Hello RAW Creative ! I'm Anthony Passant, photographer, specialized in portrait photography.
RC. Can you introduce yourself in a few lines ?
I started photography in 2010 by an happy coincidence, when I bought a camera + lens from a friend of mine, and my experience began. I started with portrait, and never turned away from it. I tried other fields but with catastrophic results ... ahahahahaha ! I have two models at home -quite handy, especially during the confinement period- they are my two daughters, Lou and Charlotte. In recent years, I've been focusing on photography of actors. For me, they are the most expressive people in front of a lens.
Models: Natalia Evora, Mathias Witness, Gaby Diop, Ines Vandamme, Paul Green & Kahina Carina, Nicolas Rouye, Elodie fontan, Laurent Maistret, Melanie debroise.
RC. How do you get your creative ideas ?
From everywhere in fact, advertising field, movies, animations, and also painting, art in general is very inspiring, especially for my personal projects. When I work for company or actor portraits, it's a bit less free, but sometimes I venture off the beaton track, it is really cool ! I always have a notebook with me, very often ideas stay in it, but I could use them as soon as I will get time and money !
RC. What was your favorite project ?
Hmmm... Tricky question ! In 10 years, I made a lot of things. Well, if I had to select a few, it would be Toy Story, a personal project with my daughter based on the cartoon. It was my first purely creative experience, and it worked very well ! Then, I worked for a home hairdressing application, I had almost "carte blanche", it allowed me to express myself very freely, and we really had a great time with the team ! The projects for Mango Ice are also in total autonomy, and allow me to do just about anything and everything, it's euphoric !
RC. What's your method of work ?
It depends on the type of job or project. For actor/actress portraits, I chose a place or a neighborhood, neutral, or on the contrary, atypical, it allows me to work with colors or architecture quite easily, and mainly with light, which I like to keep natural and soft on this type of project, for agencies. For professional projects, such as hairstyling application, I work on the ideas beforehand. It allows me to select the places and the accessories that I will need, and to evaluate the financial and logistical feasibility. It really matters ! Once the shooting is over, I select the images with the client. It's for me the guarantee that the selected images are the good ones. It's paramount !
RC. Could you share technical tips with us ?
About shot, nothing beats practice, no matter what the level. Not practicing means dying (artistically I mean), and above all, never thinking that you have nothing more to learn, that's never the case. Working on light for each project, it's "the very heart" of photography ! About post-production, it's more difficult to learn by yourself without the basics, so use different sources (books, youtube, tutorials), everything is good to learn !
RC. Do you have any coming plans ?
Yes, plenty ! With Mango Ice, it's an imperative, I create at least one project per month, from the shooting to the final creation, or just post-production, so I'm very busy ! I was supposed to take part in Professional Imaging in Holland in March, but of course, it was postponed, so I'm waiting for a new date ! Projects are quite numerous, but nothing precise at the moment, waiting for the renewal of the different activities ! In digital field, we will soon create webinars and online photo reviews with Mango Ice's friends, so stay tuned !
