Surreal Portraits: The Inspiration and Vision
Featuring on Viewbug photography plateform

The web photography platform Viewbug meets photographer Dariane Sanche and discusses about her vision and the way she creates surreal portrait.

At only 27 years old Dariane Sanche is a professional photographer specializing in fashion, portrait, beauty & editorial photography. Dariane already has 10 years of experience in photography and some more in photo editing. Well known in the Montreal fashion industry for her theatrical fashion photography and her unique style. She works in Europe, in USA and in Canada where she is based. She’s a self-taught artist, she learned everything by herself. Inspired from a young age by high fashion, haute couture, nature, and textures. Creative and full of imagination, Dariane is definitively a multidisciplinary artist.

What inspired you to be a photographer?

It’s funny to say, but I didn’t choose to be a photographer. I just happen like that! When I was in high school, some girl want to do a project and needed a photographer. At this time (at 17 years old), I was already working on photoshop for a couple of years. My father was a graphic designer, so I start to play on photoshop when I was a young kid. Back to the school project, I said to the girl « my father has a camera and I know photoshop »! At this time, I understand that I can create everything I want with a camera and photoshop. By the time, I start to create projects, and more projects, shooting with friends and friends of my friends, and here I am today.

What was your first camera and what do you shoot with today?

When I started photography at the age of 17 years old, my very first camera was a Canon T1i + 18-65mm lens. I used this camera for several year and at that time it was the perfect kit for me. Today, I’m still with Canon because I like how their camera works and their color profile. Now, I use a Canon 5D MarkIV.
My lenses are Canon EF 50mm f1.4, Canon EF 35mm f1.4,
Canon EF 100mm macro f2.8.

When someone looks at your photos, what do you want them to take away from it, what are you trying to communicate?

Emotion and feeling are definitively what I want people to take away from my pictures. When I achieved this, I’m really satisfied with my work. On my pictures, the emotion and the intensity can be felt by looking at the eyes and the body language of my model. There is a whole process behind this achievement! This is created by the connection I make with the model, my ability to lead the model and creating a mood.

What is it that you love about photography?

What I love about photography is that I can create and expose to everyone my conceptual idea in my head. Photography is an art, and for me, art is a way of communication and sort of liberty of expression. Photography lets the artist tell a story by freezing a specific moment that will be alive when looking at the picture. Technically, there is no rule in photography and this is what I like. I can do what I like the way I like it!

What has photography done for you?

I understood that in life we can succeed in living our passion. You just need to put the time and effort into something you love! Photography pushes me to develop my creativity to differentiate my work from another photographer. It is a sort of liberty of creation! Since I was young, I have always been interested in other people and I enjoy to get to know them. Photography allows me to meet new people every day and interact with them.

Do you try to be conceptual or do you prefer to show the feeling behind a photo?

I will say both because every photoshoot that I do is conceptual. The concept plunges the model into a whole new atmosphere that allows me to show the feeling and emotion through each of my pictures. On each photoshoot I try to get different emotions from my model. To get that, the concept will definitively help, but also the music in the studio and the way I will communicate with my model.

How do you describe your style?

I’m a fashion and beauty photographer. I’ll describe my style of photography with these words: cinematic, conceptual, editorial. I like to add texture to my photography and mix it up with cinematic lighting and some conceptual backgrounds because it creates a whole new word in my picture.

If you had to choose one lens which one would it be and why?

If I had to choose only one lens, for me and my style of photography it will be a 50mm. I like this lens because of its versatility! It works great in studio or home studio (small place) and outdoor on location.

What are your 3 tips for others who want to become a better photographer?

My first tip. Master the light (studio light or natural light). Once the light is beautiful and controlled the rest should go well. For me, the best way to improve my skill with lighting is to try a new setup, place the light and the model at different positions and places in the studio. Get out of your comfort zone (known terrain) and explore new avenues. DIY is perfect to add a new effect to your light.

My second tip. When it’s come to photo editing, your choice of photo and how you frame the picture is also very important. How you will crop it will change what the picture evokes. It will change where you want people to focus on the image when there are looking at it.

