Yoga, and eventually getting to the point of being a happy human. We congratulate Rémi for recently signing with OBVIOUS!

Hi Remi, we’re glad to have you in our magazine! How was the start of 2020 for you?

I really appreciate the opportunity to talk a little. It’s good to take some time with you to do that. 2020 started with a very long fashion week in Paris.

I’m busy working on the image of a brand that I love seeing growing, Casablanca, created 2 years ago by a long time friend Charaf Tajer, who was known for his work with the brand Pigalle a few years ago. I loved Casablanca since its beginning and how it somehow marks a different approach of softly tailored and timeless pieces. The casting is also a huge part of what makes Casablanca different. The influences I’m digging for Casablanca are between Slim Aarons, for his hedonistic universe, and Aldo Fallai for the charisma of his models and the heritage he left - his work for Armani.

I’m also closely working on images for Dov Charney for many years (the founder of American Apparel and today Los Angeles Apparel). I always hugely respected what Dov brought to the fashion industry and how it changed forever the way we use clothes now. Far from the fast fashion industry, and always, of course, top quality. He definitely marked the history of fashion forever, and the way of showing it also. We all remember American Apparel’s ads. I’m happy to be able today to be part of that history, beside him.

‘I think it’s essential to be an outsider and remain a curious observer’

What are your plans for this weekend, anything special?

This weekend I’m back at Yoga after a month of photoshoots and travelling. I shot the SS20 campaign for Casablanca in Morocco, which should be out by next week. I’m pretty chill, maybe because I usually don't drink or party much. So I will be back at my favorite Yoga studio in Paris, Modo Yoga, then I might go for a vegan breakfast in the all-vegan hotel that has just opened near Pigalle district in the 9th in Paris, called HOY.

‘If you really want something, it will happen, wherever you are your voice can be heard and your work can be seen. Motivated artists can do beautiful things together with almost nothing’

You currently live in Paris, one of the most magical cities, how do you think location helps to collaborate with artists or find opportunities and commissioned projects? 

From an internet user’s perspective, one could think that culture has unified worldwide, which is not 100% false. But regarding my job as a photographer, I think it’s essential to be an outsider and remain a curious observer. And being able to travel the world, not only through a screen but by discovering cultures by yourself is easier than 30 years ago, it's an experience that brings a lot, especially for personal photo projects. I love getting into new cultures and understanding them.

Paris is a city that I think is suffering because it's not very practical. You can feel a lot of tension between people in the streets. For me, it's hard sometimes to have a good time in Paris, as I’m originally from the South of France. But I’m sure that there is a lot to take from that hardness in Paris and to transform into creation. Paris has a lot to offer, but is also super small and not always very open-minded. I hope things will change soon, especially due to the project of Le Grand Paris, which opens Paris beyond its limits all around. 

Then, I went to live in Milan, with my friend Tom Nicon (a top model who committed suicide in 2010), then I started to do portraits for model agencies. I won a Myspace fashion contest, which allowed me to show my brand on Who’s Next, the biggest Parisian fashion trade show. This is when I moved to Paris and met a lot of friends who knew about my brand and my photos and I was very surprised! I stayed there since then. I believe that if you are far from a metropolis, your work can still rise, no matter what, if you really want something, it will happen, wherever you are your voice can be heard and your work can be seen. Motivated artists can do beautiful things together with almost nothing. Metropolis, I guess, has a density of artists, so it facilitates a part of that process, but it also, like Paris, sometimes is too small and overcrowded. What we can hope for is that cities continue to grow bigger. A great example of a city like no other is Los Angeles, very modern in its size and in the core of its manners. 

For the past year and a half, I have been working at McCann. It’s interesting to hear an additional perspective on the aspects of working in an agency. What are some of the takeaways for you from this experience? 

I started working for an agency, after I closed the brand in 2011, I wanted to focus more on my photography. It was the early stages of branded content at this time. The agency, called L’Ecurie, was editing its own magazine, Intersection. A magazine created by Yorgo Tloupas was about car culture and mobility. Karl Lagerfeld always loved the magazine that he described as the Vogue of cars. It was a real pleasure to have this huge freedom to create unique content for brands and for print, we shot a lot of unique concept projects, cars mixed with high fashion, and at the same time pushing the limits of digital content because everything was very new. 

