Featured Photographer #45: Jérémie Mazenq

April 14, 2016

My name is Jérémie, I am 32, I live in Bordeaux in the south west of France, I am a photographer & a sound engineer.

Featured Photographer #45: Jérémie Mazenq

My parents made a lot of pictures in my childhood and my father had a laboratory at home so I quickly made my first pictures.

Then I turned to the music & sound and I became a sound engineer for film.

In my job, I was brought to meet many directors of photography so I had the desire to return back to photography. I was 25 then.

I also love to travel, listen to and play music & movies but I always have a camera with me.

Your personal story with photography in 12 words. Photography is for me a way to express myself and to show how I see life.

What do you want to achieve? I don’t want to achieve anything in particular, I just love making pictures, meeting new people.

Where do you think the wisdom and instinct for a good photograph comes from? The definition of a good photographer is probably different depending on people, for me it is just to make images with honesty and simplicity.

What annoys you the most in this profession? What annoys you most about this job is the lack of consideration of some customers. Under the pretext that we practice a profession that is also a passion, they allow them to make indecent proposals. The lack of humility is also a big problem in our profession.

What’s in your camera bag? I have often several cameras with me. For my personal photos I only use film cameras. I like to have several formats:

In 135mm I use a Leica M6 with a 50mm and a Canon F1 with a 28mm.

In 120mm my favorite is a Rolleiflex 3.5F and I have also a Mamiya 7II with a 80mm.

In my studio I use my 4x5 Graflex speed graphic which i love very, very much! I also like instant photography with my beautiful SX-70.

I process color and black & white by myself and I do my own prints by traditional process.

For commissioned work, I use a Canon 5d mark III.

If you could give one final advice to your fellow photographers, what would it be? Anyone can learn the technique. Be yourself and show your differences.