Interview with Cathleen Naundorf - Between Ethnic and Glamour

Between Ethnic and Glamour - an interview with Cathleen Naundorf, contemporary fine art photographer specialising in fashion and portrait photography. She actively works with Haute Couture houses, such as Chanel, Dior, Elie Saab and Valentino. Discover more about her work.

Cathleen, you studied painting and you are trained in sculpture, how did you become a photographer? Any parallels?

I never planned to be a photographer, it just happened by circumstance. In my childhood I did a lot of drawings. I felt very much able to express myself through painting at the early age of 5 already. I later became seriously involved to learn techniques. At the age of 14 I had my first Atelier.

In 1985 I moved with my family from Leipzig/East Germany (during the communist regime) to Munich/West Germany. Enjoying my freedom in the West and hungry to explore the world, I was less interested in isolating myself in a painter's studio, instead I wanted to get out and travel. Photography is very close to painting - light, compositions, framing etc. I didn't take it very seriously in the beginning but with time I started to fall in love with photography.

You worked more than a decade in reportage photography, you work for defending human rights and protection of wildlife. How did you become interested in fashion photography? 

I fought to leave East Germany and I was very happy and grateful that I could finally live in freedom. Under the feeling I should have given something in return, I joined Amnesty International and I engaged myself for the freedom of Tibet. Later on I worked with the FUNAI in Brazil to protect nature and indigenous tribes. For 10 years, I worked for book editors and published 9 books. It was a fascinating time to live and work with communities in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Brazil for example. Until today, it's still in my blood, to take my backpack and go out into this beautiful world to experience real life. In the late 90s I felt the need to settle down, so I moved to Paris for private and professional reasons. Still under my reportage instinct I started to work backstage during the Paris fashion shows for Condé Nast and Vogue. It was just another kind of tribal / Voodoo fashion! It was the time of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier. I met everybody! The designers, models, hairstylists and makeup artists. The energy in the backstage was so electric and fascinating and you see the reality of how to create beauty and glamour. It's a lot of hard work. I LOVED IT and immediately felt like I must be a part of it.

How do you create a niche for yourself as an artist in fashion?

It was simple. I didn't want to belong to the fashion circus, following trends. I felt like creating and using fashion garments to build my own world. Particularly I was attracted to Haute Couture because every dress is unique and handcrafted. 

Normally it was impossible to get a high value Haute Couture dress as an artist for a shoot if you didn't publish in a high-end glamorous magazine, like Harper's Bazaar or Vogue. So I waited until the fashion season finished (6 months) and chose dresses that were not in demand. I went even further and asked to study the designers' Fashion Archive to have a better understanding of their style and character. Over the years I could reach out directly to the designers and ask for nearly every dress I liked to photograph for my private projects. It was a long process of very very hard work, trust and confidence. In 2003 Jean Paul Gaultier was the first designer who opened his entire Haute Couture Collection Archive for free access. Lacroix, Elie Saab, Valentino, Armani and later on Chanel and Dior followed. I was the first photographer ever who photographed those archives.

How have the collections of Haute Couture houses, including Chanel and Dior, inspired your creative process? 

You know, I am invited to Haute Couture shows every year and I love to go to see them all! It is very inspiring. Sometimes I have a location and I am looking for dresses they could match, or it's the way around. It really depends.

Chanel inspired me a lot. I have had a wonderful working relationship with the house for 20 years. In 2015 Chanel invited me to their Archive asking if I was  interested in completing my photoshootings! I was in heaven! In 2018 we published my photographs in a large book "Haute Couture Chanel" by Karl Lagerfeld, Rizzoli.

How and when did you develop your unique photographic ‘Fresco’ technique?

Technique-wise I work with large format cameras, 4 x 5 and 8 x 10 in. I photograph analogue with films. I used large format professional Polaroids from 2003-2018. During this time I experimented a lot with Polaroid material and used the Polaroids transfer on paper. It's a magical technique that takes a long time to obtain great results. I loved it very much because it has similarities with painting. I felt the circle of my creativity got completed, a kind of "back to painting" feeling.

Your work draws on the connection between fashion and cinema and painting. Does the concept of storytelling play a significant role in your fashion photography and how is your creative working process? 

Definitely! Cinema plays a big role in my creative process. The Italian Nouvelle Vague and American Cinema from the 40-60s inspire me a lot. The movies are based on painting rules regarding setting, lighting and colour compositions and stories. It pleases the eyes, that's why classic films are timeless. Fashion plays a big part too, everything was detailed and planned. In fact I work in the same way. First the idea of a story, then I draw every sequence of the photoshoot and visualise it in storyboards with the lighting concept and set design. The organisation and creativity around is already a part of the picture.

Is travel a strong influence on your photography? 

Yes, it's the storytelling. If you have no story, you have no picture. I believe in that. It's the same in travel - or fashion - or portrait photography.

What inspires you to continue your work in more analogue methods?

I believe in honesty. Analog photography is pure, it doesn't pardon, you see what you created, mistake or greatness. The process to work with large format cameras is that you have to plan before you do a photograph. It needs awareness and concentration on the subject.

Nowadays  models and photographs are retouched, and everything looks the same to me. The perfect virtual world becomes larger than the real one. Humans and nature are imperfect and that makes it so magic!

Your photographs are exhibited, published, and collected internationally. Does this influence your practice and development as an artist?

No, it doesn't. People book me mostly for projects because of my style. That is fabulous! I started doing a lot of portrait commissions and spending time with my clients. They have a part in the creative process and they love it. 

Do you have a preference for reportage or fashion photography?

I am definitely between glamour and ethnic. Humans have both sides. We all want to be beautiful and we all have the animal in us.
 

Click here to view all photographs by Cathleen Naundorf