Interview
Lea Lund and Erik K
Lea Lund is a graduate of the fine arts of Lausanne, with a long career as a visual artist, designer, illustrator, photographer, and graphic designer. When she met Erik on the street, she says: “We were both recently divorced, it was a “collision” rather than a meeting… The next day, I offered to shoot his portrait. He accepted and I was challenged by what he had released in these first photographs, a mixture of melancholy and detachment, an appearance of an eternal stranger to the world… Very quickly, we made exhibitions, and continued to make photographs every day. Our life became a life of three; Erik, me, and the camera. A life of nomads in search of places, buildings, architecture, or landscapes.”
Lea Lund and Erik K, Photo by Alexandra François-Cuxac
Lea Lund, Erik K, please introduce yourself
Erik : My name is Erik K. I was born on 12 February 1970 in Lubumbashi, DRC.
Lea : My name is Lea Lund. I was born on 18 March 1960 in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Where do you live, does your place of residence inspire you to take pictures?
Erik : We live between Lausanne, Paris and Arles. In Lausanne, we make photographs in nature, – forest, lake, mountains –, and also for our series Studio which consists in letting go of our imagination by creating scenes. In Paris, we have the chance to live in a beautiful and extraordinary city with incredible architecture. In Arles, we are in the South of France. La Méditerranée, la Camargue, les Alpilles, Les Baux de Provence... Happiness!
Lea : We live between Lausanne, Arles and Paris, our places of residence inspire us, as lots of places do.
Do you have a photographic background?
Erik : I’m a self-taught man.
Lea : I have a Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design. Photography was part of my studies.
When I met Erik 10 years ago, I was 80% designer and 20% photographer. Since our meeting I am 80% photographer and 20% designer!
How comes that you are interested in photography?
Erik : A picture is often more telling than a long speech. Photography always amazes me!
Lea : It is an extraordinary medium. Having done a lot of drawing, I am always fascinated by the possibility of capturing the moment of a 10th of a second.
Which photographer has inspired your photography?
Erik : Jeanloup Sieff. With his fashion photographs and his photographs of personalities like the Queen of England, Churchill, Hemingway, etc.
Lea : For the classics in my youth : Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, Kudelka. I also like archive images of completely unknown photographers and forensic or scientific photographs.
Why do you work in black and white / color?
Erik : It is the image that decides whether it should be in black and white or in color...
Lea : I love black and white... it is more timeless, unreal... But sometimes I takle color.
How do you prepare for a photo?
Erik : I never prepare myself. I dress in the morning as usual, and I trust chance.
Lea : I check my equipment, the contents of the photo bag, batteries, lenses, etc...
I dream about the image I would like to make. It's a sort of trance.
What are your technique and creative process?
Erik : Trying to surprise myself every day. This is an interesting challenge.
Lea : After taking photographs, I take a lot of time to make my choices. Then I intervene on clichés with techniques of drawing and mixed techniques, before bringing them to our printer, with whom we have a very close relationship, to make the prints. It can take several years between the cliché and the print.
Which projects would you like to tackle?
Erik : Doing a report in the two Jesuit boarding schools where I was in the DRC.
Lea : In April 2022, make a one month photo trip from Chicago to New Orleans.
What do you do in your life besides photography?
Erik : I design my style, my hats. I customize my clothes and I do engraving.
Lea : I love cooking, wandering, swimming, hunting in the thrift stores and drinking good wine with our friends.
Thanks a lot Lea Lund and Erik K for the Interview
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