Artista do dia: a fotógrafa Bettina Rheims
Autor: Carol | Publicado: 2011-06-21T22:09:00-03:00

Nascida dia 18 de dezembro, 1952, Bettina é uma das fotografas mais importantes do mundo da moda e show-bizz. Depois de ter trabalhado como modelo e aberto sua propria galeria de arte, Bettina começou a carreira de fotografa quando tinha 26 anos. Bom saber que nunca é tarde para recomeçar! Suas fotos extremamente polêmicas e pornográficas, fazem sucesso no mundo inteiro. Foi bem dificil escolher fotos publicáveis no blog ( com medo dele ser tirado do ar ) então procurei fotos que mostravam o estilo de Bettina, mas sem que fossem explícitas. 
Abaixo, segue a ilustração que fiz em 2009 baseada nessa fotografia. O material usado foi somente lápis de cor. Deu pra imaginar a dor que senti nos dedos depois de 5 horas de trabalho. rs.
HN – So, do you only work with film or use digital as well?
Bettina Rheims – Oh, of course, I use digital cameras, especially for commissions and commercial work. But, I mostly do films. I like the idea of doing film and the time that it takes to process it. I love the moments that I wait in my studio for the lab to return the pictures, wondering what the contact sheets would look like, while everyone has gone to lunch or on a coffee break.
HN – As you go back and forth between film and digital… how do (or if) you use photoshop? Because, it seems to me that, from looking at certain groups of your of erotica, fashion and celebrity images, they are, shall I say, more raw than what we are used to seeing in the media.
BR – Oh, yes, you need to use photoshop for commissions. And, it’s more or less the same with film since we go through various stages of digitization. However, you are right, I don’t retouch my photos as much as my colleagues do. You can look at my pictures and recognize the person. Some of what you see out there is not about photography anymore. Last week, I was working with a huge American star, whose name I won’t tell you [giggles] but I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me NOT to retouch her. She said, “Look, I am 35 years old and I want to see some of my wrinkles.”
HN – Photography as a collective art; you must really trust your printer, then!
BR – I have an amazing printer who really knows how to do/develop skins! I have always told him that the day you stop working, I will stop. Well, perhaps that won’t happen but I love photographs for what they are. I love the smell of (developing) products. I love everything about photography. I love the mystery of appearing images …like a miracle. It’s as if there is something almost magical, almost religious about it.
HN – Last time, we spoke you said that for a while, you “found more excitement in Paris and Berlin… but I think that NY is back on track!”
Bettina Rheims – Ah, yes, speaking of my return to the United States: I don’t know why there was this sense of shyness that kept me away for all these years. It seems that from our side of the ocean, it is hard to reach the people there. Having said that, I have so many friends in America and it’s a country that I love so much. After all, I started my professional career while living in NYC. I know every street there because when I lived there, I was young and would run around with my portfolio. So, I know NY better than I know Paris.
HN – At one point did you realize that living in NYC wasn’t for you?
Well, at one point, early on, I was offered a great contract by a leading fashion magazine and I could have moved there with my son, Virgile Bramly, and have him enrolled in The Lycée français de New York (LFNY). But then I realized that I needed to stay in my own country. I was afraid to be swallowed up by magazines and editor who take you and turn you in to what they want you to become. I know so many photographers who lose their souls to the fashion world.
HN – Have you ever regretted leaving NYC?
BR – At times, I have regretted leaving when I would see my colleague in their limos when I was taking cabs [laughs]. But, I am really happy that I stayed close to my roots, my beliefs. I am deeply French, you know, though I become annoyed with this country, sometimes. This is where my family is … where my friends are. When I am scared about my work or the direction that it’s taking me, sometimes everything gets too big, too frightening… I can go home to my normal people and they prevent me from going crazy…
HN – What excites you most about this process…? What differentiates taking photos of random unknowns than of Monica Bellucci?
BR – I love the process of helping people to get in touch with their own desires… and desirability. Ok, sometimes, it gets very bizarre and when it gets bizarre, you get The Book of Olga! Olga, was really interesting: she did not care much and was willing to pose whatever to please her husband.
HN – How did that ‘process’ unfold?
BR – Olga just started as a straight forward commission by her husband (Sergei Rodionov). We got together about three times and each time, I proposed a different theme. Since I did not know who she was, I invited her to the country and figured out some things about her and got her to open up. She was very funny, sometimes full of pleasure and sometimes bored. We laughed a lot and had a great time. I would take series of photos of her and send them to Sergei who kept asking for more.
HN – So, you did not set out to publish a book about the project, at first…?
BR – No, at first, it was not meant to be a book project, at all, but a series of images which I took with her over a one year period. Then, he decided to publish a book; so, I thought that he wanted a private oeuvre that he would share with some friends. But, no, he wanted to go public. He loved her and was very proud of her and was very happy to show her to the world. I proposed the project to Benedikt Taschen by sending him five images from what we had produced.
HN – How did you decide on working with Taschen?
BR – He is the only person I know crazy enough to do it. And, then, it became a huge success. I did not think that it would. But people saw in it something very modern. The fact that a Russian oligarch who was doing an art project with his wife and kept pushing me to go further… Some of the images were exhibited in a museum in Milan, and they were present. He was very happy to talk about the project.
HN – How did you cast your characters that are so diverse?
BR – Well, finding Rose was the most difficult thing to do. But, we found her, “Rose appeared.” As with everyone else… they are my family and some are just friends. That’s how I work. They just move (in and) around with us. And, they all keep coming back: Monica (Bellucci), Charlotte (Rampling)and others. I call them and they don’t even ask what the project is. They just show up.
HN – And, then you did I.N.R.I.
BR – That’s right. For this project, we wrote the text for every image together. Well, not the story, since it is the story of the Bible. But, we prepared, set up, shot (almost) every image together. Nowadays everybody does that: two people collaborating and working together to shoot photographs. But, back them, people were confused. They wanted to know, “Who is taking the photographs?” and, the answer was “We are taking the pictures… together!”
HN – As someone who is passionate about learning the relationships between collectors, artists and art institutions, I am curious to know how would you describe a Bettina Rheims collector?
BR – Oh, I have no idea. Most of the time I don’t even know who is buying my work. I recently picked up a glossy interior design magazine and there was a society lady who was standing in front of one of my photographs. She is apparently a major collector. I mean, it’s not like I am Jeff Koons; I don’t make a few casts of something and keep a clients’ list.
HN – When I lived in London, I would commute to Paris once every 4-5 weeks and stay with a family of artist friends who had a house in the middle of the city, in the Marais on Rue des Ecouffes. I found out that the building, which my friends owned, was a bordel (Bordello) in the 19th century. So, yes, Paris is full of hidden histories…
BR – Well, I am talking to you from around the corner where you lived [names location]! And, indeed, we were looking to discover Paris private, hidden histories. The undergrounds, the rooftops where, by the way, a whole different life is up there. The Paris of the rooftops is fascinating. Eventually, we got authorization to work in all kinds of places. It was a cold winter and everyday we would invent a different story for the next day.
HN – So, you did plenty of improvisation rather than stay glued to the/a text?
BR – That’s right. The ideas kept changing because the models that were being shot naked would be freezing, etc. We had fifteen people working together. It was like cinema done by schizophrenic people.
HN – As great a city as it is, I think that NY is too commercial (for its own good) and far too expensive for majority of artists, especially emerging ones, to live in…
BR – It’s everywhere: too much marketing. Too much communication. Maybe we are going to explode. I don’t want to explode on my own [both laugh].