Stephane Giner

Stephane Giner

By Arden de Raaij

There was a time where we just had discovered Flickr and were amazed by the countless products of creativity we could find on there. We gathered as much things we liked as possible in our own pool, shutter crack, and blogged the best of that on shuttercrack.com. We still do that, but because of all the amazing work out there, we became less easy to impress. One photographer who never ceizes to amaze us though, is the French Stéphane Giner. Stéphane’s work is breathtaking, intense portraits, real street scenes and challenging urban explorations are just a few of the works you can find in his photostream. Since Stéphane keeps on impressing us, it was about time we did an interview with him!

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

Who’s the person behind the photos?

I’m french, 35 years old, a wife and a kid. My english is not really good, so, excuse me for that.

What got you into photography, and what makes you keep on doing it?

My father hada small photo studio in Toulouse (France) years ago, I was 16 and looking for an idea to build my own business. I started to take some pictures with a Nikon FM2, and spent many hours in the darkroom… but I was also interested in computers arts. My first job was retouching photos using photoshop 2.0 and windows 3.11. Then I chose to build my own graphic design studio, and I stopped photography many, many years. A year ago,I decided to buy a camera and to have fun with it. Because after 15 years in front of a computer screen, i just wanted to go outside, meet people, walk in the streets and get my own pictures to work with. I rediscovered these magic moments of photography; looking everything, and everyone around me with a new eye. I keep doing it, and i think i will now never stop because i have so many ideas and pictures in my head and I can’t make it for the moment because I’m not as good as I want to be, because I can’t travel around the world as I wish, and because I have just not enough money to buy all the gear I want :). With time and energy, everything will come. one day.

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

If we’d like to trade something for a photo you made, what should the CFYE delivery man bring to your door?

If you want to trade a photo, maybe the best deal is to send me a photo :). Seriously, I badly need pocketwizards ! Hahaha!

What’s your favorite item to take on the road with you?

my camera and a load of CF cards 🙂

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

Something really fun about me :

I’m not sure it’s really fun, but many friends are laughing about that… I’m sure E.T are visiting us, and always did.

Best shooting location we should check out?

the best shooting location is the one that inspires you. I never visited NYC but I have so many books of famous photographers about this town. My dream is to go there and shoot for a month or two.

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

Tell us about your work as a photographer, did you just picked up a camera and educate yourself?

I went to a photography school in France, because my mom wanted me to get a diploma. But everything I ever did was by myself, experimenting everything, reading a lot about my points of interest. Photography is 90% visual emotion and 10% technique. I’m now working hard to get those 10%, and then I will be okay to express my emotions and feelings correctly.

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

What’s your camera setup?

I have a Canon EOS 5D mark II with 16-35mm, 24-105mm and 15mm fisheye. for flashes I have a speedlite 550EX and a couple of profoto studio flashes.

How does your environment react on you taking your camera everywhere and shooting all the time?

Oh Arden, that’s a pain in the ass, really… Years ago, you can go outside, shoot in the street, in the clubs, in the metro without any problems. People come naturaly to you with a smile to talk about photography…

And now I feel everyone is affraid of everything. When I am in the street and unpack my gear, I see people looking at me “oh, did he shoot me or not ?”, “hey what the fuck he is going to shoot ?”…

Many times, people have bad reactions. asking me why I shoot here, they talk about their own image property, they talk about money….

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

What’s the strangest thing that ever happened to you when you were out shooting photos?

I was invited to eat by a grandfather walking around, because he wanted me to shoot good photos of him… to put on his grave !

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

Who is your favorite movie/gaming/cartoon character?

I’m a gamer, I play everquest II a lot 🙂 but I have no special character in mind. So I have to pick one in a film, and I choosed Brad Pitt in “fight club” because I love his style. 😀

Which artist would you like to work with?

Mondino! I’m a huge fan. Just making for him a cup of coffee while he’s shooting will be ok 🙂

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

If you could fill a swimming pool with something, what would it be?

Tony Hawk and friends for shooting them skating 😀

Favorite city, and coolest thing about it?

Barcelona, Spain. the coolest thing is everywhere you go, there’s a fiesta going on, 7 days a week.

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner

What can we expect from you in the future?

I don’t know myself what I will do tomorrow. I hope I will be able to switch from graphic design to photography for a living. So, I’m pretty sure many many pictures will follow!

by Stephane Giner
by Stephane Giner