By the Sea with Élodie Pichot, La Flemme and Lomography Color Negative 400 film

For this shoot by the ocean, Élodie Pichot, a photographer based in Nantes, takes us on a gentle journey between knits, golden light, and analogue texture. In collaboration with La Flemme, an artisanal brand creating crochet accessories, Élodie Pichot captures the essence of an eternal summer — the sea breeze, salt-filled air, and that nostalgic sense of escape that evokes childhood memories.

Armed with Lomography Color Negative 400 35mm film, Élodie brings out the poetry in handmade creations and the suspended atmosphere that floats between two waves. We spoke with her about this project, her artistic vision, and what analogue photography allows her to reveal through her lens.

Welcome to the Lomography Magazine! Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello, my name is Élodie Pichot, I am an independent photographer based in Nantes.

I specialize in human photography, sensitive and natural. My world mixes portraits, documentaries, and more personal creations, always with the desire to capture the authenticity of a moment or emotion.

Could you tell us more about this photoshoot?

This photoshoot was a collaboration with La Flemme, a crochet designer based between Brittany and Nantes, which inspired the idea to create her new collection by the sea.

How did you come to work with La Flemme, and what did you immediately like about their world?

My partnership with La Flemme actually happened quite naturally, their products immediately spoke to me, and our worlds immediately matched.

Your style is both gentle and assertive. What guides your choices of framing, lighting and staging in general?

My choices in framing, lighting and staging are often guided by the emotion I am trying to convey, but also by a desire for honesty, sincerity. What guided me, deep down, was the connection between the model and me, between a body and space, between the light and the feeling. That dialogue is the one I was looking for.

Why choose the Lomography Color Negative 400 for this shoot ?

It's a film that I have been using for a long time and I like the way it translates light, the hues of an instant.

What were you trying to achieve in terms of results?

For this shoot, I wanted to share the softness of the moment, a quiet moment suspended through the distinct colors of the film.

The CN 400 has rich colors and great exposure latitude. Did you play with these characteristics in certain lighting situations?

Yes, that is exactly what I love with the CN 400. It provides a great deal of flexibility, allowing me to be quite free in the way I capture light, without anticipating or controlling too much.

Handmade, time-consuming, imperfect... There are quite a few parallels between film and crochet. Did you think about this during the shoot?

Yes, I've thought about it a lot, actually. There's something very similar between the gesture of crochet and that of analogue photography: a relationship to time, to the material, to the wait. Nothing is instantaneous, everything requires a certain presence and attention to rhythm. The handmade, the small imperfections, the irregularities... it's precisely these details that make the image or the piece unique.

Is there a shot from this series that you're particularly proud of? Can you tell us about it?

Yes, there's one image from the series taken with flash, on the wild coast where you can see the sea in the background, of which I'm particularly proud. It was late in the day, the natural light was fading, and I chose to use the flash not to compensate, but to create an almost unreal contrast with the landscape. The background remained very present, the horizon, the movement of the water, but the flash isolated the subject, making it emerge as if out of time. There was a very instinctive energy in that moment, and I think it shows in the image.

If you had to sum up in one image the feeling you wanted to convey through this shoot, what would it be?

It would be this image. It has everything I wanted to convey: a feeling of freedom, of gentle assurance, in the face of immensity. The body is anchored, the gaze frank, and yet we also sense playfulness, lightness, openness. The flash contrasts with the softness of the sunset, like a reminder that freedom can also be assertive, confident, almost insolent. I love this contrast, this energy between strength and vulnerability, which is exactly what I was trying to bring out in this series.

Finally, what film or camera would you like to try out in the near future?

I'd love to try out the Fisheye No. 2 Papaya Pop 35 mm Camera for my next project.

Thank you Élodie for taking the time to speak with us! Find out more about her work on her Instagram for more inspiration.

written by alplvl on 2025-06-21 #gear #people #color-negative #cn-400 Share Article