(Translated from Turkish to English)
I was invited to Denis Piel’s opening at the Staley Wise Gallery. Staley Wise always exhibits fashion-related photographs. I have attended many of his exhibitions, all of which were beautiful works by fashion photographers. But this time it was something beyond fashion photography. That’s when I decided to interview Denis. He had come from France for the opening. As usual, there was no time. He was leaving New York the next day. I told him that I was very impressed by his photographs, and he did not refuse me despite his very limited time. We met early in the morning at the Staley Wise Gallery, two passionate people. It was Saturday.
Ayşe Sarıoğlu: Can you tell me how your photographs have such emotion and spirit? They speak to me. I am very excited to be doing this interview. That must be the reason. Can you tell me how you achieve this? How can photographs speak?
Denis Piel: I think that the way you react to the pictures is a direct reflection of what I try to produce. If someone who looks at my pictures can interact with them, then I have achieved what I want to achieve. To touch people… Relationships, emotions, movements, and telling stories. Interaction with my pictures means that the story continues in my pictures. Every time you look at them, the main thing I want to achieve is that the story continues.
AS: Do you believe in stories? Do you create stories in your shootings?
DP: Every time I set up a series, the story follows. The story develops itself. That is, it happens visually. They also set a kind of boundary for the script relationship that I am trying to achieve. With the spontaneous development of this story, I provoke and encourage the actors to play their roles. I start to reflect what I see into my camera. As the script develops, the story and the roles develop. I continue to move. I encourage the actor to act in a certain way, I give a thought to change the process. In this way, something else happens, I direct the process, I play until I get what I want.
AS: Then you first imagine it, write the story according to this dream and implement it.
DP: Yes, I dream of creating a story. But a story involves a creative process. I give them the outline. I capture what they do. I may change what they do a little bit. If they are emotionally stronger, the way that person responds to you will change. I give people the roles they are going to play based on the original script. I let them take on their roles. If I can’t meet my expectations for the best result, I change the roles. Basically, I work like a director, not a photographer. I manage the process at every stage, I guide people.
AS: So everything happens in its own flow.
DP: I try to bring reality to the situation. Reality is emotional reality. Especially when people are involved, the relationship between them. In any case, it basically tells the story.
AS: Denis, how do you prepare yourself for a shoot? Do you get a brief? Do you see the first model? Do you go to the location?
DP: I see the first clothes, so I know what I'm signing. Then I work on different stories or scenarios for different locations. Let's say I have 10 days for this. I list them in those 10 days. Then I talk to the editor, present the possibilities, and agree. I move forward.
AS: What's your story? We all have a story? We create stories, I'm curious about yours.
DP: Ayşe, today is my birthday. I am 81 years old. I have an 81-year story, maybe a little more. A lot has been packed into these 81 years, I can tell you more and more. Life has its ups and downs. Mine is the same. It has always been that way. We can summarize the basis of my story as being independent and creative. I love adventure and exploring. Life itself is an adventure.
AS: Are you happy with what you have experienced in 81 years?
EP: I'm happy to still be here.
AS: So, what are your strengths and weaknesses?
DP: My strengths are my consistency and discipline.
AS: Yes, I noticed your discipline a lot. Do you have any weaknesses?
DP: It's full, really. You can tell me more and more. It's best if I don't tell too much.
AS: You obviously don't like talking about yourself. So how did your photography adventure begin? When and how did you decide to become a photographer? Did you choose to become a photographer?
DP: I chose to be a photographer. I left school at a very early age. I had to work to make a living. I started working as a printer in the printing business when I was 16. I was printing magazines and newspapers on large printers. My stepmother worked in advertising. She bought me a camera when I was 12. And she encouraged me to see everything with my own eyes. While working in the printing business, magazines and newspapers would receive photos to be printed. I would examine them and finally, when I was 17, I decided that I could take better photos than these and that was how my photography adventure began. I explained this to the printing studio I worked at. They were very good people. They had taught me the job completely and they loved me very much. They told me that I was wrong. They said that we, as a printing studio, will always exist here. You have also acquired a profession here. Photography is a difficult job, it is not even clear whether you will exist or not. I told them that I have made my decision, I will be a photographer. This is what I want to do. I should also mention that this printer workshop no longer exists because they were defeated by technology very early on and lost their business. I am still here.
AS: So then you took photography courses?
DP: Not courses, I studied General Photography at college in Australia. I had a wonderful professor who I fought with all the time. He approached everything from a technical perspective. I was always on the artistic side. We argued all the time, then we became good friends. He taught me a lot. I opened my own photography studio in Australia when I was 22.
AS: So how did you find your way into photography? How did you choose which field to specialize in?
DP: It was a mental decision. I had a commercial studio in Lisbon. I learned to create my own vision. I discovered how to write my own stories. I was working in advertising and fashion. I liked the stories I created in fashion more. Then I decided that I had more potential in fashion and I went into fashion.
AS: Do you have a special interest in fashion?
