London photographer Rui Faria features model Marta del Caño in “The Queen of All My Dreams”, a mysterious story about a young widow commemorating the loss of her older husband after a rather short marriage. The black and white looks by fashion editor Katie Felstead do a clever job of orchestrating the bizarre field of tension between wedding and funeral.
S Magazine: With The Queen of all My Dreams, you once again tell the exciting story of a young woman. What’s it about?
Rui Faria: It’s a mystery about how a young woman mourns the loss of her older husband. The best way she knows how to cope with his passing is retail therapy, a shopping spree if you will, leading the audience to question whether her husband died of natural causes or whether she played a part in his death.
What message do you convey in your photography, or is it purely about aesthetics?
It’s a mixture of both. I’m naturally very shy (it’s natural for me to be behind the camera rather than in front of it ), so I always use photography to express my view of the world as I see it.
Why did you cast Marta del Caño in the role of the young widow?
I wanted a girl with a touch of deviousness entwined with a certain innocence and enchantment. Marta captures this perfectly - pure beauty with an underpinning edge of a little darkness to keep us guessing.
The black and white styling combines elements of wedding and mourning clothing. Did you decide on the look, or did you leave it up to Katie Felstead?
The selection of the clothes was left entirely up to Katie, we discussed the look and mood of the shoot before hand. She’s celebrating and mourning at the same time, hence the black and white clothes illustrated here for both a wedding and a funeral.
More recently, you’ve often made videos to accompany a photo spread. Do you see it as a complementary supplement to your fashion photography, or is there another reason for it?
We increasingly see the need to shoot film “moving images” to accompany photo shoots. These days readers expect more; there’s an assessable desire for deeper story telling and information about each shoot - wanting to feel as though they were there, or part of it. Videos are the ideal component to feed their appetite.
You’ve been a fashion photographer for a few years now. How has your style evolved over time and how do you see this evolution moving forward?
My style by and large has stayed the same, although I had to adapt and embrace (reluctantly, at times) new technology, new trends, and even new mediums. One must be open to doing so, otherwise you run the risk of becoming extinct. What’s important is guarding your personal identity, retaining certain elements of my own personal style, so that I can be differentiated from other photographers, not to mention retaining my sanity.
You only started photographing digital quite recently. Did it mean a big adjustment for you? Did your look change or did you manage to maintain it? Did you find any advantages with the conversion?
Nothing beats film photography, it’s what I prefer to work with and always will. It has been a pretty big adjustment for me to work with digital and the pressures it comes with to keep up with all the updates; it throws me out of sync at times. Putting that aside, I am learning to adapt and evolve whilst entrusting the expertise of two excellent digital operators who understand and are very good when it comes to digital photo technology.
I long for the day when film (analog) photography makes a come back. I’ve had the same analog camera for 20 years, and the most I need to do to keep it up to date, is to change the battery every six months or so! Easy.
What demands do you make of a camera? How does it need to conform to your look, and to what degree might it influence it? How does the Leica S fit in within this context?
The Leica S (007) eases my relationship with digital photography,: the more I use it, the more I like it. Apart from the obvious - camera connected to the computer – I sometimes even forget that I’m using a digital camera. The quality of the files are similar to that of Portra 160NC (Kodak film) the film that I use when I shoot with the analog camera. The Leica S has also got the best focusing system of any camera I’ve ever used, not to mention, of course, the elements used to make the lens. Simply the best.
