The Sartorialist: Closer Q&A
Photography & Words by Swabreen Bakr
Scott Schuman aka The Sartorialist (along with his girlfriend Garance Doré ) stopped by in Philadelphia for a private Q&A with Ouigi Theodore of The Brooklyn Circus as part of his book tour. He was in town for a public book signing for Closer at The Barnes Foundation, and a few members of the media were invited to attend this candid Q&A session.
Closer explores themes that viewers of Schuman’s website have come to love, style and fashion, however it also explores themes that Schuman says he feels are, “getting closer to what I wanted to do originally in terms of mixing fashion, street and kind of cultural shots.”
Below is a transcript from the very enlightening Q&A, Schuman talks about his process as a photographer, his inspirations and how to maintain a profitable blog.
Why street fashion verses indoor studio shots?
“I’d rather go out and find the image and then capture what I’m seeing as opposed to creating it myself. I like to react to what I see more than try and create something.
When you look through the book I’m very proud of the diversity of the kinds of people that I shoot, young people, old people, kids, rich, poor. A lot of different scenarios, a lot of different places. I don’t try to say oh I’m going to shoot this particular age category for the blog, for me it’s totally irrelevant how old they are or how young, how rich they are, or how poor. I’m shooting to what I react to, I just happen to have a very open eye.”
What he thinks makes a great photograph?
“One thing that people don’t really realize or consider when they’re shooting is gesture, the physicality of the person. You get a sense of the person, you might not get a record of what their outfit looks like but the physicality of her gestures makes it inspiring to shoot.
If I’m successful with a photograph I think it’s because people can look at that photograph whether they’re in China or anywhere, be able to look and see something they can relate to in terms of it being a human and then create their own dreamlike world of the image.”
How does he differentiate himself from all the other street style bloggers and photographers?
“When I started I was very inspired by August Sander, this German photographer who was shooting in the 30s, and 40s, even the late 20s. His shots were very straight up and down, so I was very inspired by that, I wanted the background a certain way, the lighting a certain way but everyone started doing that kind of thing so as opposed to just being upset about that you have to evolve, that’s how you do anything. You evolve and you adjust so now you know I think there’s a lot more movement in my shots, I’m playing with light and shadow a lot more. That’s one of the biggest things that Garance has taught me is that you constantly have to adjust.”
Schuman also mentioned the inspiration Garance has on him as a photographer, she pushes him and has helped him grow and adjust as a photographer. She has fantastic blog of her own which is also fashion focused, she interviews a lot of designers and influencers.
Does he shoot to inspire or just shoot things that he’s inspired by?
“I think I shoot to inspire, I shoot to inspire me. I think most of the time I’m always thinking is it a photograph that I would want to look at again. If it’s not something that I think I’d want to look at again then I don’t know if I’d take the shot or I have to work to take the shot in a way that’s going to inspire me.”
What he thinks is the most inspiring city to shoot fashion in?
“New York is still my favorite, just because it’s so crazy the variety. I think I love shooting in Milan, it’s what I like to call narrow and deep, I mean it runs from Cavalli to Armani and that’s about it, you have a little more sexier part and a little more classier part, but the variety of it within that narrow scope is just so incredibly beautiful.”
What quality must a blog have for success?
You have to have a really strong point of view. Once I started shooting all I had to teach myself to do was to clearly communicate what I felt about that thing through the photograph, that I didn’t have to write very much, anyone could pick this up and go oh ok I get it. That’s the trickiest part, you have to have a strong point of view before you open a blog, just because it’s easy to do doesn’t mean that someone is gonna want to read it.
On making a living with the blog
“Garance and I are very lucky that we’re the first generation of photographers that will make more money getting ads on our sites than having to shoot ads for someone else. Garance and I are very lucky that we get ads on our site and go out and shoot what we want everyday, and as long as we keep pulling the audience in they’re kind of almost funding our artistic adventure. I think it’s going to keep evolving, continuing to surprise the audience, keep them coming back, make the fashion posts stronger but also shoot things that are a total surprise.”