DP: My only interest is as a photographer. At that time, I was working with American Vogue. Our budgets were unlimited, which gave me great freedom of creation and production, and one of the reasons I chose fashion was the unlimited opportunities provided by these unlimited budgets. My biggest mentor in this field was Alexander Liberman, the Creative Director of Conde Nast. American Vogue also supported me a lot. He succeeded, I succeeded. He paved a great way for me. I signed a contract with American Vogue, we produced very original works. The works I did with Alexander Liberman changed my life. It was a great chance for me that they chose me.
AS: What is essential for a good shoot?
DP: My must-have is the freedom to create what I want. I have always had this freedom within the boundaries of fashion.
AS: If you shoot with any model in any location, can you give meaning and emotion to those photographs?
DP: This process is a very collaborative process. When I was a fashion photographer, I always chose which model to work with. Of course, I always collaborated with the Editor and always agreed on the same idea. I never worked with a model that I didn’t want to work with in a place where I wasn’t inspired. Both the place I work in and my interaction with the model are extremely important. It’s important that I get inspired and want to include them in the story I want to create.
AS: How many takes did you take to get the result you wanted?
DP: It's hard to say anything about one-shot shootings. You need to focus on where the scenario can develop. If there's excitement, if the scenario allows for development and there are possibilities, sometimes I can capture something in 10 minutes or in 1.5 hours. Sometimes it took 10-12 days for serial shootings.
AS: Is there a best time for you in terms of mood and creativity?
DP: There is no such time for me. It can be any time depending on the story I want to tell and the location. I watch the location I will be shooting at throughout the day, starting from the early hours of the day. I look at the light conditions. I have a map that I have prepared in advance. I adjust the times of my shooting according to this shooting map and the light conditions.
AS: What was your most memorable shoot?
DP: All my shoots were unforgettable. I can't choose. But personally, the most unforgettable ones are the personal and artistic shoots I'm doing right now as part of the Padiéscapes Project. There are no clothes in these shoots, sometimes not even models. Just nature, plants, the relationship between people and nature, naked, natural, plain. Sometimes plants, flowers, people. These are the works that excite me the most right now.
AS: Do you think you have been lucky in your life?
DP: No doubt about it, I am very, very lucky.
AS: Is there a memory you would like to share with us throughout your journey?
DP: I don't have any particular memory that comes to mind that I would like to share.
AS: You have a career spanning over 60 years. Which brands have you worked with in these 60 years? Which brand did you enjoy working with the most?
DP: I have worked with all the brands with great pleasure. But I think the brand that inspired me the most was 'Donna Karan', which we founded from scratch. I think it was 1984-1985, I had the opportunity to work very closely with both the founder of the brand, Donna Karan, and the brand's agency. It was another stroke of luck for me. Because our perspectives were very compatible with Donna Karan's. We were not interested in clothes. We were interested in women. The focus was on how we portrayed women. This was very exciting. One day Alex was looking at my book and said, your job is to photograph women. You are very good at it. That's my entire focus. Yes, that was true. That's why we had the opportunity to do very good work with Donna Karan.
A: You have been a photographer since you were 16. 65 years, easy to say. How many of these years were spent in New York and which years were they? Can we call these years the peak of your career?
DP: Yes, the peaks of my career were spent in New York. I spent 26 years in New York, including breaks, starting in 1979. But as you know, I worked all over the world. London, Paris, Lisbon among them.
AS: You were born in France and grew up in Australia. Did you study in the US?
DP: As I mentioned before, I dropped out of school before I had completed my basic education and started working. Since I loved writing stories, one of my biggest passions was film. I applied to NYU to study film, but I was not accepted because I had not completed my undergraduate education. But I was accepted by American Vogue magazine anyway. Because, as Alexander Liberman put it, I had an extraordinary talent in this field. But I was accepted later on because Alexander Liberman from American Vogue wrote a letter to the university saying that I had an extraordinary talent in this field and recommended that they take me.
AS: You didn't get to study film at NYU, but you did make films later.
DP: Yes, I have done over 100 TV commercials. I wrote the scripts for many of them. I also directed them. I did Donna Karan's films. Those films were important to me. They were one of the things that contributed a lot to my development in my career. And then I did my own film. 'Love is Blind.' That film changed my life. It told the story of a blind couple in their first year of marriage. After that film, I stopped working commercially and started working for myself and my artistic projects.
AS: Your entire journey and experiences have developed through your talent, you found your way through your talent, not your education, right?
DP: Yes, but I worked with a large, well-educated team in humble collaboration. The creativity always came from me. But in practice, we were a large team. This team was always ready to play and share the game with me. This sharing and excitement was a personal success for me.
AS: Do you have any rituals to prepare yourself for a shoot? To nourish your soul, to get inspired, to relax…
DP: No, I don't do anything for myself regarding the shoot. However, there are preparations I make. Understanding the portrait I will shoot, reviewing and analyzing past shoots, knowing what to deal with. Touching the brand, the people. Seeing what I am emotionally facing. Basically understanding, analyzing and correctly reading people, products, brands and the situation. These are the things I concentrate on before the shoot.
AS: Do you get excited, anxious or worried before a shoot?
