Photographer Focus: Margot Gabel

Margot's photos are what I like to call Tumblr gold - they're just so cool you wanna share them with everybody. She gravitates back to the old days of film, and isn't a fan of retouching because she feels the result is false. In the days of Instagram, when everyone can add effects to their photos with the touch of a button, Margot tries to create these kind of images, working with light and her surroundings to create the most perfect image possible, naturally. Check out more of her work on Flickr, and read a short Q&A with the artist below.

location

I've been living in Paris since September. Before I was in Strasbourg, and Lyon.

favorite camera

 My Canon AE-1 Program that I have always in my bag. But I recently bought an Instax 210, which is a stunning panoramic polaroid camera, I love it but.. the camera is fat like a little chicken, it’s just impossible to take it with me everyday !

random fact about yourself

 I have a morbid fear of tomatoes..

favorite subject matter to shoot

 I don’t really have preferences when I choose a subject. People's backs, perhaps, because I'm always lagging behind my friend, and I’m distracted very quickly. An interesting contrast between a tree and a building, an incongruous corridor, I stop and shoot.

photographers you admire

 Baohien Ngo, Davis Ayer, Luke Byrne, Julian Bialowas. All of them are shooting film, I admire them. Because without any editing, their images are very expressive and colors are amazing.

what makes a great photo

 It’s difficult to answer. You must master the light, not think too much and the most important, no retouching. At least that's how I function. A good film photo is a unretouched photo!

what makes a terrible photo

… a scene that's too complex or too much retouching, because the result is false. Spontaneity, naturalness are much more meaningful !

why do you love photography

 I have a special affection for film, because when I was 14, I discover black and white development, and I’ve done my own prints for three years. That was amazing to see the pictures appear on the white paper. This is what’s lacking with digital, the tangible and affective side of shooting.

do you do any other art?

 I’m apprentice in Gobelins School in Paris, I learn graphic and interactive design.