Lotte van Raalte — Edition 3 — Q&A

Lotte van Raalte is a constant observer far more interested in real life characters, than picture perfect models. Her photography has a refreshingly clean cut, no nonsense approach to it — topped with a splash of individuality. For Edition 3, Lotte shot a roll of Kodak Portra 160 on a Canon EOS Rebel 2000.

What attracted you to One Shot?

The concept — the fact that there will be only one print per photo. Photography is often a chain of infinite reproduction. The value of a photo nowadays is decreasing. I think the One Shot concept is bringing this aspect into a new form. It makes people think about the medium “photography” as well.

What do you love about analog photography?

I barely had any analog classes during my studies. It was something I started experimenting with towards the end of last year. I was a bit fed up by the pace and amount of images of digital photography, especially within my commissioned work. Sometimes you get a brief and the next day you have to shoot thousands of images and by the end of the day you still need hours and hours to select and retouch. That’s another thing, I don’t necessarily like retouched images. Sometimes I feel like digital photographs are too “perfect.” I like that there’s some imperfect, authentic and “real” within a photograph. I think analog photography embraces these elements. Besides that I love the workflow, it’s much more precise and you just have to work with certain limits, like 24 or 36 frames on one roll. And it’s way more mysterious and exciting to wait and receive the results.

How did you come up with your series?

I didn’t think too long about it, but it did took me longer to start. I’m fascinated by people, how they look, how they behave. So I was thinking about friendship and while I was working on another personal project (about teenagers) I was looking at how friends behave towards each other, what is their way of talking, how is their body language. Then I realized it has a lot to do with hands. How they greet each other, how they walk together, sit together, lean on each other, etc.

Did you ever imagine you'd be destroying your negatives on purpose?

Maybe. I sometimes imagine myself destroying my whole digital archive. To start all over again, with a clean slate.

How did photography change your world?

I don’t know if it completely changed my world, besides the fact that it makes you focus on just a few things instead of a million. My head can often be very busy. Photography allows me to focus, to eliminate noise and to make things more beautiful and clear. Besides that it made it possible for me to see so many amazing places and meet people from different cultures. It definitely made my world bigger and smaller at the same time.