My third tip. Communication! Yes, as a photographer it’s very important to know how to communicate with the model and with your team. I have so often heard people say that the model is her job and that we should not have to tell her what to do and how to pose in front of the camera. As a Fashion and beauty photographer with 10 years of experience, I can truly confirm that communication is one of the keys to get the picture you want! You just need to know how to express yourself and how to explain the emotion and the scenario that you want to create with the model. For me, I like to give a character to my model, it helps the model to understand the mood I want.

Have you received negative feedback from your work? What did you do about it?

Throughout my career, I never really received negative feedback. The only maybe « negative » feedback I received was about the editing (skin retouch). Skin retouch can be pretty intimate and personal. Sometimes people want a lot of skin retouch, sometimes just a little bit and sometimes they don’t know until they see the final result. It happens that I need to rework on some pictures.

Where did you learn to take photos?

I describe my self as a self-taught artist. I tried to study photography, but school was not for me. Photography class was too technical and framed for me. Everything I know about photography I learn it by myself. Trial and error has been my way of learning. Also, I watched a lot of tutorials on youtube to improve my photography technique, lighting, and also for photo editing. Today, I will consider my self a multidisciplinary artist, because I like to touch other spheres, like make-up, hairdressing, hand made costume and
headpiece, staging.

Raw vs jpg and why?

Only raw! It’s probably a never-ending debate because everyone has an idea and a different opinion about that. I think it depends on several factors. For me, it’s not a question, because of my editing and my clients I need to shoot in raw. I need to have the best quality and sharpness (better sharpening potential). I can also do extreme tonal adjustment. The RAW image gives me a wider dynamic range and color gamut witches great for me for highlight and shadow recovery. Also, it let me the possibility to change the color space from such as SRGB or
Adobe RGB).

What do you carry in your camera bag?

If I stick to the essentials, I will carry in my camera bag: – Camera Canon 5D Mark IV – Camera lens: canon ef 35mm f1.4, canon ef 50mm f1.4, canon ef 100mm macro f2.8
I always bring with me some Cokin filters + polarized filters
My flash: Broncolor siros 800s expert kit
Wacom intuos pro medium
Many backup batteries for my camera – Couple of memory
cards (I use 64gb sandisk extreme Pro 300mb/s) – Lacie
rugged mini external portable drive
Reflector (white and silver)

If you could have the gift of a great photographer who would it be and why?

Peter Lindbergh, Tim Walker and Tim Burton are my top 3 photographer who inspires me a lot. They have the ability to transmit very strong emotions into a soft image. I’m also always impressed by the lighting of each of their images. I also really love their sense of creativity!

What is the most common mistake you see people making when shooting these days?

The most common mistake I see these days are the wrong choice of pictures when it come to the selection and editing. Choosing the right picture is one of the most important parts and challenges as a photographer to showcase your work and bring it to the next level! I’ll say, another frequent mistake these days, it’s maybe not a mistake, but a lack of creativity. People tend to stay in known terrain and make the same style of photography as everyone. They don’t find their style.

What is your dream location to shoot?

I dream to do a photoshoot in the desert with the dry landscape and vegetation! Since I live in Canada, Quebec, the closes desert is in the USA in Nevada or Arizona. I already know the type of photoshoot that I will create when I will go into the desert! My ideas are all written into a little book that I keep secret.

How do you decide on where to shoot a photo?

It depends on the shooting! By making location identification: Sometime I will just take a walk and discover a new place, and at this moment I know that I need to shoot at this location. With Google Map: Sometimes I let my self be guided and inspired by the mood board of the photoshoot. At the moment, I will navigate on google map to find a secret spot that will be perfect for the photoshoot. It is much faster than my other methods and I can explore multiple territories quickly.

At the studio: My studio is my creative space by predilection, it’s my creative bubble, my cocoon where I develop the vast majority of my concepts. I love creating at the studio because it allows me to develop and create great staging while having access to my equipment. Besides, I can create during the 4 seasons we have in Quebec.

What is next for you? Any planned adventures with your camera?

As I said about my dream location to shoot, I will like to plan a photoshoot into the desert. The nature and the texture of the desert inspire me a lot! I already have a lot of ideas for this photoshoot!

What is your goal with your photography?

My goal is to travel the world and shoot epic editorial photoshoot. I would like to be recognized around the world for my editorial and conceptual photoshoot. I will also like to create a book that collects all my best images.