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Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Lionel Deluy - Hi Energy!

Lionel Deluy's signature style comes from a mixture of furious action on the set and creative work in Photoshop

"I like to go fast! You know? High energy—boom, boom, boom, click, click, click. Fast! Otherwise, you lose momentum and people get tired.”

Fast. High energy. These adjectives embody the attitude and shooting style of Lionel Deluy, but not the man. When he puts down the camera, I find a relaxed and extremely down-to-earth guy who you can't help but like.

I arrive at Deluy's studio in Venice, California, and he greets me with a big smile. “Come in,” he says with a fairly thick French accent. “We are shooting today, so maybe we'll start the interview out here on the patio.”

As we sit down, I attempt to jog his memory of the first time I met him, which was about two years ago on a shoot for an eclectic, biannual local magazine called The Book LA.

I was working with the publisher that day, and Deluy arrived on his motorcycle with his then-girlfriend riding piggyback. He was there to shoot one of the stories for the upcoming issue, and he was exactly what he says about the way he likes to shoot—high energy, fast and a lot of fun.

As we settle into the weathered couch outside, it becomes clear to me that Deluy isn't stressed out about the big production happening inside his studio without him. As I experience this other facet of Deluy's lively personality, he tells me how he likes to work.

“I try to make things easy-going,” he says. “I like to talk to people, make everything relaxed and cool. I always like to say, ‘We are just photographing, it's no big deal, you know? I like everything relaxed.'” Deluy likes everything like that—until it's time to shoot.

Then the energy picks up and he becomes animated and intense, firing off shot after shot in record speed. He describes his shooting style this way: “The most pictures in the least amount of time.”