“I just love to create and it can take a lot of different forms.”
Artist and photographer Melancholya is our guest today and she shares her vision on her work and enchanted universe. Discover her work on her website, Instagram and in her new shop!
First of all, could you tell us a few words about yourself?
I am Melancholya, a food photographer and creator of various little things (illustrations, stationery, etc ...).
I am the author of the blog La Faim Est Proche through which I put the spotlight on culinary art through a fictional universe with an old, rural, sometimes gothic and chiaroscuro atmosphere. I like to be free to explore arts and crafts and to do whatever activities I want.
I just love to create and it can take a whole bunch of different forms.
["La Faim Est Proche" is a word play between the french homophones faim (hunger) and fin (end), which gives us “the end is near”.]
In the same image, everyone can see something different of their own.
©️ Melancholya
What is your relationship with photography and food? How did the two meet in your creations?
I have been taking pictures for over 15 years. It was my number one passion that made me put both feet in the artistic field.
In 2015, during a period of unemployment following the end of my studies, I started cooking. I liked it a lot before but didn't necessarily have the time to devote myself to it. At that time, I was also lacking photo inspiration. I wanted to shoot, but couldn't find a project that really appealed to me. And then, while going through a whole bunch of food blogs, I wanted to create my own.
And this is how "La Faim Est Proche" was born and these two practices met in my life.
Since then, I never left this area which, I find, is an infinite source of inspiration as it is possible to create many different atmospheres. From my point of view, cooking touches everyone and follows us in our daily lives. It is both a necessity and a pleasure.
Photography, on the other hand, is the perfect medium to create the whole universe that can accompany each recipe and touch people in depth. In the same image, everyone can see something different of their own. Remind him of a memory, a person, encounters, or simply, make him want to get away from it all and cook. And that touches me.
Where do you get your inspiration from for your creations? Who are the artists and photographers that you feel drawn to the most?
My inspirations are really varied and I love to be inspired. Classical painting is a real source of inspiration for me. I admire Caravaggio, Vermeer or even Rembrandt for their treatment of light. Chiaroscuro is really a light that attracts me a lot for the dark and intimate atmospheres.
In terms of pictorial themes, it is really the genre scene and still life that interest me the most. I am also very inspired by the Gothic and rural atmospheres. These two moods may seem to be opposed but I like to assemble them to create the universe of my blog.
I am also very interested in the way of life from the 17th to the 19th century. The simple sight of old objects or costumes often gives me a lot of ideas for creations. Literature, especially 19th century English literature (The Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, Mary Schelley ...) inspires me a lot, as well as cinema and series which are, visually and aesthetically, a real gold mine as well for the creation of the decorations as for the treatment of the light. My latest favorites to date: Anne with an E, Penny Dreadful, Little Women, or even The Addams Family.
I have also been very marked since my childhood by the world of Tim Burton, whom I admire enormously and who still inspires me as much.
Nature is also very important in my art because it touches me a lot in many ways. Its textures, its colors, its lights, its landscapes ... It is for me both soothing and inspiring.
19th century English literature (Brontë, Austen, Schelley) inspires me, as well as movies and series which are, visually and aesthetically, a real gold mine.
©️ Melancholya
I like to stroll in the forest, observe the seasons, become aware of the passing time, every moment of the day. I also really like to walk in villages with old buildings. It immediately plunges me into a very special atmosphere that I try to transcribe in my images.
Finally, photography and illustration are also very rich in inspiration. I admire the work of Linda Lomelino, Eva Kosma Flores and Valentina Solfrini in the culinary field. But artists such as Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk, Le Turk, Sacha Goldberger, Natalia Drepina, Arthur Rackham, Benjamin Lacombe, Gustave Dorée, Edmund Dulac or even Laura H. Rubin fascinate me a lot. And there are so many others ...
You have so many passions, how do you divide your time between each? Is one of them predominant?
The balance is created on its own over time and no week or month is like the previous one. And that's what I really like about my job.
©️ Melancholya
Indeed, there are many areas that interest me and I cannot limit myself to just one practice. I am a jack of all trades and it is often very difficult for me to succeed in balancing all of this.
Currently, photography and cooking predominate because I have based my activity on these practices, for the moment at least. But I also try to take time to draw because it is a practice that I really want to integrate more and more into my future creations. I also do a lot of video in order to popularize this artistic field and share my experience.
I work in "phases" a lot. My pace is cyclical and my activities will depend on the projects on which I will start working. I function at will. For example, at the moment I am working on creating a new photo-montage and for that I need to create mockups models.
So at the moment, I am creating models. But there is a good chance that I will leave that aside for a few months to devote myself to something else. Such as something I haven't done in a while and need to practice again. I cannot work otherwise because I get bored very quickly and need to be stimulated by novelty and diversity. I also need to feel very free in my practices. It is a very intuitive operation for me but it is sometimes very difficult to tame. I am gradually learning to do with it. The balance appears on its own over time and no week or month is really like the previous one. And that's really what I like about my job.
