IN THE STUDIO WITH PHOTOGRAPHER PIERRE-LOUIS.

Introducing Pierre-Louis — a visionary French photographer whose creative journey has spanned the dynamic cultural landscapes of Lyon, Paris, and now Lisbon. With a bold decision to leave behind the corporate world and his 9-to-5 job, he dove headfirst into full-time photography, carving out a style for himself that has quickly captured attention.

Now working as Echo’s photographer-in-residence alongside other projects, Pierre-Louis has been capturing the creative personalities of our in-house artists. We spoke with Pierre-Louis about his journey to portrait photography and his playful, theatric style.

Could you tell me a bit about your journey to becoming a photographer? How did you land on this medium? 

Well, it all started with a good friend of mine after my graduation from high school. I was 18, and a friend of mine came round with this camera from his stepdad. I was so obsessed with the object – just as a machine; he had a telephoto lens, which was super cliche because it has a huge lens.

I was like, ‘Wow what the fuck is this’, and I experimented all afternoon with the camera. They were pretty bad photos, but I really had this revelation that I loved photography. I loved to manipulate the object, to think about the composition, the creation process.

And then this friend went away and the camera was gone. It was just in a spot in my head. But a few years later, I received an iPad for Christmas and on the iPad, there was a camera. I really started to take photos thanks to my iPad. I really loved it, it was like a game. I was photographing at this time, mostly buildings, corners of buildings, etc. I managed to get published in a magazine. 

At this point, I was like, ‘Okay, so now it's three years that you’ve liked doing photography. It’s the only hobby that you haven't quit yet. It’s time for you to upgrade a bit and buy your first camera’. So that’s what I did, and from that point on, photography was really part of my life. When I'm bored, I'm taking pictures, and then I'm not bored anymore. It gives me a lot of pleasure.

And did you have any photographic influences during this time, or photographers you were drawn to?

Oh, yes, of course. Well, first of all, my close friend Tom - he is the guy who taught me that it was possible to flash during the daylight – or over-flash – not only to compensate exposition, but just to find some creative path through the flashing. To name a few other photographers that I’m inspired by: Jack Bridgland, Andoni Beristain, Kamila Stanley, Larry Sultan, Bobby Doherty, Ben Fourmi, Kelsey McClellan.

What were you drawn to photographing? Initially buildings – was there anything else? 

Buildings first because I was too shy to shoot people in the street, but it really was something that conditioned a lot of my pictures. With buildings, you don’t have to wait for something cool to happen, or to create a scene and make it happen, so it was maybe a lazy solution at first. As the subject didn't move and was already there, I wanted to photograph the same building over and over again.

And then photographing people was a progression?

Yes, definitely. At some point, I felt bored taking pictures of buildings. I really wanted to explore different possibilities. Photographing people is where I am right now because I'm way more confident than before. It's a lot of progression. I just realised that people are an unlimited source of inspiration and creativity and everything can happen with someone on a set or in a street which is not necessarily the case with the top corner of a building. 

There’s a lot more to work with.

Yes, exactly. I used to do street photography, but now I mostly shoot inside the studio. I prefer shooting in a studio right now because I still have this control over what happens. When I’m in my studio, I'm really managing and dealing with light, with the mood, with all the parameters.

And how do you define your style? I know you mentioned flash photography as being an influence on your work.

It's high-energy photography – this is really how I like to describe my style. Over the last few years, I witnessed that everything was starting to be the same everywhere. There’s this uniformity in design, colours, furniture, cars, clothing etc.

I really wanted to break this path by bringing a lot of very bold colours into my pictures. I want to create something different from what I see everywhere – to bring dynamism, contrast and high-energy stuff. It represents me as a person. 

And your work is playful and theatric too.

I’m not taking it too seriously, which allows me to experiment and break codes. I'm not scared of the outcome, and I don't allow too much space for what people will think. Obviously, I like it when it works, but I do it for myself first and foremost. I'm playful, I'm not scared of thinking outside of the box, of trying new stuff, or even being weird. This is what makes me laugh and makes me happy on a daily basis.

And how do you approach each project you work on? Do you go in with a different vision each time?  

I don’t really have a methodology that's written somewhere, but I often find inspiration on social media, Pinterest etc. I have an idea of what's going to happen, but everything really happens on set. Creating a mood board is very useful, but it’s mostly about making the person I shoot comfortable and making sure that they understand where I want to go creatively. But most of the time, the results are not 100% the mood board vision. The process is happening on set, coming from my mind. I take things as they come. 

And do you think about how to bring out the character of each person you shoot?

It's a balance, obviously, of what I want to do, and the personality of the subject. I think I have this ability to make people quite comfortable on-set. I really believe that if you are okay with what's happening, if you are comfortable, the best of you will come out. So it's mostly human relations, it’s about the feeling of the person I'm shooting.

That makes sense. Could you tell me a bit about what you've been doing with Echo Studios in your work? 

So I’ve been taking artist portraits in the studio, and it comes at a point in my work where what I want to do is shoot artistic people. Most of the time these people need pictures, but it's not really their priority because it's an extra cost, and normally artists are thinking about what they do and not really about promoting their work. When I joined this community of artists at Echo, taking pictures of these people was the best way for me to be involved.

Regarding Echo Studios, I'm using the space for the photo studio when I need to shoot, but mostly it's just great to be surrounded by creative minds because It's not always easy to find the right people or to be surrounded by creativity. It was like a gift from the sky when I saw the Echo Studio post on Instagram about collaborations. I just sent a message to see if something was doable and the answer was positive, so here I am. 

Here you are. How does being around other creatives help your creative process? 

I think it's helpful because I'm surrounded by people who have the same kind of goals and encounter the same kind of problems each day. When it comes to the analysis of a situation, of your life, of your journey, it's much easier being surrounded by like-minded people. Where my old former colleagues were only thinking about getting their salary and the day being done when you leave the office, at Echo Studios, you don’t find these kinds of people. People are thinking about the vision of what you can do with your life, of your journey, of how you spend your time. It's a very big source of inspiration to better understand my own journey. 

And final question, any tips for quitting your corporate job and pursuing your creative passion – as I know you did? 

Trust yourself, be kind to yourself, and believe in yourself. This is the most important thing at the moment when you hand in your letter of resignation. Don’t be too scared of not knowing what will happen.