DP: If it was a shoot that would affect my life, maybe I would be excited. These shoots are things I do all the time. I know what I'm going to do, so I don't have any special excitement or anxiety. This is my whole life, this is what I've been doing my whole life.
AS: What do you feel when you see your photos? What do you think?
DP: Sometimes I find them successful, sometimes unsuccessful. I don't care about other people's opinions. Photos of mine that I don't like may still be selected and printed. But I may still not find them successful. I criticize my own work more than anyone else.
AS: Which model or models did you enjoy working with?
DP: The model that was featured most in my new book was Rosemary McGrotha. That's when I realized that she was the model I enjoyed working with the most. But I've worked with actresses as well as models, and I've enjoyed working with actresses much more than I enjoyed working with models.
AS: So, do you have an archive? I know from all my photographer friends that this is one of the most important tasks in your profession. All my friends are trying to create their archives.
DP: You're right, I'm working on that right now. I'm trying to build my archive at home in France. It's a big job. Completing my archive is one of my priorities right now.
AS: How many photos do you have in your archive?
DP: Thousands.
AS: So is there romance in your photographs, along with emotion and soul? Many of them are not even sexy, but very romantic. Where does this romance come from? From you?
DP: I was also very excited to hear your comment. Another sign of success for me. I never thought about it until you said it. But I guess you're right. I'm a romantic.
AS: How do you nourish your soul and creativity? What inspires you?
DP: My biggest source of inspiration is my imagination. Also, what is around me on a regular basis is important. My biggest source of inspiration right now is nature.
AS: Yes, the environment you live in now. Did nature seem sexier than the models to you?
DP: You know, the human body and nature are the same for me. They are both nature. Clothes are something else, I have never been interested in them. I have always chosen to photograph women in their natural state, naked. Now I am photographing them in nature. This is the most innocent state of nature. We are born naked and we die naked. I am interested in this natural state. I am interested in nature. Relationships and stories. Body and nature are my favorite combination. The beauty of this natural union interests me.
AS: So what is your favorite camera? Is Leica a good camera? Is there a secret formula for a better result?
DP: I don't have a favorite camera. Leica is a good camera, of course. I use all kinds of cameras, the main ones are Hasselblad, Leica, Deardorff 8x10. The best camera for beginners is your iPhone. I won the Leica Excellence Award for commercial photography. You have to use your eye and your heart, there is no other magic formula. It has nothing to do with the camera. You have to use your intuition. You have to try, you have to try.
AS: Digital photo or Analog photo?
DP: Both. I use both depending on the situation. The best is the iPhone, as I mentioned before. The technology in the iPhone today is the best.
AS: Black and White or Color?
DP: It depends on the product and its story.
AS: Do you have a darkroom in your home?
DP: There should be, but there isn't. One of my projects is to have a darkroom in my house as soon as possible.
AS: How much do you use technology in your photographs?
DP: Technology has always interested me. But technology does not love me as much as I love it. Technology is a part of creativity, but it has always been my escape. But knowingly or unknowingly. I have not been able to show the discipline and determination to deal with technology. I have not been able to reach the emotional freedom that I need the most in this area. One of my current projects, Padiéscapes, is where I photograph nature and flowers in the place where I live. Then I add color and light to these photos. It is very much about technology.
AS: Who are the artists that you admire and draw inspiration from?
DP: The artists that inspire me are not photographers but filmmakers: Robert Frank, Bertolucci, Francois Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick and others.
AS: Is there an artist in the family?
DP: Yes, my uncle and grandfather. My uncle André Masson was an important artist. My grandfather Jean Baptiste Piel wrote art critiques in an intellectual magazine, Critique.
AS: Which show is this at Staley Wise?
DP: I didn't count, I had many exhibitions, including in Europe.
AS: France, Australia, USA, France. You currently live in southwestern France. Since when and what brought you back to France?
DP: Long story. In short, 9/11 happened. I bought a chateau in the middle of nowhere in southwest France. When 9/11 happened, I decided to close NYC and move to France.
AS: Nature after fashion and media. Are you happy there and how do you spend your day?
DP: I am usually in nature, I don't have a routine. I am very, very happy there. I am working on my Padiéscapes project, with landscape photographs, flowers, plants, nature. I have just finished my fifth book, Rosemary. I am preparing for this exhibition.
AS: Then we should expect a new exhibition from you about nature landscapes and Padiéscapes. Did you use the female figure in these photographs?
DP: Yes, I will prepare an exhibition with these photographs. In this project, I only work on flowers, plants, and nature scenes. Nature in its pure form. There is no other figure.
AS: Do you miss New York?
DP: I don't miss it at all, I'm very happy there. Of course, many of my unforgettable years were spent in this city.
AS: We talked about your future projects. Is there anything you would like to add?
DP: Yes, I am actually preparing a retrospective of my life. With excitement and passion. I think it will take a few years of my life. I will need a big space like a museum to exhibit it. That is my biggest project right now.
AS: It's really exciting. We're looking forward to it. Thank you very much Denis, that's what I was going to ask. Is there anything you'd like to add?
DP: I'll be waiting with great anticipation for you to publish my interview. Thank you very much. It was a pleasure.
