It has been over two years since the Belgian artist made her debut on Ben Trovato, and today Maëlle André is back with her first ever exclusive story for us. She started taking pictures in 2008 as a hobby during her art studies, and landed her first professional contract in 2010 which consequently made her decide to focus on photography full time.
The title of the Brussels and Los Angeles based photographer’s first Ben Trovato story is Solitude Is Bliss, and we made sure to ask Andre a few questions about it:
Could you describe the film in your own words?
What come from this story is the solitude, but in a good way. The beautiful side of being happy alone sometimes, taking care of ourself, without anyone else, putting life and beauty into an empty and abandoned place, playing with what is around.
It’s generally what I like to express in my work, I don’t like busy environment that much, I like the model to be the only attraction, taking part of the place, telling you her own story with her beauty and her emotions.
What were your main sources of inspirations when shooting the story?
Claire is really inspiring, I always want to try new things with her. We shot in a secret spot, a old house full of antiques, uninhabited, it was like a playground for us, we dispatched the few outfits we had in all the rooms and then we let the magic happened. Claire was acting in the middle of everything like she was playing alone.
How about the rest of the team? Have you worked together before?
I’ve worked many times with Sandra, the wardrobe stylist, on fashion editorials. I like her work a lot, she have great taste and I’m never disappointed by her styling and what she propose. I’ve also worked with the makeup artist Selin several times. She’s so talented, I trust her and she is easy to work with. It was really nice to work all together as a girls team!
Could we get a short comment from the stylist on the styling of the shoot?
Sandra Herzman: We wanted to go for something really feminine, fresh and classy. The outfits were perfect with the old atmosphere of the background, creating this retro look of the pictures.
