![]() In a third series, Woman Who Collects Men, Pauline wanted to express an injustice encountered by being a woman in photography. I think the world needs to be positive to get better so I want to create happy images!’ Pauline’s images are happy, accessible and challenging: there are faces of a black Lisa Simpson, chapeaux puzzle, Minion, a René Magritte style and a Wikipedia-inspired face. It’s a strategy like any other and then there are so many sad and dramatic images on TV, in the newspapers and even in photo contests. ‘You can’t see it, but I’m really shy and to hide my shyness, I make people laugh. The aesthetic is humorous and kooky – like nothing I’ve seen before. Her series, The Graphic Portrait and Figures de Style are inspired by the world of childhood and youthful illustration. Her confidence progressed enough to become a trainer in photography and launch the YouTube channel Apprendre La Photo De Portrait (Learn Portrait Photo) before falling in love with portraiture and refining her now inimitable style. Pauline started with landscape photography (too scared to work with people) then developed her business by adding wedding photography, family and baby portraits. Photography imposed itself on me.’ Humour Over time, the photos took more and more place in my life. ‘Then in 2013, I lost everything! My job, my partner, my self-confidence and since I had nothing to lose, I embarked on an entrepreneurship as a professional photographer. ![]() Her first camera was a Fujifilm bridge model, given by her mother in 2004. So I gave up on the idea of being an artist, and then I started taking pictures,’ explains Pauline. ![]() Later, I wanted to become an interior designer but I failed the entrance exam to the art school. So I created little universes with my toys. As an only girl, I spent a lot of time alone and had to take care of myself. ‘When I was young, I dreamed of being an artist, a singer, a painter, a writer. After working four years at the local tourist office explaining flax to tourists, Pauline wrote and illustrated three books about Linette, a little girl who was born with flax growing on her head instead of hair. If that sounds like a storybook setting, you’d be right. Doudeville is the flax capital of the region where an annual linen festival takes place in June during the season of the blue flowers. I am confident Pauline was born in 1986 and lives in Doudeville, a small town in Normandy, France. I mention all this in case something gets lost in Google translation. I still watched hours of her YouTube videos, her energy is infectious. I could tell her my name and ask her what’s on the table or through the window, that’s about it. French photographer and artist Pauline Petit doesn’t. Being English, I do of course expect everyone else in the world to speak it. I have tried to learn hundreds of hours of Rosetta Stone Russian, scores of meals with German, Spanish and Italian friends not much has stuck. The saying goes, if you’re trilingual you speak three languages, bilingual two languages, one language, you’re English and I am very, very English. ![]() Peter Dench talks to French photographer Pauline Petit about her graphic and meticulously crafted black & white portraits, awarded second place and the public’s choice award in the Faces themed EISA Maestro 2021 photo contest
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