What remains of almost 5 years' experience in an agency owing its media is that whatever you do, you have to work on being your own media. I think that today to be an individual is being a brand online, a name, but more importantly, to be identified visually, and to have a digital presence, which is mandatory. 

You’ve been working with fashion brands like Lacoste, Nike, Adidas, and other famous names in the industry. What is the most challenging in being a part of a big project?    

In any collaboration, the most important part is confidence and how you build a bond of trust with a client. Brands today want to look edgy, and also authentic, and maybe this is what comes out of my work, a feeling of something effortless, and real. I like to add details, not necessarily fundamental to the image to create a surprise. I like to please people in their expectations, that’s the Cancer in me maybe, lol. I spend a big part in the process in commissioned works, to understand what is crucial, and essential. I love working with teams and feel a great energy in teamwork. There is nothing like it.

What are some of the main milestones in your career that you can say were instrumental in your path to photography and forward? 

I believe that everything is in constant evolution, in motion all the time. In my personal life and my work as well, I like to think that the timeline is just in writing. It’s hard to answer that question because everything counts. Each moment and experience serves what is coming next. Meeting the right people at the right time played a big role in my path.

Working with professional models helps to deliver better the overall atmosphere one wants to create in a photo. However, there is a trend today to explore working with non-models to achieve a different feel in the shoot. What type of character is your favorite to include in the session?

Casting is an essential part of photography, just in looking at someone, you have so many ideas already, you have so many emotions. And maybe we are just tired as viewers of glamour, first degree emotions. We are a little more complex now in the palette of our feelings. We are looking at photos all the time and project a lot of thoughts into the images we browse online, way more than 10 years ago. Non-models are just people with a more complex appearance. We are really at a time where the word photogenic doesn’t mean anything if it ever meant anything. And the basic beauty, as we know, with its characteristics for men with a strong jawline, or skinny women with prominent cheekbone is something, I guess, we are tired of seeing. People cartoon that normal appearance by using face-tune on their selfies way too much.

In one of your posts, you’ve been speaking about practicing yoga, losing 10kg, and starting a healthier diet. What did this journey start from and how is it going today?  

Hot Yoga came into my life by curiosity only 3 years after being back from a road trip with my ex-girlfriend, in Los Angeles. It was a real revelation. I could never think that it would have made my life so much better. I love practicing very early in the morning and then swimming in cold water if I’m by the ocean. I started being vegan 2 years ago, at a time when on an emotional level I felt closer to animals than people, probably due to a love deception. It felt not right to have so much love for pets, and on the other hand eat animals. I’m encouraging everyone willing to change something in their life to start with a different diet. It all starts with that.

‘Each moment and experience serves what is coming next. Meeting the right people at the right time played a big role in my path’

You’re a founder of BLAST Magazine. Tell about this project, its main goal from your personal perspective. 

I started Blast as a printed magazine in 2013 and went online after a year and 3 edited magazines. Today, I still produce and show the work of worldwide artists that I like. It can be fashion editorials, but not only. I love having the possibility to have this media to highlight other’s work. On Instagram, Blast Magazine is doing well with 41K followers. The content I post is basically fashion memes and inspirations. I try to keep it entertaining. And it works, we are followed by big accounts, like Virgil Abloh, who loves the page. I’m starting to think that I want to print magazines again. So we will see what will be going on with that. A line of clothes is possibly coming soon with an artist I really like. I will reveal more details very soon!

What contributes to the feeling of happiness, or what makes you happy? 

Being happy took me time honestly, but I can say today that I’m fully happy in my life. It starts with knowing yourself in the first place. And it takes time. Being good to others and helping them makes me feel good and also being around people with the same energy. 

What’s next? 

I would like to do more exhibitions of my work and sell prints online too. Blast is also on the table for a new printed version and special collabs. Also, to have a pack of dogs, probably! And many many other things, as I have just signed with an agent in Paris France, OBVIOUS.