Photoshoot + Interview: 'Samantha' by Nina Tellier
We love this shoot by soon-to-be Paris-based photographer Nina Tellier.
Featuring the wares of vintage boutique LMVintageNC, model Samantha cuts a classic figure in some eveningwear we’d love to get our hands on – how dreamy is the peach number!
Originally based in North Carolina, Nina’s been taking photos for seven years, shooting a range of fashion, glamour, and her own creative concept shoots. Nina’s work often has a vintage, nostalgic feel to it – “these looks used to be popular for a reason, and to me, nothing ever goes out of style, we just find new ways to reintroduce it into the world.”
We can’t wait to see what she gets up to in the city of love, light and, of course, fashion!
Q: When did your love of photography first blossom?
A: My mother and I used to joke about how my father takes pictures of absolutely everything, all the time. There are dozens of family albums in my parents house, and enough photos to fill up multiple cardboard boxes. Needless to say, I grew up witnessing a lot of photography going on. I think I inherited my dad's desire to capture moments forever. My love for photography began with that idea in mind.
At age 14 I got my first DSLR camera for Christmas, and began taking pictures of absolutely everything. I took my camera everywhere. I experimented with anything and everything I could think of. I started off with the only Photoshop I could get, Photoshop 7, and tried to learn about editing. It was all just for fun at the time, but as years passed I started to get better, and I started to realize I had a knack for portraits. There was something about photographing people that just clicked in my mind. Expressing concepts and emotions through a portrait was something that made sense to me, and so I decided that'd be where I put all my attention. I don't think any of this would have happened if it hadn't been for my father's own passion for photography.
Q: What inspires your creativity the most?
A: There seems to be two main things that inspire me the most: fashion and emotions. When I look through magazines, or notice what people are wearing in the streets, or when I go window shopping, seeing everything that's out there gives me ideas. I immediately start visualizing potential looks in my head. When I walk around, I notice spots that seem incredibly photogenic, I start visualizing what I could do if I brought a model to shoot there. My imagination runs wild just by going out in the world and looking around.
Emotions are also what inspire me a lot. When I think of themes surrounding emotions like sadness, anger, envy, desire, I start thinking of environments and looks that could help create a whole atmosphere around those feelings. Watching movies often helps spark this. Certain scenes portraying happy or sad moments are put together in a way that often appeals to me and gives me more ideas to experiment with myself. Beyond fashion and emotions, I can't deny that a big part of my inspiration comes from seeing what fellow artists are doing in the world of photography or cinematography.
Q: What's an average creative day for you like?
A: Well, when I'm planning a shoot or brainstorming ideas for a shoot I usually end up looking at Pinterest boards or browsing through fashion magazines for ideas. Usually I have a somewhat vague idea of what I want to look into. Like recently I knew I wanted to do a shoot around the color white, and so after lurking around Pinterest I decided a "White Wedding" theme with all white makeup (white lips, white eyelashes etc), would be a really interesting look to work on. Or before that, I knew I really wanted to do a dark but feminine and floral look at a local garden, so I browsed the internet until I had an idea of the exact style I wanted to go for, and then started looking for potential models and MUAs etc.
Oftentimes I'll do things a bit backwards, and find a model I want to work with first, and then brainstorm ideas with them on what we could do. Or I'll look up places near me that might be a good location for a shoot. Oftentimes just seeing an incredible location will give me great ideas for a shoot, and I then move onto the process of finding artists to work with on it.
Q: What drew you to working with vintage? Why do you think people still go to such lengths to seek out clothes from the past?
A: Nostalgia is something I really love to see in fashion photography. Vintage brings that sense of nostalgia, that love for the past, that yearning for something we oftentimes never experienced. There's something unique about it, you usually can't readily find legitimately vintage clothing, and therefore when you do, it makes it all the more special. Modern fashion can be astonishingly beautiful, but there will always be something special about vintage clothing to me because of that rarity aspect and also because I've always been a fan of revamping or modernizing "old" looks. These looks used to be popular for a reason, and to me, nothing ever goes out of style, we just find new ways to reintroduce it into the world.
Q: What inspired you to move to Paris?
A: My move to Paris is actually entirely unrelated to photography. While my passion for fashion photography knows no end, my full-time priority is my education. I am about to begin a Masters program in International Security at Sciences Po in Paris, and my intentions are to later (hopefully) work for the United Nations' Peacekeeping in sub-Saharan Africa. Luckily, Paris is the capital of fashion, so I am incredibly inspired to plan shoots within this beautiful city, and get to collaborate with some of the outstanding artists within this place, while also finishing up my education.
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We’d like to thank Nina for taking part and answering our questions – visit her online at her website, and on Instagram (@ninatellier).
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Full credits: Photographer: Nina Tellier | Model: Samantha Mathias (@miss_samantha_mathias) | Hair Stylist: Ana Nino Combs (@ananc17) | MUA: Leah Burley (@leahburley) | Wardrobe: LMVintageNC
Cecile Blackmore is a writer from Brisbane, Australia. She writes and edits at The Creative Issue and hoards vintage clothing – follow her adventures on Instagram at @saintcecile.