In your images, the composition work is incredible, what are your favorite composition techniques and those that you incorporate most often?
First of all, I pay attention to the different colors that will compose my image. My rule: no more than 3 different color tones in a single image. Otherwise, it becomes very difficult to work. I also try to balance the “positive” and “negative” space by trying to leave part of the image clear in order to let it breathe. I also try to create lines. The aim is for all of these things to draw the viewer's eye to the main subject of my image. Finally, so that the image touches people, I try to make it tell a little story. This makes it more alive and more realistic, even if the story told is very basic. It is the very soul of an image.
Do you work in natural light only?
Absolutely. I only work in natural light and almost always without a reflector. This allows me to get chiaroscuro as I like it. It is a very interesting light to work with and very economical. But it is sometimes capricious. You have to adapt to each situation and organize your shooting times according to the times of the day, your work environment, etc.
I find that you are very skilled at retouching and editing, do you have any advice to share in order to emphasize color?
Indeed, I give a great place to the post-production of my images. It's been an integral part of my design process and I love using Photoshop. It is an incredible tool for me. Difficult to give some tips without going into technical details for this kind of thing. But really, I think it's important to use every tool with parsimony, go gradually. The trap with retouching is really to get carried away and go into excess.
Today I try to have a different relationship to time and to accept my rhythm. Even if it means that I won't have anything to show for a while.
©️ Melancholya
In my opinion, retouching is a bit like makeup: I will work on a lot of small things, in a more or less subtle way so that in the end, the viewer does not tell himself at first glance that the image is way too retouched.
The image must remain realistic and balanced. And this is the whole difficulty. When it comes to color, I'm careful not to over-saturate my colors and match them with each other. For this, I do a lot of small localized touch-ups with the brush in Camera Raw (or Lightroom) and using layer masks in Photoshop. This allows me to go into detail and create a more balanced image.
What was the most interesting collaboration that you had until now?
At the end of 2019, I created an exhibition of food photographs for a media library. The theme was Christmas. Creating exhibitions is really something that I really enjoy doing and that gives meaning to my work. On this occasion, the client really left me free to create what I wanted as I wanted. I really appreciate this climate of trust and this total freedom of creation.
What does “Melancholya” mean and why did you choose it?
Melancholya echoes a lot of things in me. First of all, this name has the same etymological root as my first name which is Mélanie. In Greek, "Melanos" means "dark, black". In addition, Melancholya refers to melancholy. And melancholy is something that has stuck with me since I was little. Today, it's something that touches and intrigues me a lot, that I try to understand and explore. I like the dark.
And although colorful, my art remains dark. My artistic project "La Faim Est Proche" is imbued with melancholy. It was not something that I decided, it was imposed. It's like personal therapy. Through this universe, I explore the states of soul of my characters and often, they are confronted with their melancholy. They live with it and try to overcome it. Melancholy inspires me a lot because it makes us vulnerable, fragile and makes us fall off the masks. And in the end, this artist name is the link between all my creations and the person I am.
Artists often have a hard time to really be sastified of their own creations, is that your case?
Oh la la yes! It is often difficult to assert yourself as an artist. I have very little self-confidence and tend to always compare myself to others.
So inevitably, I often encounter periods of crises where I feel well below what I would like to be. There are so many artists and creations that I admire, there are so many things that I would love to do that often I have little moments of discouragement and belittling of myself and my art. Today we have access to so many resources, information and images, and so many people create amazing things that it's hard not to compare themselves.
Most of the time, I'm not very happy with what I'm doing at the moment and it's usually with a bit of retrospection and hindsight that I recognize the potential. With that being said, comparing to and admiring other artists can stimulate me and push me to improve myself.
In my opinion, retouching is a bit like makeup: I will work on a lot of small things, in a more or less subtle way so that in the end, the viewer doesn’t tell himself at first glance that the image is too retouched.
©️ Melancholya
However, I realized recently that it was all a question of perception of time and point of view. Today I try to have a different relationship to time and to accept my rhythm. To take the time to do everything the way I want to, even if I won't have anything to show for a while. Competition is so fierce today that we are often afraid of being overlooked. In my case, I realized that most of the time, when I really don't like my creations, it's because I forced myself to produce something quickly just to always have something to show on my social networks. And that is not a good way to create in my case. Because I lose the meaning of what I'm doing. So now I'm just trying to accept my pace and focus on what's really important to me. And this is already a big step.
And finally, what is your favorite dish of French cuisine? Would it make a good subject for a photo shoot?
There are so many possible choices in French cuisine !!!
Difficult to choose. But if I had to pick just one, I'd say my mom's sausage-meat lasagna. Not very easy to stage and photograph. I would probably wait until the next day to photograph them, as they would hold up better when cut and on plates. This would make it easier to photograph the layers without everything falling appart!
Thank you very much for this interview!