"CREATIVE INSTINCT"

Excerpts from an Interview in Vs Magazine (sept 2008)

Meeting up with Eric Guillemain and Lou Doillon after the photo shoot, Eric repeatedly refers to alchemy during our conversation (“there’s divinity is this glass of beer,” was one of his more memorable interpretations). And listening to Eric’s story, you can understand why. He followed the signs. Similarly, Lou Doillon, although born into the acting world as the daughter of Jane Birkin and film director Jacques Doillon, has followed her creative instinct through the gamut of art forms. She’s 25 and already an experienced actress, designer for Lee Cooper, model and musician. Both Lou and Eric have decided that expression and living in ‘your moment’ is not a postmodern cliché but rather something to strive for. Over-analyzing motives is boring, trying to plan your life is fruitless and stressful, and Lou generally warns against drinking from the paranoid fountains of desire and projection. Do your best, live every project fully and the chips will fall where they may. We all have a creative instinct. So go use it – if you dare.

You both like to explore. Physically and professionally. Eric, you completely changed jobs.

Eric: Yes.

- and Lou – you’re all over the place.

Lou: I try [laughs].

A renaissance girl.

Lou: Yes, I do many things. But I am curious, how did you get to where you are now?

Eric: Well, I was in a band in Paris, but went to New York and found myself in a place that was convenient for me at the right moment where I needed new energy and a cut from anything in my past.

Lou: And you started assisting a photographer?

Eric: Yeah, this photographer was searching for a French guy, nothing specific, he needed to have a French assistant, not a photo assistant. And I was French. It was the easiest resume requirement in my life. I had never taken a picture before, but I started taking portraits at home, just to have fun. People saw my portraits and they asked me to do more. I sent some to Surface magazine and ended up being an ‘Avant Garde’ photographer. It was maybe the 50th picture of my life. I shot my first fashion story last September, in 2007, and I just followed a path like in a labyrinth. Looking at the signs, going right or left, without asking any questions.

Lou: How much did you try to carve out this ‘path’ for yourself?

Eric: I didn’t push anything. I didn’t ask for anything. I was just sensing something here, something there. And I was following, that’s it. I didn’t try to force anything. I was just answering to what was coming. Surrendering to something bigger than me, I guess. Yeah, maybe like in this novel “The Alchemist.”

Do you plan the pictures or sketch a lot beforehand?

Eric: I’m trying to connect in a simple way, in an honest way. I’m improvising a lot, depending on the models or the person. Like in music, improvising from a few chords, getting in the mood and then you have a few songs or you have nothing at all. I didn’t go to an art school, I don’t have any technique at all and I don’t need a ‘perfect’ picture. I just trust my own feelings. It’s simple.